CECO PDF

How to edit a PDF without Adobe Acrobat

Apple's Preview adds text boxes and notes but cannot edit a PDF's text, and most online editors change it only on a paid plan or within free limits. CECO PDF corrects existing words in place, in a digital PDF or a scan, refuses what it cannot match, and sells one corrected document on its own, with no subscription.

By CECO PDF · Published · Updated · Facts about other tools checked on

Your options without Acrobat

What each one does with the text already in a PDF, with a scan, and what changing that text takes, as each maker's page said on the date under Sources.

Editing a PDF's own text without Acrobat

ToolText already in the PDFScanned pagesTo change existing text
Preview, on a MacCannot edit it: text boxes, notes, shapes and highlights go on top1Apple's page does not sayNot possible in Preview1
Adobe Acrobat online, freeDoes not let you edit existing body text2Acrobat Pro applies OCR and makes an editable copy3, 4Acrobat Pro, which offers a 7-day free trial2
SmallpdfOn the Pro plan5OCR first, then edit5A Pro subscription, with a 7-day free trial5
SejdaYes: click the text and change it6“Changing existing text within scanned documents is not supported”6Free up to 200 pages or 50 MB and 3 tasks an hour6; or $5 for 7 days, which does not renew7
iLovePDFIts page says “Select text to edit, move, or delete the existing content”8The page we read does not sayThe page we read does not say
PDF24Its advice: “Convert a PDF to Word to edit the text”9The page we read does not sayFree, with no registration, by way of Word9
CECO PDFCorrects the words you select, where they stand, and checks the pageThe same, on the scan's own pictureFree to try; €0.99 to download one corrected document. Signed in, your first corrected download each day costs nothing; after it, one takes a credit or a plan.

Can I edit a PDF on a Mac without Adobe?

Not its text, with the Mac's own app. Apple says it plainly: “Although you can’t edit the text of a PDF in Preview”, its markup tools let you give feedback or note something to remember1. They add text you type in a box and drag where you want, in a font, style and colour you choose; shapes, notes and highlights; a saved signature; and text typed into the fields of a form1.

That covers notes, a filled-in form and a signature. To change a word that is already there, a text box can only sit over it, and the word stays in the file underneath: removing text from a PDF says why that matters. Editing a PDF on a Mac covers correcting it in Safari, and editing a PDF on an iPhone or iPad the same on a phone or a tablet.

Can I edit a PDF online for free?

Adobe's free online editor adds text boxes, comments, sticky notes, highlights, drawings and signatures, but Adobe says it “does not let you edit existing body text within a PDF”; for that it points to Acrobat Pro, which offers a 7-day free trial, and downloading the result needs a free Adobe account2.

With a free Smallpdf account you can add text, images, highlights and drawings, but “Direct PDF text editing requires a Pro subscription, which you can try with a 7-day free trial”5.

Sejda's online editor lets you click existing text and change it, with its font, size and colour, and finds and replaces a word everywhere at once6. Its free use covers documents of up to 200 pages or 50 MB and 3 tasks an hour, and files are deleted after 2 hours6. When you type a letter the PDF's font does not hold, Sejda tells you: “The original font is missing some of the characters you typed”6.

iLovePDF's Edit PDF adds text, shapes, comments and highlights, and its page says “Select text to edit, move, or delete the existing content”8; its user's guide describes adding text, images and shapes10.

PDF24 says its tools are free, with no registration, and that files are deleted from its server after one hour; to change a PDF's text, its advice is to convert it to Word, edit it there, and convert it back to PDF9. Editing a PDF in Word, Google Docs or Canva says what that round trip changes.

Can I edit a PDF without paying for a subscription?

Acrobat is sold by subscription. In US dollars, Adobe showed Acrobat Standard at US$14.99 and Pro at US$19.99 a month on an annual plan billed monthly, US$24.99 and US$29.99 month to month, or US$179.88 and US$239.88 for a year paid up front; editing text and images is listed for all three of its plans for one person, and turning scans into editable PDFs for Pro and Studio4. Adobe shows each country its own prices.

Smallpdf's text editing comes with Pro, a subscription5. Sejda sells a Web Week Pass, $5 for 7 days, which “does not automatically renew and downgrades to free after 7 days”, and $63 for a year of its web and desktop apps7. PDF24's tools are free9.

CECO PDF sells corrections by the document, with no subscription needed. Corrections are free to try, up to 10 a day, on files of up to 15 MB and 50 pages without a credit or a plan. Signed in, your first corrected download each day costs nothing; after it, one takes a credit or a plan. One corrected document costs €0.99, and a pack of 10 costs €4.99; the Personal plan is €9.99 a month or €89.99 a year, and Business €24.99 a month or €224.99 a year. Prices include VAT, and the pricing page says what each allows. A document or a pack is paid for once; the plans are for people who correct often.

Can I edit a scanned PDF without Acrobat?

Adobe says that when you edit a scan, Acrobat applies OCR automatically and makes “a fully editable copy of your PDF”, a feature its plans list for Pro and Studio3, 4. Smallpdf's OCR tool turns a scan into text that you then edit, on Pro5, and Sejda's editor does not change text in scans6.

CECO PDF corrects the word on the scan's own picture: editing a scanned PDF shows how, and five ways to change text in a scan sets it beside the others.

Correcting in place, with CECO PDF

Select the words, type what they should say, and apply the correction. Where the page has real text, the new words are typed into it, in the document's own font. On a scan they are made from the page's own letters where it has them, or drawn to match the letters around them, and the result says which. Then the page is drawn again, before and after, a scan at 300 dots per inch and a page of real text at 150, and the two are compared pixel by pixel: the corrected file can be downloaded only once no pixel outside the corrected words has changed.

When the paper behind the words, a stamp across the line or the typeface cannot be matched, the correction is refused with its reason, and the document stays as it was. There is no replace-all: each correction is made where you point, and checked there. The corrected file carries a record of every change, and CECO PDF refuses identity documents at upload. Correct only documents that are yours, or that you are entitled to alter, as the terms say.

It runs in the browser, with nothing to install: editing the text of a PDF in its own font takes you through it.

Correct a PDF now — it opens the tool, with nothing to install.

What the others do better

How we checked

On we read each maker's own pages, listed under Sources: prices, product pages, help pages and their questions and answers. Every statement about another tool comes from those pages, quoted where the exact words matter, and where they do not say something, neither do we. We did not upload files to any of these tools: this compares what each maker says its tool does, not our own tests of it. We chose what people reach for when they have no Acrobat: the Mac's own Preview, Adobe's free online editor, and the online editors most often weighed against each other; others, such as PDFescape, Xodo and PDFgear, are not covered here.

Prices are the ones each page showed us, in the currency it showed. They can differ by country, tax and offer, so check the maker's page before you buy. Facts about CECO PDF come from the service itself: its prices, limits and how long it keeps files are read from its own settings each time this page is served. If something here is out of date, the page is corrected and dated again.

Sources

Each page below was read on , on its maker's own website. A number in the text leads to the page the fact came from.

  1. Apple: Annotate a PDF in Preview on Mac. support.apple.com/guide/preview/annotate-a-pdf-prvw11580/mac
  2. Adobe: Acrobat online: free PDF editor. www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/pdf-editor.html
  3. Adobe: Edit your scanned PDF documents with OCR. www.adobe.com/acrobat/how-to/ocr-software-convert-pdf-to-text.html
  4. Adobe: Acrobat plans and pricing, US prices. www.adobe.com/acrobat/pricing.html?country=US
  5. Smallpdf: Edit PDF, and its questions and answers. smallpdf.com/edit-pdf
  6. Sejda: Online PDF editor. www.sejda.com/pdf-editor
  7. Sejda: Plans and prices. www.sejda.com/upgrade
  8. iLovePDF: Edit PDF. www.ilovepdf.com/edit-pdf
  9. PDF24: Edit PDF, and its questions and answers. tools.pdf24.org/en/edit-pdf
  10. iLovePDF: User's guide to the tools. www.ilovepdf.com/help/documentation

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