How To Edit A PDF In Word

How To Edit A PDF In Word

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If you find yourself in need of editing a PDF and you don’t have Adobe Acrobat on your computer, or space to download it, don’t worry because you can use Microsoft Word to edit the PDF also.

Editing PDFs in Microsoft Word is a trick that few people know about and after reading this guide you too will be one of these people! When editing PDFs in Word it is important that they are text based.

If they are images the task becomes more difficult and similarly if they are a very specific format, such as a list of chapters in a book, these formats may not be compatible with Word and again the task can be more difficult.

1

How To Edit A PDF In Word

Below are the steps you will need to follow to edit a text-based PDF in Microsoft Word. Before beginning, make sure that you have saved the PDF you wish to edit on your desktop so that it is easy to find.

Step

1

Open Word

Open Word on your device

Step

2

Click On File

When the application loads, click on File in the top left of your screen and from the drop down menu select Open

Step

3

Search For The PDF File

A pop-up menu will appear on your screen, now search for the PDF you want to open and edit. When you find it click on it and then press the Open button at the bottom of the pop-up menu

Step

4

Click OK

A message will now appear on screen, an alert from Microsoft saying that Word will make a copy of the selected PDF and convert the contents of the PDF into a format that Word can understand.

Click Ok. The format of the original PDF won’t be changed

Step

5

Edit And Save The PDF File

The PDF will now load in a format that you can edit within Word. When you are finished editing the PDF you can save it so that your changes are saved.

You can save it by clicking on File in the top left of your screen and from the drop down menu select Save As. Name the PDF and choose the format you would like to save it as, either PDF or Word document.

You have now successfully edited your PDF using Microsoft Word.

Things To Note

  1. The edited document may differ from the original and page-to-page correspondence is unlikely. It is best to ensure that everyone is working from the edited copy if that is the version you wish to use, this will help to avoid any confusion around where and what people should be seeing, especially in professional meetings or educational environments. 
  2. Right clicking on the PDF file on your desktop is a quick and easy way to open the PDF in Word, select Open  and then select Microsoft Word from the application choices given in a drop down menu
  3. It is best to edit PDFs that include images or very specific formats within Adobe Acrobat rather than Microsoft Word. Adobe Acrobat offers a free seven day trial or alternatively you can purchase a subscription to the programme if you will need to edit PDFs with images in for work or leisure. 

Final Thoughts

We hope that this guide has been helpful to you and that you have been able to successfully edit a PDF using Microsoft Word. These steps remain similar regardless of what device you use, whether it is Windows, macOS, or the web application of Word. 

There are many free websites and applications that can enable you to edit any type of PDF, image and text based but Word really is the best way to edit text-based documents as it is easy to use and reliable.