There are more ways to open a PDF than most people realize — and the right one depends on your device, what you want to do with the file, and whether you already have the right software. This guide covers what a PDF actually is, how to open one on any device, and what to do when a PDF refuses to open.

One thing before you start: Make sure the PDF you’re about to open comes from a source you trust. If you’re not sure, VirusTotal is a free web-based tool that’s owned by Google Security Operations. It scans files against 70+ antivirus engines. Just upload the file and check the results before you open it.

Some PDF Basics, First

What is a PDF? PDF stands for portable document format. It’s a file type designed specifically for sharing. Once a document is saved as a PDF, its formatting stays locked in place no matter where it’s opened or what device it’s viewed on. The person receiving it sees exactly what you intended.

PDFs are also flexible in another way: A wide range of apps and programs can open them, which makes them one of the most reliable formats for sharing information across the web.

Want to learn more? Check out our article on What Is a PDF.

How to Open a PDF

Start by locating the file in your device’s file manager or downloads folder. On most devices, double-tapping or double-clicking it will open it automatically in whatever program is set as your default PDF viewer. If you haven’t set one yet, your device will ask you to choose.

The sections below cover how this works on each type of device.

Windows PC

On Windows, your web browser is the easiest option, no extra software needed. Just double-click the PDF in File Explorer, and it’ll open in your default browser (Edge, Chrome, or Firefox all handle PDFs natively). You can also right-click the file, select Open with, and choose the browser you prefer.

If you want extra features like annotation, form-filling, or document management, you’ll want either a dedicated PDF editor or to use Chrome, Edge or Firefox, which can annotate PDFs. See our guide to the best PDF readers for Windows.

Apple Mac

Mac computers come with Preview installed, which is a capable PDF viewer and light editor built right into macOS. Double-clicking any PDF should open it in Preview automatically. You can also right-click and choose Open With to use a different app.

For more options, check out our roundup of the best ways to read PDFs on Apple devices.

Android Phone or Tablet

On Android, head to your Files or Downloads app and tap the PDF. You’ll be prompted to pick an app to open it with. If you haven’t installed a PDF reader yet, your browser can handle basic viewing.

Need recommendations? We’ve put together a list of good PDF viewers for Android.

PDF Opener Online (No App Required)

If you can’t find the file on your device, or you just want a quick way to view and edit PDFs without installing anything, you have two good options. You can upload the file to cloud storage like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive and open it from there. 

Or, you can use PDF.Live’s online editor — drag in your file and you’re ready to read, annotate, or edit, all in your browser.

PDF Won’t Open — Now What?

A PDF that won’t open usually comes down to one of a few things. Here’s how to work through them.

The PDF Is Password Protected

If the creator locked the PDF, you’ll need the password to open it. If you’re the one who locked it and forgot the password, or if you need to adjust access settings, check out our guide on locking and unlocking PDFs. If someone else sent you a protected file, reach out to them for the password.

The File Didn’t Download Correctly

Try re-downloading the PDF from wherever you got it. Incomplete downloads can corrupt a file. Once it’s re-downloaded, try opening it again.

The App Needs an Update

An outdated PDF viewer can sometimes fail to open newer files. Update or reinstall the app you’re using, then try again. On Windows, you can also right-click the app, select Properties, go to Compatibility, and try running it in compatibility mode.

The Original File Has an Issue

If you created the PDF yourself, try going back to the original document (Word, PowerPoint, etc.) and re-exporting it as a PDF. If someone else made it, ask them to re-send the file. There may have been a problem on their end when it was created.

The File May Be Malicious

If a PDF arrives unexpectedly from someone you don’t know, it’s worth being cautious. Run it through an app such as VirusTotal before opening it. Don’t open a file if it is flagged.

The post How to Open a PDF on Any Device appeared first on pdf.live.

How do you permanently rotate PDF pages? If you need to change the orientation of one page in a PDF, several pages, or an entire PDF file you can do that easily with this online tool. Our tutorial shows you how to rotate and save PDF documents that way.

Rotating pages on a PDF is useful if you have single or multiple pages on a document that need to be displayed in a different orientation. Your PDF may be mostly in portrait, for example, and you need a few pages to be displayed horizontally in landscape. You can rotate one or multiple pages of your choice using the online PDF.Live editor. This editor functions entirely in your browser — no additional downloads are required.

Rotating PDF Pages with PDF.Live

First, drag and drop your PDF into the PDF.Live editor to upload it and select Edit PDF and Continue to start editing.

Once your PDF is displayed in the editor, select the Manage pages icon on the left side of the PDF.Live editor. This will show the pages of your PDF in thumbnail view, which is a condensed version that’s easier for editing pages. 

From here, you can click on a page within your PDF that you want to rotate. At the top of the page manager, you’ll see a few different buttons for managing your pages. We want the Rotate button. With the page you want to rotate selected, click the rotate button. 

You’ll see the rotation reflected in the thumbnail view. Once you’re happy with how the page is oriented, select Confirm to have your changes applied in the editor view. 

You can also quickly rotate a selected page by clicking the two circular arrow icons with a page selected. 

After you’ve rotated all the pages you need, you’ll need to Confirm your changes with the page manager and then download a new version of the PDF from the editor to see your changes reflected. This new version will contain the rotations and any other changes you’ve made.

Other PDF readers, such as Apple’s Preview app, will allow you to rotate pages and make other edits. Readers are separate applications that are downloaded on your computer, however, and won’t allow you to make changes in your web browser.

How do you rotate all pages in a PDF? From the PDF.Live Studio, select Manage pages in the upper left, and from the thumbnail view, select each page and rotate it.

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This tutorial explains how to add pages to a PDF. We cover three ways to do this, first using our online tool PDF.Live, then using a Windows-based PC, followed by using an Apple computer. 

Why would you need to add a page to a PDF? Perhaps you want to add pages from one PDF to another, so you don’t have to send a bunch of different PDFs over the internet. An example is if you are applying for a job, and you want to merge your resume and application into a single PDF document. Or maybe you want to add blank pages to separate sections of a larger document. If you have the original file format (Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, for example), you can add and remove pages easily and then export the file as a single PDF. If you don’t have the original .doc, .docx or .ppt, it’s still quite easy to do using a PDF editor.

We’ll show you three ways to merge and add pages to PDF files: Using (1) PDF.Live, (2) Adobe Acrobat on Windows, and (3) Preview on Apple computers.

Using PDF.Live to Add Pages to a PDF

In this section, we cover how to add pages from one PDF to another using the Merge feature on PDF.Live.

If you want to add specific pages from one PDF to another, and you need to extract them, we have an article on extracting pages from a PDF that will help you do this.

Once you have your PDFs, head over to the PDF.Live studio and select the Merge option. PDF.Live’s merge tool does not require any downloads and functions entirely in your web browser.

Drag and drop the PDFs that you want to merge into the tool. You can either upload your documents from your computer or select them if they’re already stored within your PDF.Live account. You can also select more than two PDFs if you have additional pages you’d like to add.

Note that the number of files that you’re merging and the final page count of the document will be listed at the top of the merge tool. 

Once you’re done, select Complete PDF. You will then be able to download or print your merged document!

Once this is done, if you are a PDF.Live subscriber, you can click the Edit PDF button to rearrange the PDF’s pages in the order you need them to be. Simply download the merged document and then drag and drop it in the editor. 

Open the PDF.Live editor and select Manage pages. You will see small thumbnail previews of each page in your PDF.

You can click and drag the pages to rearrange them in any order you’d like! Note: This is a premium feature. In the PDF editor, you can also click the 3 dots … next to a page to further manipulate the pages in your PDF.

One of these options is Insert a page. You can use this to directly add additional pages to a PDF document. If you want to insert a blank page, select Blank and then specify which page you want the blank page to be in your PDF. You can also upload a page from a separate PDF to be inserted into this PDF. 

Adding Pages to a PDF in Windows

The current version of Windows does not come with a default application to merge PDFs. You will have to use an online tool like PDF.Live, a tool to merge PDFs from the Microsoft App Store, or a PDF editor such as Adobe Acrobat. Here’s how Adobe Acrobat merges PDFs: Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat.

Find the Combine Files tool in the Tools menu.

Click Add Files and drag and drop the files you want to merge into the window.

Then, you can rearrange your pages as you see fit. Then click Combine.

You can also insert new blank pages by selecting Organize Pages and Insert on the right-hand side of the program.

Note: Adobe Acrobat requires a paid subscription to perform these actions. 

Adding Pages to a PDF in Apple Preview

Apple’s Mac computers have a PDF reader and editor installed in their systems by default called Preview. You can add new blank pages and merge documents with this program.

Open one document by double-clicking (Apple defaults to Preview). In the lower-left corner, you’ll see a + sign where you can insert another PDF file, insert a blank page, or import a page from an iPad or iPhone. For our purposes, we’re going to select another PDF on our desktop called “Myresume” and insert it into the job application.

Select the second document that you want to add. 

Use the thumbnail view on the left to click and drag to rearrange the pages.

Troubleshooting: Unable to Add Pages

If you are unable to use any of the above methods to add pages to a PDF, it’s likely that the originator of the PDF file has locked it. If a PDF has been locked or protected, it’s likely that you won’t be able to make changes to it. These are called owner-level permissions, and they are used when a content creator wants to copyright or protect their content from being altered without permission. If you know the originator of the document, you may be able to reach out and ask for the password to remove the protections. Otherwise, you won’t be able to alter someone else’s work.

What About Removing or Deleting Pages?

You might run into the same issues if you’re trying to remove pages from a protected PDF. For our tutorial on extracting, deleting or removing pages from a PDF, see How to Delete Part or All of a PDF.

ID 325736289 | Rudzhan Nagiev | Dreamstime.com

The post Add a Page to a PDF: Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on pdf.live.

How do I change a PDF to a JPG?

JPEG file formats have a lot of benefits. JPEGs are compatible with almost any image editing software and don’t have overly large file sizes. In fact, if you do have a large one, and you moderately reduce its size, you rarely lose quality online.

With JPEG being so versatile, it can sometimes be beneficial to convert a PDF into a JPEG, but the use case is not very common. PDFs can have multiple pages. JPEGs are single “pages.” In fact, it’s more common to convert JPEG to PDF, so you can create multipage photo albums, look books or e-books.

Still, you asked, so we’re answering how to change from PDF to JPG. In this article, we’ll be going through how to perform the conversion of PDF to JPG on most devices.

How to Convert a PDF to JPEG on Mac

Open the Preview app and use the app to open the PDF you want to export as a JPEG. For example, this handsome fellow may be on a specific page of a multipage PDF and you want him as a JPEG.

Once you navigate to the page that you want as a JPEG, go to File > Export. The menu that pops up should look like this:

Here, you’ll see several options for file formats to export the single page of the PDF. You can also choose the folder where the JPEG will be stored. Then, hit save.

Preview can export only one page of a PDF into a JPEG at a time. Multiple pages in a single JPEG are simply not possible; the JPEG file format does not support multiple frames. If you need a single document with multiple pages (like a photo collection), the PDF is meant for this.

If you have multiple JPEGs that need to be in a single document, consider converting them into a PDF file with PDF.Live’s online JPG to PDF Converter. As with any JPG to PDF converter, PDF.Live converts one JPEG at a time; then, you can use the merge feature to combine several PDFs into one, and arrange the pages as you like.

How to Convert a PDF to JPEG on Windows

Windows does not come with a PDF viewer built into the system. However, you can download an app like Adobe Acrobat that allows you to open and edit PDFs. This app also allows you to export PDFs in any format that you need to. Here is how to do it on Acrobat:

1. Open the PDF file with Acrobat.
2. On the toolbar, select “Export PDF”
3. In the export menu, select Image > JPEG
4. Leave the “export all images” unchecked and then Export

Alternatively, you can use a free PDF to JPEG app on the Microsoft Store. The ClearBar App, for example, is a Windows desktop alternative that includes built-in PDF conversion tools. Other options also exist on the Microsoft store, depending on what specific features you’re looking for.

With most PDF to JPG converters, you can only export one page of the PDF into a JPEG at a time. Or, the converter will convert the multiple pages into several different JPEG files. JPEGs have resolutions (e.g. 500×800) and don’t work well with multiple images within a single file. A single file with multiple pages would have a very high resolution and look extremely oblong. They wouldn’t be usable on most devices. PDFs are better for storing multiple images within a single file.

Consider using PDF.Live’s online JPG to PDF Converter if you need to have multiple JPGs in a single file to send around online.

Answers to FAQs About Changing PDFs to JPEGs

Can you export PDF to JPG?

Yes, in some programs, PDFs can be exported as images such as JPGs. You will need to use a PDF viewer like Adobe Acrobat to do this. When you have the PDF open, select Export and then click the Convert To dropdown. Select Image. 

From here, you can select which image format you would like your PDF to save as. Note that with Adobe Acrobat, the image will be exported within a .zip file. 

Is it possible to convert multiple PDF pages to JPG?

Yes, this method allows you to convert multiple PDF pages to JPGs. However, it will convert each PDF page as a separate JPG. This is because if all the PDF pages were exported as a single JPG, the image would be very stretched out and difficult to read. The above method will “pack” all of your JPG pages into a single ZIP file.

In this example, a PDF with 6 pages was converted to 6 separate JPGs: 

Can you just save a PDF as a JPEG?

Technically, no. You need to use a PDF conversion tool to export your PDF as JPG images. The export process may look very similar to saving a PDF, but differs slightly. A web browser, for example, can be used to view PDFs but won’t let you save PDFs as JPG files.  

What if I need a high-resolution JPG?

When converting your PDF to a JPG, you may have noticed that you can adjust the image quality of the exported JPG files. The higher the image quality, the higher the resolution of the resulting JPGs will be. Note that this will cause the exported JPGs to have a larger file size and take more memory to store. You can learn more about file compression quality in this post about lossy versus lossless file compression. 

What is the best way to convert a PDF to a JPG?

The Adobe Acrobat Reader is the best way to convert PDFs to JPGs. The free version of the reader lets you open and view PDFs with some simple commenting and highlighting abilities. It also allows you to export your PDFs to image files. However, the Adobe Acrobat Reader is a separate program that does require a download to use. If you need to convert your PDFs to and from other file formats, check out PDF.Live’s web browser-based conversion services. 

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Do you have multiple JPG (also JPEG) photos you want to combine into one place? It’s a common need, whether you’re digitizing old photo albums, sending a batch of images to a client, or just trying to cut down on clutter. The short answer: You can’t merge JPGs into a single JPG file. But you can convert them into a multi-page, high-resolution PDF, which works even better.

Here’s why and how to do it. 

Why Can’t You Merge JPGs (JPEG)?

A JPG is a single image with a fixed resolution. You’ll sometimes see this format listed as JPEG; they’re the same thing, just two names for the same file type. Resolution is the number of pixels in an image — those tiny colored squares that, from a distance, form a recognizable picture. A typical high-quality photo runs 1920 x 1080 pixels or higher.

Why Can’t I Merge JPGs?

This is because a JPG is considered a single image with a fixed resolution. The resolution of an image refers to how many pixels are displayed per inch of an image. A pixel is a tiny square that contains a color and the resolution represents how many of these squares there are in the image (width X height). If you look closely at your monitor or zoom in on a digital image, you will see these tiny squares that appear as an image when observed from a distance.

_{Image source: Wikipedia}

If you tried to combine two JPGs into one file, the result would be both images stacked into one giant image — not two separate photos in one file. A 100 x 100 image merged with another 100 x 100 image would produce one 100 x 200 image. Scale that up to full-sized photos, and you’d end up with a bloated, distorted mess that’s hard to view and impossible to browse like a photo album.

There’s no page structure in a JPG. No way to flip through images one at a time. That’s where PDF comes in.

How to Merge JPEG Into PDF Instead

PDFs are built for exactly this — holding multiple images in a single, browsable file, each displaying a separate image, clean, full-sized, and easy to scroll through. Think of it as a digital photo album where each photo gets its own page.

Here’s how to merge JPEG into PDF with PDF.Live:

1. Head to PDF.Live’s JPG to PDF converter.
2. Drag and drop your JPG files into the tool.
3. Click Convert. Each image becomes its own page in a PDF.
4. If the converter produces one PDF per image, head to the Merge PDF tool, drag in your converted files, and click Merge. You’ll download a single PDF with all your images inside.

If anything looks off — spacing, alignment, order — the PDF Editor lets you rearrange pages, crop, and adjust until it looks right.

When you’re done, you’ll have one clean file with all your photos ready to share or store. You can even compress the PDF before sending it, which makes it faster to email or upload without sacrificing much quality.

The post Combining JPG to PDF: How to Merge JPG Files Into One PDF appeared first on pdf.live.

In this tutorial, we’ll answer questions about flipping one page or all pages in a PDF document, including how to flip pages in a PDF and how to flip entire PDF files.

To flip a page in a PDF means changing how the page is oriented so that one or more of the pages are aligned in a different direction. For example, you may want to flip a specific page upside down or horizontal so the content is displayed differently from the rest. Or, maybe when you scanned the physical version of a document, a couple pages weren’t aligned correctly.

No matter your reason, PDF.Live’s editor allows you to flip PDF pages clockwise and counterclockwise so all the content is displayed correctly. In this guide, we’ll be showing you how you can use the PDF.Live editor to flip, or rotate, your PDF without any software downloads.

1. Upload your PDF to the PDF.Live editor by clicking Select a file or dragging and dropping your PDF into the PDF.Live editor. Click Edit PDF and Continue. 

You can also click an existing PDF that you’ve already uploaded to PDF.Live. If you’re flipping the pages of a document that you’ve scanned, you will need to save it as a PDF somewhere on your computer.

2. On the left side of the editor, select Manage Pages.

This will open the page organization menu for PDF.Live. It has page management features like moving, inserting, duplicating, and rotating pages.

You can cancel out of this menu at any time by clicking Cancel in the bottom right corner.

3. Click the page you want to rotate from the pages listed and click the Rotate button on the top of the menu.

This option will quickly rotate your page 90 degrees in the clockwise direction. This will only rotate the single page that you select. With a page selected, you can also click the circular arrow box to rotate that page.  

Once you’ve flipped your pages in the correct orientation, click Confirm in the bottom right corner to apply the rotations you’ve made to your PDF. If you click Cancel, your rotations will not be applied. 

PDF.Live allows you to edit PDF documents online for free (limited) with no software downloads required. For a small monthly fee, you can make unlimited changes, flipping, editing and converting as many pages or PDFs as you need, and you can cancel at any time.

The post How to Flip a PDF  appeared first on pdf.live.

• How do I add or put a signature to a PDF?
• How do I insert a signature into a PDF?
• How do I sign online PDF forms?
• How do you sign a PDF form or file online?
• How can you electronically write a signature on a PDF?

What’s the Best Way to Sign Things Online?

There are a few ways to sign documents online depending on what you need signed. Some will be free, while others require a payment or subscription. Some methods may create “legally valid” signatures, while others will serve for any unofficial document that requires acknowledgement that you read it.

PDF.Live provides an online signing tool that will let you either add your signature or upload a photograph of your signature. This tool is good for non-official use. 

How Do I Put My Signature On a PDF Online?

This software-free tool functions entirely in your browser, allowing you to upload your PDF, sign it, and download the signed file.

Once you locate the PDF you’d like to sign on your computer, you will be prompted to drag and drop it in the tool. Once you’re ready to start, select Sign PDF on the left side of the editing tools. 

Upon selecting this, you will then be taken into the PDF.Live editor. This online editor has additional functions that we encourage you to explore to make changes, edits, annotations, and more on your PDF. For now, we’ll be focusing on the signing feature.

3 Ways to Sign PDFs

In the PDF.Live toolbar, click the Sign option to sign your PDF using the PDF.Live editor. 

Clicking the New Signature button will cause a dialogue box to appear in the PDF.Live editor that details the different methods you can use to add a signature to your PDF.

Using this dialogue box, you can Draw, Type, or Upload a picture of your signature to be added to your PDF.
1. Draw a signature

If you’re comfortable using a mouse and don’t need your signature to be perfect, you can draw it by clicking and dragging your mouse in the blank area of the dialogue box.

The colored circles allow you to change the color of your pen and signature: black, red, or blue.

The paintbrush on the far right allows you to erase whatever marks you’ve made in the signature section and start from scratch.

In this example, we’ve used the red pen and medium thickness to create a cursive initial.

2. Type your signature

The type feature will create a cursive approximation of a signature by simply typing the keys on the keyboard you’d like to be included in your signature.

As with the draw feature, you can change the color of your signature to black, blue, or red. But you can also change the text style using the drop-down on the left side to have a few different variations of the signature using different fonts.

3. Upload and insert a signature

The third option is to upload a signature. Create New Signature, select Upload, and then drag and drop your signature file or choose a signature to upload from your computer.

The upload option lets you upload a picture of your signature for use throughout your document.

Select Choose a signature and then navigate to where the picture of your signature is located on your PC to upload it to the PDF.Live editor. This picture will need to be a .jpg, .png, or .jpeg. Take a photo of your signature using your phone camera or scan it using a document scanner and send it to yourself. Store this picture on your computer.

Once you’re done, you can check the box that says Create to use the signature later on whenever you need it. Your cursor will turn into your signature.

4. Move and place your signature

You can then click anywhere in your document to place a signature. Once you’ve placed it, you can resize it as you would any other PDF.Live object. Select the check mark when you’re happy with the placement of the signature. If you’d like to resize it, select a dot in one of the corners to drag it and resize it.

Created multiple signatures? Check your saved signatures by clicking Saved Signature under the Sign tab. 

Is an E-Signature Official?

PDF.Live’s signatures are not necessarily legally binding. (Always seek professional legal advice for your applicable jurisdictions.) They are considered electronic signatures. The signature feature from PDF.Live does not meet the U.S. Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act of 2000 (ESIGN) or the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA).

What is an e-signature?

An electronic signature, or e-signature, is defined as signing your name to a PDF online or using a computer or mobile device to draw your signature. Unlike a digital signature, an e-signature may or may not be legally binding (we’re not in the business to give legal advice, so if you need a legally binding document signed, check with an attorney).

Why would you need to create an electronic signature?

There are plenty of examples where e-signatures are used, including:

• Your annual Christmas letter, birthday cards, holiday wishes
• A letter of resignation (although your HR manager might require something more formal and legally binding)
• Notes to or from your children’s teachers, permission slips
• A memo from a manager to employees (PDF sent by email)
• Meeting notes with action items from team members

An electronic signature, or e-signature, helps indicate that you approve of or acknowledge a piece of information contained in a document. An official signature on a legally binding document typically requires a digital signature.

What Is a Digital Signature?

A digital signature uses a mathematical algorithm to verify that the signature you provided is verifiably yours. You can think of the digital signing process as similar to getting a virtual fingerprint. It’s much more complicated, but also more secure than an e-signature. PDF.Live does not provide digital signature services, which are typically offered through financial institutions, legal firms, and other businesses that handle sensitive documents.

Some examples of cases in which you’d need a digital signature are:

• Credit card/financial documents
• Legal documents
• Contracts (such as real estate closing documents)

If someone sends you a document and requires a digital signature, they’ll typically send you the document through a third party verified and secure service. Likewise, if you have a document that needs to be digitally signed (encrypted and secured), those services are worth checking out. Most offer one-time use fees or very low-priced individual plans. We describe two such services next.

Signing papers online with an e-sign service

For a secure and simple way to add a signature and manage files, look for encrypted document signing software, such as Rabbit Sign.

This may be ideal for anyone who deals with a high level of documents to be signed, but they don’t require a lot of complicated other features like checkboxes and fill forms (there are better platforms for this). Additionally, covered entities and healthcare businesses can register with Rabbit Sign for HIPAA-compliant e-signing. Its site says its signatures meet SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance (read about that here).

For the recipient, it’s as simple as typing their name in the field marked Insert signature (always read the terms and conditions so you understand the legality of the e-sign service).

Encrypted digital signature service

For official documents that require a signature that’s verified to be attached to your identity, consider a digital signature service that specializes in creating verified signatures for documents.

As an example, DocuSign provides electronic signature and notary services online. DocuSign is free to try and verifies the identity of a signatory through taking a photo of an ID card.

Services like DocuSign are intended for customers who need to repeatedly create signatures online or sign multiple online documents. If you only need to sign a couple of documents that don’t require verified proof of your identity, you may end up paying an excessive amount of money for an official electronic signature that you don’t need. You might also explore PandaDoc, Adobe Sign, Hello Sign, DocHub and many others that offer these secure, encrypted and verified signature services.

*The information in this article and throughout PDF.Live’s website is for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional legal advice. The signature feature from PDF.Live does not meet the U.S. Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act of 2000 (ESIGN) or of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA). 

The post How Do You Sign a Document Online? appeared first on pdf.live.

About PDFs and PDF Makers

If you browse the internet and download a document, chances are you’ve run into a portable document format, or PDF. They’re the best document format for sharing information through the web. But why is this?

When we create and share information in the form of a document, there’s a lot more than just words that are put on the page. Text size, font, margins, bolding, and photos and graphics are examples of extra information that a document may have.

The problem is that not every document editing tool agrees on document formatting or coding. Microsoft Word may have different font size settings than Google Docs, and the document will completely differ between these programs. This may not be a problem for you, but if you want to share a document with someone else, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be seeing the same document editor as you.

Enter the PDF: A document format that will always look the same for whoever opens it across any device. PDFs are excellent ways to share information, as the formatting settings remain the same across nearly every device.

This all sounds great, but you’re still wondering: How do I make a PDF?

In this how-to article, we’ll cover some of the various ways you can make PDFs. We’ll show you how easy it is to create a PDF from scratch, as well as how to convert a document to a PDF.

3 Easy Ways to Make a File into a PDF

1. Save as …

Did you know you can use most standard document editors to make PDFs? In this method, you save your document not as its default format (for example .doc, .xls or .ppt), but as a .pdf. 

When you’re building a document in a program like Microsoft Word or Apple Pages, sending it in a .doc or .docx file format results in the images, font, text size, and more potentially changing between programs. The person on the other end may not see the same document that you’ve built.

You can create a PDF in most document editors easily.

Note that you can’t just change the extension of a file from, for example, .doc to .pdf; the originating program (Microsoft Word) has to have a built-in function that allows you to Save as and select PDF.

2. Print to …

You can create a PDF using the print function from most document creation apps and web browsers. The short version is that if you have a document or web page open, you can press Ctrl + P (on a Windows PC) or Command + P (on a Mac) to print that page or document. 

You will see the printers that are connected to your network listed. Instead of selecting a printer, navigate to Save as PDF. Select the destination “Save as PDF” and you’ll create a PDF from that webpage.

Print box with red arrows pointing to Save as PDF and the PDF option button in the lower-left corner of the screen on a Mac.

In the above image, we used a Mac to print from Microsoft Word. If you’re using a Windows PC or different version of Word, your print function may look different, but most programs have this ability. Excel, PowerPoint, Google Docs and more will let you Save as a PDF in the Print section.

When you click Print, instead of printing a physical document, the document editor will save a copy of the document as a PDF. You will then be able to select the destination on your computer that you’d like the PDF to be saved in.

The idea is similar across most commonly used apps; select Print, find the PDF option (Print to PDF, Save as PDF) and follow the on-screen prompts.

3. Convert …

If you’ve got a document you want to change to a PDF, you can convert it with an online converter like PDF.Live. Our convert to PDF tool will let you upload a .doc, .xls, .ppt, or .jpg file and convert it to a PDF. You can try it for free. It’s web-based, so no software downloads are needed.

The converter tool is useful for when you need to change a PDF that you receive, as PDFs can be difficult to make major edits to.

Because the converter tool functions entirely online, it will work on Windows, Mac, Linux and ChromeOS! As long as your device can have a document file on it, the converter will work to convert the file to a PDF.

To make a PDF from another file, like an Excel or PowerPoint file for free online, check out PDF.Live’s free-to-try PDF conversion services.

With the online PDF maker, you simply drag and drop your .doc, .xls, .jpeg or .ppt into the tool, and PDF.Live will convert that file into a PDF. You’ll then be able to download a PDF of that document. This is handy for when you don’t have the capability to open that file right now and need a PDF version of it immediately.

PDF.Live’s conversion services don’t require additional software downloads to install or function — it works entirely in your web browser. PDF.Live is free to try and has many additional capabilities, like an online PDF fax and PDF editor. If you like it, you can check out PDF.Live’s unlimited monthly PDF service options.

Other Things to Do With a PDF Maker App

We conclude our how-to post by explaining how to make other changes in PDF files. PDF.Live offers limited free tasks every day, and for our super-users, we offer an affordable subscription that gives you unlimited PDF tasks and editing abilities. See our pricing page.

Making one PDF from several

Looking to make several PDFs into one? Create a single PDF from multiple PDFs with an online PDF merge service. With this PDF merge tool, simply drag and drop the PDFs that you want to merge into the tool and create a single PDF from those files. Follow the prompts to download your merged PDF.

Edit or change PDFs

Our web-based PDF editor requires no software downloads. Click and drag to the PDF editing tool. Use the editor to reorder the pages or remove pages you don’t want. Change the text, images, formatting, and more. Make small adjustments to a PDF directly from your web browser. Once you’re done editing your PDF, you can download the edited version directly from the web page. If you’re curious about learning more, check out Cool things the PDF.Live editor does.

Sign a PDF

One of the most popular features of our online PDF creator web-based app is the Sign a PDF tool. From any page on PDF.Live’s site, select PDF Editor. Then select Sign PDF. Click and drag your file to the online tool and then follow the prompts. You’ll be able to upload a photo of your signature and place it on a PDF, or you can use a mouse to physically draw your signature.

The post How Do You Make a PDF File? How to Create a PDF appeared first on pdf.live.

Maybe you need to remove a single page from a PDF to edit and then put it back in? Or, you have to take a couple of pages out and divide them into separate PDFs. Or, you just need to remove the page altogether. You are looking for how to separate pages from a PDF file or remove pages from a PDF.

In this article, we’ll be going through how to extract a PDF on Mac and Windows, as well as how to do it using our PDF.Live editor. We’re also going to explain how to delete one page from a PDF, blank pages from a PDF, or multiple pages from a PDF document. We’ll be going through how to delete specific pages from a PDF with our editor tool, as well as how to do it with our free PDF.live editor.

This post will answer how to:

• Split a PDF into multiple PDF files
• Extract one or more pages from a PDF
• How to extract pages from a pdf
• Divide large PDFs into smaller PDFs
• Save just one page or specific pages from a PDF
• Break apart and cut pages from a PDF
• Separate a PDF into individual pages or chapters
• Export just one page from a PDF
• Pull pages from a PDF
• Take pages out of a PDF
• Delete pages from a PDF
• Remove a PDF page
• How do I remove pages from a PDF
• How do I delete pages from a PDF online
• Is there a free PDF cutter online

Who knew there were so many ways to ask the same question? Whether you’re seeking to pull one page from a PDF file, extract and remove a page from a PDF, or separate one larger PDF into two or more smaller PDFs, the steps are basically the same.

First, Save Your PDF

Regardless of what you need to do, before we start, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve saved the PDF onto your computer. If you’re viewing the PDF online through a web browser, you’ll need to save it to your computer before you can do anything. To do this, you can select Print in your browser settings. If you have a Chrome browser, you’ll likely see something similar to this:

On a Mac, the save as PDF might look like this:

Rather than choosing your printer as a destination, select Save as PDF instead. This will not send the PDF to your printer, but it will download the document to your computer as a PDF. Follow your computer’s prompts to name the PDF and where you’d like to save it. Once you do this, you can edit the PDF as it’s now on your computer.

Extract a PDF Page with PDF.Live

PDF.Live allows you to extract, separate, and edit pages of a PDF all in one app. You can import your PDF by dragging the file into PDF.Live’s editor.

On the left side of the PDF editor, you’ll notice an option to Manage Pages from a PDF. This tool will be what we’ll be working with for extracting, splitting, and separating a page from a PDF.

If you want to extract a page to permanently remove it from the PDF, follow those prompts.

Extract PDF pages for other uses

To extract a page from a PDF and save it in its own file, click Manage Pages on the left side of the screen. You’ll then be able to adjust all the pages of a PDF in one place. 

Click Extract Page and then click the page that you want to download as a single PDF. Click the Extract button to download the selected page as its own PDF. This will work if you need to extract one or multiple pages from a PDF. They do not need to be consecutive and can be multiple pages. To deselect a page, simply click it again. 

Delete a Page

For deleting a page, once again click the Manage Pages button and then click a page in the list of pages. You will click the Delete Page button, which will remove that page from your PDF. 

This will not be saved until you select CONFIRM on the bottom right corner of the manage page menu. If you accidentally delete the wrong page, click Cancel and that page will not be deleted. 

Separate PDFs on Mac

Apple devices come with the Preview App, which allows you to open and edit PDFs on your computer. With preview, you can add, delete, move and copy pages within Preview.

• Delete PDF pages on a Mac
  • To delete a page, open Preview and go to View > Thumbnails to select the page or pages to delete and use the delete key on your keyboard. You can also go to Edit > Delete. Be careful! There’s no warning button to confirm that you want to delete the page; once you hit the delete key, the page is gone. You can, however, use the Undo command or the Revert Changes option to restore pages that you didn’t intend to delete. 
• Extract one page from a PDF on a Mac
  • The easiest way to extract a single page from a PDF is to open Preview and, from the thumbnail view, click and drag the page to your desktop.
• Move pages
  • To move pages, go to View > Thumbnails or View > Contact Sheet, and then drag the pages to where you’d like them to go in the PDF
• Copy pages from one PDF to another
  • Similarly to moving pages, go to View > Thumbnails or View > Contact Sheet and drag the thumbnail images from one PDF to the other.

Separate PDFs on Windows

Most Windows devices do not have a PDF editor included. However, when you’re using the above steps to obtain your PDF from a browser, you may have noticed that you can print specific pages of a PDF separately. If you see the destination called “Microsoft Print to PDF,” you can extract specific pages from a PDF.

There are other ways to remove pages from PDFs without external software. For example, using your browser of choice, you can open and view a PDF and select Print. Then, select Save as PDF and select the pages you want to keep. Then, click Save. If the page you want to delete is in the middle of the PDF, you may need to download two separate PDFs and then merge them. 

You can also use PDF.Live, which requires no software to be downloaded and installed on your computer.

• Extract Pages from a PDF
  • To extract pages from a PDF using Microsoft Print to PDF, first open the PDF you want to extract in a browser. You can drag the PDF to your browser to do this, or select Open With > “your browser of choice.”
  • Then, select the pages you want to extract. You can write “3” if you want to extract page 3, “3-5” if you want to extract pages 3 through 5, or “3,5” if you just want to extract pages 3 and 5.
  • Then, select print and those pages will save on your computer.

Extracting and Deleting PDF Pages FAQs

Why can’t I delete pages from a PDF?

The most common reason that you’ll be unable to remove pages or otherwise edit a PDF is if its permissions are set to read-only. Read-only means that the original creator has designated that only they can edit or change the document — everyone else can only read it.

If you’re the original owner of the PDF, you will need to edit the permissions of the PDF so that you can now edit it. To do this, find the PDF in your computer’s file explorer and right click it and select Properties. Then, navigate to the Security tab. If you’re the original owner of the document, you can change permissions by selecting Edit. You will see a multitude of options that you can allow or deny other users to access. If Write is set to Deny, select Allow and then press Apply.

Why does my PDF have a password?

If you aren’t the original owner of the PDF, you may need a password to access it and its permissions. You might be able to work around the password protection by selecting the Print option and then Save as PDF and save only the pages that you want. To learn more about securing a PDF and what permissions do, check out our article on locking, unlocking, protecting, and un-protecting PDF files.

You should know that sometimes, PDFs are locked due to copyright constraints — so you won’t be able to access them no matter what. This is usually with PDFs of e-books or other published documents.

The post How to Extract, Split, Separate a Page from a PDF appeared first on pdf.live.

This post answers queries about PDF editing, such as:

• How do I edit a PDF file or document for free online?
• How do you edit or add text to a PDF for free?
• How do I edit a PDF in Chrome?
• How do I amend or update a PDF document?
• How can I modify or change my PDF file?

The PDF is a strong file format for saving and sharing documents online. The PDF, or portable document format, preserves the format of the page and can be viewed on any modern internet browser. PDFs are great for contracts, Christmas cards, resumes, e-publications, and just about any document that needs to be shared online. 

Can you edit PDF files easily?

Yes, PDFs can be edited. However, you can’t edit them in the same way that you would be able to edit a DOC or DOCX file in a document editor. Why is this?

To understand why PDF editing is more difficult than editing a regular document, we first have to understand what a PDF is. 

A PDF is more similar to an image file than a document. It’s actually not meant to be easily modified, but rather act as a “final version” that you share across the web.

That said, it’s sometimes still necessary to make changes or edits to a PDF. 

Do you need special programs to edit a PDF?

Yes (and no). If you try to edit a PDF in a document editor like Microsoft Word, it will first try to convert your PDF to a document with a .doc extension. Many of the original formatting settings will be lost, and the document will look dramatically different from the original.

To mitigate this, to use a PDF reader or PDF editor. Not all PDF editors are the same. Some are apps that run from your computer, requiring an additional download.

A web-based PDF editor like PDF.Live’s editor functions entirely within your browser, allowing you to change your PDFs from the web rather than with a program.

So yes, you will need a third-party application to edit PDFs, whether it is an app that you download or an app that you access online (as in PDF.Live) through a browser.

How to Modify a PDF Online for Free

Head to PDF.live and click the button that says Edit or Sign PDF to see the options for altering your PDF. You can choose Edit PDF to add or remove lines of text in the document. Or, you can select Sign PDF to put your signature on the document. You can also Compress or Merge PDFs.

Regardless of what you need to do, PDF.live allows you to try our editor for free. Upon opening the PDF.live editor tool, you drag and drop the PDF you’d like to make modifications to and get started.

Let’s explore some powerful PDF editing features that PDF.Live’s web-based tool has. 

Editing text of a PDF

Once in the editor tool, you’ll need to select the Edit Text button on the right side toolbar.

Once you have this tool selected, you can click text in your PDF document to edit it. You’ll see that the PDF.Live tool will automatically detect the text style of the text you’re trying to edit.

Note: When editing text in a PDF that doesn’t have a font that’s compatible with PDF.Live, formatting settings may be lost. If you need to make extensive edits, you might consider opening the PDF in a document editor (convert from PDF to Word, for example) and re-making the document entirely. Then, you can convert it from Word back to a PDF.

Remember that the text that you’re editing will be outlined with a transparent blue box. If you want to edit text in another section, you’ll need to click that new paragraph before you can edit it. Below, you can see that we’ve edited the text and the PDF.Live editor has matched the style.

If you want to add more new text, you may consider the insert text function to make a new paragraph

Inserting text in a PDF

To insert new lines of text, select the Add Text tab of the PDF.Live toolbar. 

Then, click and drag onto your PDF in the section that you want to add the text to. You will need to alter the font style and size to match the original document, as the Add Text feature does not automatically format your text.

To do this, adjust the Font, font size, boldness, italics, and color under the Add Text tab. You will need to have your textbox selected to adjust this. 

Then, type the new line that you’d like to add.

Hide text and images on a PDF

In case there are certain text or images that you want to hide or “black out” before you print your PDF, PDF.live allows you to add shapes to the PDF in the form of a black box (or whatever color you prefer) that acts as a censor bar. While this is useful if you just need to quickly remove some information, this feature may not be accepted on an official legal document, and it is not the same as redacting text or images from a document.

Redacting content means completely removing any trace of it from a document. The only way to redact content is to alter the original file. 

Still, there may be use cases where you just need to cover content on a PDF, such as hiding content before you print it. You can do so on PDF.live’s editor by going to the Shapes tab and selecting the Square under the add shapes dropdown. 

Select the area you want to censor and click and drag to outline the text or image with a rectangle.

Then, click the rectangle outline and adjust the settings at the top of the settings bar. In the properties settings, click Fill and select Black (or whatever color you prefer). Make sure opacity is set to 100%, to hide the text or image.

Click and drag over the text you want to black out. 

Other ways to alter a PDF document

PDF.live has a lot of editing tools that you can get creative with. Here’s a brief overview of some of the many tools that are at your disposal:

• Add image: In the Popular Editing Tools section, you can add images from your computer anywhere you’d like on your PDF by selecting Insert Image. If you have a chart or extra picture you forgot to add to your family vacation collage, this is the perfect tool.
• Highlight: In case you want to draw attention to specific lines of text, in the Annotate section, you can select Highlight in the text options. Explore around these features to see which one is best for your specific need.
• Draw: This tutorial shows you how to draw on a PDF using PDF.Live’s markup tools.
• Rearrange pages: You can rearrange the order of pages in a PDF, as well as delete and add pages.
• Add signature: Although we cover this more in our PDF document signing guide, you can sign a PDF in the Popular Editing Tools section and selecting Sign. From there, you can follow the steps to create and paste your own signature throughout the document.

Download your edited PDF

Once you have completed your edits, it’s time to download the edited version. From the top right of PDF.live’s editor, select Download, Save, or Print. The download process should automatically begin. If you can’t find your PDF, look on your desktop or your computer’s Documents or Downloads folders.

PDF Editing FAQs

Can you scan and edit a PDF?

Yes, but the results may vary. If you scan a physical document and turn it into a PDF, you can technically edit it using the PDF.Live editor. However, the results may look artificial, with the sections you’ve edited standing out significantly. You can learn more about how this works in a related post called “What Optical Character (OCR) Means.”

If you want to edit PDFs, you’re better off tracking down the original digital PDF version of a physical document and directly editing that with the PDF.Live editor. This version will interface far better with the PDF.Live editor.

What is the best free PDF reader and editor?

PDF.Live is one of the best choices for PDF conversions and edits because it is free of software downloads. PDFs can be quickly uploaded and edited for when you need to make quick adjustments to your documents.

What other PDF tools does PDF.Live have?

We’ve included some of our PDF conversion tools, which allows you to change what file format your PDF is stored as. 

Alternatively, you can use our PDF compression tool to reduce the size of your PDF so that it’s easier to store and send across the web.

Want to merge multiple PDF files? There’s a tool for that too with the Merge PDF option.

The best part is that PDF.Live is free to try! The PDF.Live editor is incredibly convenient, easy to use, and the best paid PDF editor on the market. 

Do you need software to edit a PDF?

PDF.Live doesn’t require software downloads. All of PDF.Live’s services function in your web browser, rather than requiring an additional download to work on your computer. The only thing you’ll ever download from PDF.Live is your edited or converted PDFs!

No software is required to edit a PDF. Some PDF editors will require you to download a program on your computer that you have to open every time you want to edit a PDF.

The post How to Edit a PDF Online appeared first on pdf.live.