Editing PDF documents can be a serious pain in the ass especially when you try doing that right on your smartphone. Factors such as small screen size, the inability to fully manipulate what you could have easily done on your PC, all these factors even made big PDF files both difficult to read or edit on smartphones.

But it doesn’t matter anymore as there is always a quick hack to bypass this. These methods can help you modify or edit your PDF right on your smartphone (iPhone/Android) and even on your computers (Mac/Windows).

At the end of this Guide, you’ll be able to do basic things like text addition, signing documents, adding annotations and filling out forms. What makes it more interesting is that the tools/app used for this guide are all free and can be download online or in the App Stores of various platforms.

Meanwhile, altering the existing texts on your PDF might not be possible. Although there are some paid software that allows that which allows you to alter existing texts on your PDF file with ease.

PDF editor for Android ( Adobe Fill & Sign )

One advantage of using Android OS is the countless applications on the Google Play store that promises to get the job done for you. The Adobe Fill & Sign is a great tool if all you want to do is basic editing especially forms.

In order to get this done, you need to launch the Adobe Fill & Sign application on your Android smartphone and then choose the PDF file you want to edit.

The next thing you should do is tap anywhere on the screen and then add a text box. Once you’ve entered text in the box, you can move the box around by tapping and dragging it. You can resize the box using large and small letter As along the top bar of the text box.

Adding things such as signatures and initials can be easily done with the Adobe Fill & Sign application. The first time you tap on the tool a signature line will appear across the screen. Use your finger to sign your signature or initials. If you ever want to change your saved signatures or initials, just tap the X to the right side of the tool.

The signature or Initials which you have created will then appear in a resizable box that can be moved/dragged around. To make the box larger or smaller, there is a small blue circle with white left and right arrows on the right side of the box which can be used to enlarge or reduce the box.

Another interesting about this application is that it gives you the ability to create personal details such as address, emails and other stuffs which can be used to populate your form whenever you create one. This saves you countless times of having to re-add your personal details.

When you need to add any of this information to a PDF form, just tap on the field you want to populate and tap on the information saved in the same field in your profile. 

Throughout your editing, Adobe Fill & Sign saves as you go. Edited files can be shared via emails or other sharing methods or even saved because its of course a full blown PDF file.

How to Edit PDF files on the iPhone

One special thing iPhone users would get is that they wouldn’t really need any third-party applications to get the job done. Now, on the iPhone, there is a Mark Up Mode which allows you to either edit a PDF which is already inside an email message or a standalone file that had been saved in the Books app.

To edit a PDF file on your iPhone, what you do is tap on the Mark Up Mode icon (A circle with a pencil tip in it). Meanwhile, this is the same tools that pop up on your screen after you take a screenshot.

Anyway, at the bottom of the screen, there are different tools such as a highlighter, a pen, pencil and eraser all which can be used to perform different tasks on your PDF file. You can also tap on the plus sign on the right to add text boxes, shapes, a magnifier and even signatures.

Another advantage Apple device users have here is that you evolve well inside the ecosystem. No sweet talk seriously because if you have a signature saved in Preview on your Mac for example, your iCloud account auto sync it to the Mark Up mode on the iPhone.

But you can of course create a new one from scratch by simply tapping on the Add or Remove Signature, then tap the plus sign on the top left of your screen. Use your finger to sign on the line and hit Done to save.

As you add edits to your PDF file, you can use the left and right undo arrows at the top to move forward or backward sequentially through your additions. But there’s also an eraser tool that can be used to remove any unwanted drawings, sketches or highlights you made no matter the order you made them.

Done? Then you can save your PDF file as a standalone file inside the Books application or even AirDrop it or send it as a reply via email messages.

How to edit PDF on your Mac?

The Apple Mac is a really interesting and overtly expensive premium computer. And one of the perks is that you get to have some pre-made software that allows you do basic things like editing your PDF files. On every Mac comes a program called Preview which is native to the computers. With this file, you can as well edit files such as pictures as well as PDF files.

How do you edit a PDF file on your Mac computer then, you start by double clicking on the PDF file that you want to edit and it would auto open up in the Preview. Do note that the Preview mode is the icon with a Postcard of the Ocean and a small magnifying glass on the corner…just in case you don’t know what it looks like.

From there, you’ll be greeted with a window asking you to select the file you want and when you’re ready, click the blue Open button and you’re back in the game. 

The toolbar can be accessed when you click on the Markup tool right at the top right side next to the search field ( represented by a pencil tip inside a circle ). The next thing is to click the Text tool (represented by the letter T inside a square) and a text box will appear in the middle of your document. You can move the box anywhere on the page. 

To change the appearance of the text, tap the Text Style tool (represented by the icon with the italicized A). But then if you want to resize the box, simply click on either the Blue dots which will allow you to make the text either wider or narrower depending on your choice. But either way, you get to move the arrow left or right to enlarge/reduce the size of the box.

There are also tools for drawing and sketching. The Draw tool lets you draw pretty much whatever you want with your cursor while the Sketch tool turns the objects you draw into shapes with a customizable fill and border. If you are just drawing a line or squiggle, you can change the color and thickness with the Shape Style tool ( represented by the stacked parallel lines ) or Border tool (represented by the small square inside of a large square). If you’re not feeling particularly artistic, you can also add premade shapes.

And if you later decide to add on a signature, then you’ll have to Click on the arrow next to the Sign tool (represented by the cursive letter J) and then click the button Create Signature. You have to option to use your trackpad to sign your signature with your finger or scan it in with your Mac’s built-in camera.

If you so chose the Trackpad, then just click on the TrackPad tab and then click on the Click Here to Begin button and start dragging and when you’re satisfied, press any key afterwards to stop the selection, click on the Done button.

The other way to create a signature is to sign your name on a white piece of paper and scan it. Instead of the Trackpad tab, choose the Camera tab. Place the piece of paper in front of the camera and line up your signature on the black line. After a moment, your signature will appear on screen in the camera preview. If you like it, hit Done….see high tech in work.

To add one of your stored signatures, you just click on the one you want from the Sign menu. Then drag, resize and reposition it wherever your signature needs to go.

Finally to save any edits, simply hit Save. You can also export your changes an create a new PDF file.

Lastly, editing PDF on Windows PC using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is a great tool for Windows PC users. It’s even free a it’s a freemium version of the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. This has plenty of powerful tools for basic edits and if you’re in an environment with a mix of PCs and Macs, there is also a Mac version.

To begin editing a PDF file on your PC, simply Open Reader and then choose the file that you want to edit. There is then a Tools tab that allows the selection of different toolsets but depending on the edits that you want. For example, one of the toolsets is Adobe Fill & Sign.

From the tool bar, you can add text boxes, signatures, initials, shapes and checkboxes. It works very similar to the way Preview does. 

Stamp tool is another amazing tool you can use to sign your PDF file to certify it with signs like “Approved”, “Sign Here”, “Confidential” and many more. The toolbar will now have a Stamp tool and a Stamp tool palette which includes a number of different types of stamps you can choose from as listed above.

When you’re done with your PDF edits, you can save them or export them into a new PDF file or a different file format like a Word Doc with which you can continue editing your files like adding more texts to the existing texts on the PDF file.

I hope this helps you do basic editing of your PDF file. As mentioned earlier, this isn’t some over altering way but being able to perform basic tasks such as addition and little subtractions makes the whole thing easier.