# Edit PDF like it was a Word doc



## computerpain

Hello,
Could someone recommend a software that would give me the ability to edit existing Acrobat PDFs as if they where Word documents or plain text documents?

Thanks,
computerpain


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## brendandonhu

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro/main.html


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## erick295

Or if you try ScanSoft's PDF Converter 3, you'll save about $450.00 

http://www.scansoft.com/pdfconverter/standard/


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## erick295

P.S., Professional will let you edit and save PDF files, but it's about $100. You can use Standard to covert it to a Word document, edit it, and then get a free Word to PDF converter. There's something called PDF4Free or something like that. It's a print driver. You install it, print anything, and it turns it into a PDF. There are a number of them, actually.


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## slipe

There are two ways to go about it without additional software according to how the document was made.

If it is in the PDF as text you can click Select on the Acrobat Reader toolbar. Then highlight all of the text. Right click on the highlighted text and select Copy to clipboard. With older versions of Acrobat Reader you used the T at the top to do the same thing. Then open Word and paste the text in. You can work with the text in Word just like any other Word document.

Some PDF documents are just pictures of a document. If you have a scanner it probably came with OCR software. If the OCR will act as an independent program you can use the snapshot tool to the right of the Select tool. Drag a box around the entire document and it will automatically go to the clipboard. Paste it into the OCR program and have it translate the picture of the text into editable text.

If your OCR works only through the scanner, print the PDF document(s) and run it through the scanner for OCR.

If the document is combined text and graphics you will probably find it easier with a separate program. You can still just take the text in chunks with the Select tool and even insert the graphics using the snapshot tool. Nothing but OCR will work though if the document is a picture of a document.


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## acraftylady

erick295 said:


> P.S., Professional will let you edit and save PDF files, but it's about $100. You can use Standard to covert it to a Word document, edit it, and then get a free Word to PDF converter. There's something called PDF4Free or something like that. It's a print driver. You install it, print anything, and it turns it into a PDF. There are a number of them, actually.


If you do need a free PDF converter Cute PDF is excellent and it's free.


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## brendandonhu

Yep, CutePDF or OpenOffice can export directly to PDF.


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## computerpain

Thank you all very much for your help.


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## hewee

License: Adware or $9.95
Omniformat is available as a free download. The free version of OmniFormat will display a sponsor page in your web browser each time you launch the software. If you would prefer not to see sponsor pages, you may purchase a license key for either an individual or a workgroup.
http://www.omniformat.com/

PDF Tools

http://lists.gpick.net/pages/PDF_Tools.htm

Big list of software.


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