Editing PDF Files

Now that you have converted files into a PDF, you can edit and alter the files as you wish. Not only can you edit the text in the PDF file, but you also can add comments, stamps, headers and footers, watermarks, backgrounds, sound, movie clips, and more.

The basic editing tools are the Hand tool, the Select tool (Text, Table, and Image), and the Snapshot tool. Use the Hand tool to move your page around. The Select tool simply selects text, tables, or objects so that you can copy and paste. The Snapshot tool copies whatever is within the marquee for pasting later.

The more advanced editing features include the Select Object, Article, Crop, Link, Movie, Sound, TouchUp Text, TouchUp Object, and various Forms tools. To view the Advanced Editing tools, choose Tools, Advanced Editing, Show Advanced Editing Toolbar. Many of the advanced editing tools are covered throughout this chapter.

TouchUp Tools

The TouchUp tools enable you to edit an object as well as text. Use the TouchUp Object tool to edit an existing object. With the TouchUp Object tool, you can do only basic edits, such as copying, deleting, and altering properties. If you need to do more extensive editing, you need to edit in the program the object was created in. When you double-click on a placed object with the TouchUp Object tool, the original application launches, enabling you to edit the object. When you save, the saved version updates in your PDF file.

The TouchUp Text tool lets you edit text in a PDF document. You first select the text using the TouchUp Text tool, and then you enter the new text in the highlighted area (see Figure 10.9). This works only if the font was initially embedded in the PDF file or if you have the font on your system.

Figure 10.9. Editing a PDF with the TouchUp Text tool.

Checking Spelling

You can check the spelling in form fields or comments of any PDF file. To check the spelling of the form fields and comments, choose Edit, Check Spelling, In Comments and Form Fields. You can also edit the dictionary to include odd words such as TIFF and EPS. You can have Acrobat automatically check the spelling as you are typing comments or form fields.