How to edit the existing text in a PDF
Updated
Contents
To edit the text in a PDF, open Edit PDF, add your file, choose Edit text and click the line you want to change. Retype it, press Apply & download, and the old words are removed from the page and yours are written where they stood.
To change the same word or name everywhere at once, use Find & replace (Ctrl+F): it searches the text of every page and replaces through the same edit, so the old words leave the file rather than being hidden under a box.
Edit PDF runs in your browser tab, so your PDF stays on your device and there is no account to create. Files up to 100 MB open. Edit text changes one line at a time and does not reflow a paragraph; for rewriting whole paragraphs, PDF to Word is the better tool.
Step by step
- 1Open the Edit PDF tool and add your PDF. Its pages appear in your browser, and the file stays on your device.
- 2Choose Edit text in the toolbar. The PDF's own text is outlined on the page.
- 3Click the line you want to change and retype it. While you type, the editor names the font your words will be written in.
- 4To change a word everywhere, open Find & replace with Ctrl+F, type the words in Find and the new ones in Replace with, then press Replace or Replace all.
- 5Press Apply & download. The edited copy downloads with -edited before the .pdf.
What Edit text changes in the file
Edit text works on the text the PDF really contains. When you apply, the line you retyped is taken out of the page's content and your words are drawn where the line began, so a search or a copy of the saved file finds the new words, not the old ones. Text you did not touch stays as it was, and stays selectable.
Your words are set in the line's own font when that font has every character you typed. When it does not, the closest standard font is used instead, and the editor tells you which one while you type, so a changed line can look slightly different from its neighbours.
A retyped line stays one line. Edit text does not reflow a paragraph, so a much longer replacement does not push the lines below it down; keep a replacement close to the length of what it replaces, or split the change across lines.
Find and replace across every page
Find & replace searches the words of every page as they currently read, so an edit you have already made is searched as edited. Match case narrows the search to the exact capitalisation, and the arrows step to the previous or next match.
Replace changes the match you are on; Replace all changes every match. Either is a normal Edit text edit, so the old words are removed from the file when you apply, and each Replace, or one Replace all, is a single step that Undo takes back.
Scans and text it cannot edit
A scanned page is a picture of words, so Edit text has nothing to offer there, and the page says it has no editable text. Running OCR PDF does not change that for this tool: the recognised words are an invisible layer under the picture, and Edit text does not offer that layer, because the words you see are still part of the picture.
To rework the words of a scan, use PDF to Word with “Recognise text in scans (OCR)” ticked: it recognises the text first and gives you a Word document to edit. That tool runs on a secure server rather than in your browser.
Text the editor cannot change safely, such as vertical text or text nested deep inside an embedded object, is refused with a message rather than half-changed.
Common questions
Is the old text really gone, or just covered?
It is gone. When you apply, the line you edited is removed from the page's content and the new words are written in its place, so searching or copying the saved file finds only the new words. A Whiteout box is different: it only covers what is underneath, and the covered text stays in the file.
Why does my edited line use a different font?
The PDF's own font is used when it has every character you typed. Many PDFs embed only the letters they used, so a new letter can be missing from it; then the closest standard font is used instead, and the editor names it while you type.
Can I edit the text of a scanned PDF?
Not with Edit text. A scan holds a picture of its words, and the text OCR PDF adds is an invisible layer that Edit text does not offer. To edit a scan's words, convert it with PDF to Word and tick “Recognise text in scans (OCR)”, which recognises the text and hands you an editable Word document.
Can I replace a word on every page at once?
Yes. Open Find & replace with Ctrl+F, type the word and its replacement, and press Replace all. Every match on every page is replaced, the old words are removed from the file when you apply, and one Undo takes the whole replacement back.
Does my PDF leave my device while I edit it?
No. Edit PDF reads and writes the PDF inside your browser tab. When your words need a script outside the basic Western set, the page fetches a matching Noto font from pdf.xyz; that request asks for a font by name and carries nothing from your document.