5 Reasons Why PDFs Are So Hard to Edit

PDF files are a great way to send documents, especially across different platforms and devices. You don’t need to purchase a program, and it is easy to view. You don’t have to worry about the formatting or the font changing when you send it this method.

But as many people understand, editing a PDF file can be difficult. Sometimes you may not even edit the document without converting it first. So why is it hard to do this? Here are five reasons it is hard to edit a PDF.

5 Reasons Why PDFs Are So Hard to Edit

PDFs are well-known for how hard they are to edit. Some new users may not even know how to edit these documents. If you have ever wondered why here are some reasons why these documents are difficult to edit:

  1. PDFs Are A Flattened File
  2. Because PDFs Allow Font Styles To Be Transferred
  3. The Programming Of PDFs
  4. The Encryption Systems Make It Difficult
  5. PDFs Are Designed That Way

1. PDFs Are A Flattened File

PDFs are flattened files meaning that it is compressed. PDFs have all objects within a file like images, links, videos, and more. To ensure that all of that gets transferred when sending the document elsewhere, it is all compressed.

It is hard to isolate the one object you want to edit because there are so many objects within the file. When you try to edit that one object, it could affect all the other objects and thus changing the document completely.

2. Because PDFs Allow Font Styles To Be Transferred

PDF files make it easy to transfer font styles, while other easily edited programs may not have this simplicity. The font storage system enables those fonts to be transferred, making it more difficult for the document to be changed.

3. The Programming Of PDFs

The programming of PDFs makes it hard to change the document. There are so many objects within the document that the programming is designed to make it difficult to edit. It would be hard to program an easily altered file with that many objects.

It was programmed this way to transfer documents filled with so many objects without the document changing. Many devices may not read certain documents or don’t have programming to do so. The way that these are programmed allows this to be possible.

4. The Encryption Systems Make It Difficult

The encryption systems make it hard to edit PDFs. This is meant for security purposes, and when the document can be easily changed, the document isn’t as secure. Anyone could come in and alter the file. With PDF, this encryption system protects this from happening.

5. PDFs Are Designed That Way

PDFs were designed so that they couldn’t be altered easily. This protects the file and makes it better for companies and businesses to send contracts and other legal documents. It makes it harder for others to steal or plagiarize written content.

Documents are safer from being altered and make it easier for a file to be transferred to different types of devices. PDFs are easily downloaded on smaller devices like phones when word documents or Microsoft word are not.

What To Do To Make It Easier To Edit A PDF File

Although editing a PDF file can be difficult, it is not impossible. You can do simple edits on your PDF files with basic Adobe Acrobat programming. You will get more features when you pay for the monthly premium. It depends on what you are looking for and what you need.

You can download several other methods and programs to edit a PDF file. Just understand that the formatting or multimedia within the document may be changed. It could be quite a headache.

Why Not Convert Into A Word Document?

There are many programs that you can use to convert a PDF file. These programs are free most of the time, and you just have to deal with a few advertisements. You can find these online. If you want something that doesn’t have ads or doesn’t have bugs, you can pay from programs as well.

There are a few downfalls when you try to convert a PDF document to a word document or any other type of document. Here are those downfalls:

  • Fonts may get changed.
  • Fonts could become unreadable.
  • Links and attachments may be lost.
  • Multimedia objects could convert strangely or be lost.
  • The formatting can come out weird or messy.
  • The document may become unreadable.

Be aware that any of these things could happen. If you want to try this method, be sure to save the original document just in case the document becomes broken or unreadable. Then you can try other means of editing the document.

How To Edit A PDF File

Although there are several ways you can edit a PDF file, one of the best and easy solutions is to use the Adobe Acrobat program. It is meant to work with PDF files, so there is less chance that the document will become unreadable or change drastically.

Many of Adobe Acrobat’s features are free, but you will need to pay for the premium for more in-depth editing or amazing tools. Here are the steps to editing a PDF file using this program:

  1. Ensure that you have downloaded or updated the Adobe Acrobat program.
  2. Open up the program.
  3. Choose which PDF file you would like to edit.
  4. Once the file is opened, sign in to your free account.
  5. Use the toolbar to start editing the document with Adobe’s tools.
  6. Now you can download the new document or share a link.

When you choose to use Adobe Acrobat, you can use many tools with a PDF file. These tools include the following and so much more:

  • Text
  • Sticky notes
  • Highlights
  • Drawings
  • Strikethrough content
  • Underline content

Outro

PDFs may be hard to edit, but there are many reasons for this. You get a protected document, and you can share it across different devices and more. But don’t fret. You have many options on how to edit a PDF file.

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