PDF (Portable Document Format) is a file format that has captured all the elements of a printed document as an electronic image that you can view, navigate, print, or forward to someone else.
Making an edit to a PDF is something that has always been challenging but thanks to tech, there are apps that make the process extremely easy. Below are the top five PDF editors for Windows and Mac.
Adobe Acrobat Pro
Adobe Acrobat Pro is an optical character recognition (OCR) system used to convert scanned documents, PDF documents, and image documents into editable/searchable documents. It comes in three versions: Acrobat X Pro, Acrobat XI Pro, and Acrobat Pro DC.
Adobe Acrobat Pro can do the following:
- Analyze images as they are scanned into the program
- Analyze already existing images, PDF files, or other file types after PDF conversion
To edit documents in Adobe Acrobat Pro:
- Open the document in Acrobat as a PDF
- Click ‘Edit Text’
- The program applies optical character recognition to the document
- The document is now fully editable
Once the document has been made editable, you can:
- Copy, paste, and edit passages of text within the document
- Search the text in PDF readers or word-processing programs
- Ingest the text into analysis programs like ATLAS.ti or NVivo
- Make information easier to find via the Internet by creating searchable documents
Sejda PDF
Sejda is a simple and user-friendly PDF management tool that works as an online service. With Sejda, you do not need to install the software. You can simply convert, edit, merge and split documents right in your browser. It also works on tablets and phones in a limited form, and if you don’t want to use the online version there is a desktop application that you can download as well.
It is a highly streamlined system that focuses on ease of use and accessibility. It’s not a traditional PDF converter software, but it does offer a host of functionalities that are easy to use.
Related Article: PDF, EPUB, MOBI, AZW, IBA: Different ebook formats explained
PDF Element
PDFelement is a powerful, yet easy to use PDF editing system where you can create, organize, and secure your files. It allows:
- Robust editing and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) with the availability of spell check to fix small mistakes and typos.
- Creation and combination of PDF files
- Extraction and conversion of PDF documents
- Creation of easily fillable PDF forms. It allows you to add all desired fields, buttons, and boxes to an already existing form, or build a whole new one using some of their beautiful templates.
- Exporting data from scanned PDFs
- Outstanding security that you can create and manage your own signatures, make use of 256-bit AES encryption for your passwords, assign users with different permissions, and blank out the sensitive text to ensure confidentiality.
- For teams, it is easy to comment, mark and highlight documents, add stamps and annotations, and add a familiar set of shapes and arrows to distinguish a document, and help your team understand how to proceed.
- Customization
Foxit Phantom PDF
This is a multi-feature PDF solution from Foxit that allows users to view, convert, edit and create PDF documents and features a host of basic and advanced features including OCR (Optical Character Recognition), cloud storage integration and PDF signatures.
It is available in three versions: Standard, Business, and Education. Each one has a variety of associated features, although the standard version notably includes almost everything one would need when it comes to managing and converting PDF documents.
Bluebeam Revu
Bluebeam PDF Revu is a design and construction document management software that transforms simple documents into multi-dimensional PDFs. It allows:
- Unlimited PDF Creation
- Simplified In-Text Communication
- Real-Time Collaboration
- Shareable Smart Documents