How to Minimize PDF File Sizes

There are a few ways that you can make PDFs smaller. Whether you’re sending documents over the web, storing them on your computer, or trying to print them, you want your PDFs to take up as little space on your computer as possible. This is because it can be a little more difficult to work with documents that have larger file sizes. Large documents take longer to open, can’t be shared via email due to data limits, and have a higher storage burden on your computer. 

In this article, we’ll go through some of the methods you can use to shrink the size of your PDF. These methods can be performed online through either PDF.Live or on your own as you manage the document. 

Using PDFLive to Change PDF File Sizes

Making your PDF smaller through PDF.Live is performed with the online PDF compression tool. You can learn more about how this tool is used in our article on reducing the size of a PDF. This tool will look through all the data that’s contained within your PDF file and trim the fat by eliminating data that’s not currently being used. 

The benefits of using the PDF.Live compression tool is that you don’t have to use a PDF or document editor to significantly alter your PDF. You can even select the level of compression!

 Other methods may involve changing the document by eliminating content that’s in your PDF. The compression tool will preserve all existing content while still making your PDF smaller. 

Other Ways for Shrinking PDF File Sizes 

If the PDF.Live compressor hasn’t shrunk your PDF enough, there are a few other methods available for making PDFs smaller. 

1. Split the PDF

PDFs can sometimes be hundreds of pages long — but does yours really need to be? Consider splitting a larger PDF into multiple smaller PDFs so it’s easier to send and receive essential portions of the document to other people. To do this, check out our post on splitting a page or pages from a PDF using the PDF.Live editor. 

2. Remove Images

Oftentimes, high quality images lead to PDFs having extremely large file sizes. This is because images contain a lot more data when compared to text. If a picture isn’t essential to your document, it’s sometimes best to remove it entirely. Alternatively, you can try to find a lower-quality version of a picture to put in your PDF. 

3. Reduce Page Size

In the page setup of your original document editor (e.g. Microsoft Word, Google Docs), you may have an option to change the paper size of your PDF. A standard document is 8.5” x 11”, but your PDF may not need to be that large. Explore the Paper size options in your Page setup to make your PDF smaller. However, take note that your PDF may not properly print out on a standard printer.  

4. Do Not Scan All PDFs

Scanning PDFs from a printed, physical version of your document may be convenient, but it actually leads to a PDF having a much larger file size. This is because a scanned PDF is considered an image instead of a bunch of text by your computer. As we mentioned earlier, pictures contain a lot more data than raw text, so the file size will consequently be much larger. When possible, instead of scanning PDFs, try to find the original digital version of the document and save it as a PDF. 

The post How to Make PDFs Smaller appeared first on pdf.live.

How do you reduce the size of a PDF file? You could remove PDF pages, lower the resolution (quality) of the file, or physically reduce the width and length of the pages. First, though, use PDF.Live’s online compression tool to resize PDFs so they’re easier to share.

The PDF is one of the best file formats for sharing documents across the web. The primary reason is that PDFs preserve the formatting settings that were created in the original version of the document. Whereas files such as Word Docs lose settings between different computers, as people use different document editors, PDFs will always look the same to anyone that views them. 

With PDFs being so useful for sharing information online, it’s important that they’re not too large to share. Some sharing methods, such as emailing PDF attachments, have file size limits. File size refers to how much space (in bits) a file takes up on a computer. A PDF, just like any other computer file, has a file size. This size can be found next to wherever the file is located on your system. (From most laptops and desktops, you can right-click to get the file information, including file size.)

If email has a limit on how large files can be, how can you share your PDFs with larger file sizes? 

Try Removing and Replacing Large Images

The first thing you can do is remove high-quality images from your PDF, which requires editing the original file in whatever program created it (Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Microsoft PowerPoint, etc.). Images with high resolutions will take up a lot of space and bloat your PDF file sizes.

However, if you don’t want to remove your images from the PDF, or you can’t because you didn’t create it, you can look to compress your PDF. PDF.Live offers an online PDF file compression service to help reduce your PDF size.

How to Reduce a PDF’s File Size

1. Head over to the PDF.Live Studio and select the Compress tool.

Drag and drop your PDF into the file compressor, or click Select File to Compress and navigate to where the PDF is located on your computer. You can also compress PDFs that you’ve already uploaded to the PDF.Live studio. 

Once you’re ready to compress a PDF you’ve found, click Continue.

2. Click Compress PDF. 

Adjust the Compression Level of your document. Higher compression may result in artifacting in your PDF (such as formatting settings lost or images looking pixelated). 

The online tool will begin compressing your PDF. It may take a few seconds. 

3. Download your Compressed PDF.

Once your PDF is compressed, you can select Download to view it. Next to our original file, we can see the compressor has helped reduce the file size. 

If you want to reduce your PDF file size even further or package a PDF with multiple files to send in a single file, our separate article covers how you can zip any file or multiple files, including a PDF, on any device.

Illustration 19067611 | Svietlanan | Dreamstime.com

The post How Can I Reduce The Size of a PDF? appeared first on pdf.live.

PDFs are versatile document formats because they preserve formatting settings across any device. However, they can sometimes be tricky to work with, requiring special programs or apps to manage, alter, or adjust them. Fortunately, PDF.Live makes it easy to copy text from PDFs using the PDF.Live editor.

In this article, we’ll show you how you can copy text from a PDF and paste it wherever you’d want. We’ll also show how to copy text from one PDF and paste it in a second PDF. 

How to Copy Words From PDFs

1. Drag and drop your PDF into the PDF.Live editor. 

You can also navigate to where your PDF is located on your computer and drag it from the file explorer into PDF.Live. 

2. In the PDF.Live toolbar, select Edit Text. 

3. In your PDF, you can now select text by clicking blocks of text. Highlight the text block you want to copy by double clicking it. You can then click and drag over the text. Press the Ctrl and C keys on your keyboard. 

This will copy the text to your computer’s clipboard. The clipboard is where your computer stores all of the text, images, and other information that you’ve copied at some point. 

Did you know you can access your Windows 11 computer’s clipboard at any time by pressing the Windows and V keys on your keyboard?

How to Paste Text From a PDF

1. Open a Word document or another PDF (this will also work with Google Docs). In this example, we’ll be pasting the text into another PDF using the PDF.Live editor. We’ve opened a new PDF the same way we did above. 
2. Select the area you want to paste your text in the PDF or document. 

In a document, you can select anywhere to paste your text. If you’re using the PDF.Live editor you may need to select somewhere that text already exists. You can also select Add Text in the toolbar to add a new text box. 

Clicking anywhere on the document with the Add Text tool will create a text box you can then paste your text into. Select the text box you’ve created. 

3. Press the Ctrl and V keys.  

If you want to check your clipboard history for all the different pieces of text that you’ve copied, remember that Win + V will let you access this on a Windows device.

In the above PDF, we’ve pasted the text from one PDF into a new text box in a second PDF. You’ll notice that the formatting settings of the text weren’t preserved between PDFs. For documents, this may work the same way, depending on your version of Microsoft Word or whatever application you’re working with. 

The text you paste will likely use the font and formatting settings of the document that you’ve pasted it in — unless you select to paste unformatted text. When you select Unformatted Text, this can be a little confusing … because it’s not, technically, unformatted; what this really means is you want to paste the text to match the destination document’s formatting, rather than bring over the source document’s formatting.

Here’s how that works:

• Microsoft Word: Right click and select Paste Special >> Unformatted Text. You can also use ctrl + shift + V to paste and match the destination document’s formatting. You’ll also find paste options in Word’s menu: Edit >> Paste special… or Paste and Match Formatting.
• Google Docs: Right click and select Paste without formatting (or ctrl + shift + v). 

PDF Copy and Paste Troubleshooting

As you work with PDFs, you may notice that some text in certain PDFs won’t allow you to copy with your PDF reader. In fact, no software seems able to recognize the text.

Here is an example of a document that has text that can’t be copied. 

This is likely because you’re working with a scanned PDF. A scanned PDF is more similar to a picture than a PDF, as your document scanner essentially takes high-quality photos of a document for electronic usage. To understand why this happens, see our article on optical character recognition.

The text in a scanned document is tricky to copy. You’ll need to find an image-to-text converter that combs through an image and extracts all the text that’s found. By searching “image to text converter” you’ll find a few tools that will let you do this. These tools may not be 100% accurate but are much simpler than re-typing every line of text from a document that you’ve scanned. 

The post How to Copy and Paste Text From a PDF appeared first on pdf.live.

PDF.Live’s editor tool is a powerful online tool for changing, measuring, and reading PDF files. Our editor can add and delete pages, convert PDFs to fillable forms, annotate a PDF, and more. The editor works entirely in your browser, so there’s no need for a separate download to view and edit your PDFs.

The PDF.Live editor does a lot of cool things. In this article, we’ll go over the cool stuff that you can do using the PDF.Live editor, including advanced tools. All of these editing features are included with a PDF.Live subscription.

Basic PDF Editing Features

These are the basic functions that you can do with PDF.Live (with links to more help articles to see how it works).

• Getting started: How to edit a PDF online
• Add pages to a PDF
• Delete pages from a PDF
• Rotate PDFs
• Extract pages from PDFs
• Print a PDF  

Advanced PDF Editing Features

These are a few more advanced things you can do with PDF.Live:

• Add links to a PDF
• Annotate PDFs
• Draw custom shapes
• Create fillable forms from PDF files
• Merge several PDFs into one
• Resize PDFs

8 ‘Hidden’ PDF Editing Tools

The following aren’t really “hidden” features, but they are lesser known features that may surprise and delight you! 

1. Search

The PDF.Live editor can search for text in your PDF similarly to a document editor. This tool is located in the upper-left corner of the PDF viewer in the PDF.Live editor. It’s marked by a magnifying glass icon with the text “Search”. 

Using this tool, you can enter text in the search bar to find all the instances of that text within your document. You can search case sensitive, which will only look for the exact lower or upper case text that you type. This is useful for finding a specific word or phrase that you’re looking for in your document. 

2. Add Image

The Add Image tab lets you add new images anywhere in your PDF. Click the Add Image button and your cursor will turn into a + sign. You can then click anywhere in your PDF to add an image. 

Click your PDF and you’ll be prompted to navigate to an image that you’ve saved on your computer. The image will need to be a .PNG or .JPG file. 

Once uploaded, your new image will appear in the PDF. Click and drag it to adjust its location and click the blue circles around its perimeter to adjust the size. To delete the image, either click the trash can or the delete key. 

3. Document Conversion

Want to immediately convert your PDF to a new format like a Word doc, Excel, or PowerPoint? The Convert tab allows you to do just that. Simply click Convert and then the conversion feature of your choice. 

Once you’re ready, click Convert to PowerPoint to have your PDF converted to a PPT. 

Download the powerpoint version of your PDF once the conversion is completed. 

4. Compression

While we’re in the Convert tab, check out the Compress feature, which will help reduce the file size of your PDF for easier storage on your computer, tablet, or smartphone. 

Click Compress and then adjust the compression level slider in the dialogue box. A higher compression level will have a smaller file size, but may come at the cost of your PDF’s quality. Click Compress PDF when you’re ready. 

Download your compressed PDF once it’s been compressed. Look at how much we’ve reduced the size of this PDF!

5. Add Arrows

Want to call out or draw attention to a specific area within your PDF? Under the Shapes tab, you’ll see the option to add an Arrow when you click the dropdown next to Shape. 

If you click and drag on your PDF, you’ll then create an arrow pointing at something in your document. Once you’ve created an arrow, you can click and drag the blue circles on either end of the arrow to adjust where it’s pointing. In the Shapes toolbar, you can adjust the color of your arrow. See the arrow we’ve created in our PDF:

6. Change PDF view

Sometimes a different perspective is useful for editing a PDF, especially if the PDF is formatted horizontally rather than vertically. With the Change View feature, you can change the way you display the pages of the PDF you’re currently editing. Find the change view feature on the bottom left of the PDF.Live editor. 

From here, you can change how zoomed the view of the PDF is and whether it’s scaled to fit the page vertically or horizontally. 

7. Add signatures to your PDF

Need to quickly sign a document? The Sign tab of the PDF.Live editor can help you add a signature to your PDF with a few different options for how you create your signature. 

Click New signature to either draw, type, or upload a picture of your signature. 

• Draw – Draw your signature in the grey box to be added to the PDF.
• Type – Type your name and have a cursive signature version added to your document. 
• Upload – Upload an existing image of a signature that you’ve wrote. 

Once you make your signature, click Create and PDF.Live will turn your cursor into your new signature. You can then click anywhere in your PDF you want the signature added. 

You can also access past signatures you may have made by clicking Saved Signature

8. Add checkers, crosses, and dots to your PDF

We’ve covered how to make a PDF a fillable form before, but what if you just want to add a checkmark? With the Checkbox, Cross, or Dot buttons under the Form Fill tab, you can add these unique shapes to your PDF. 

Click and drag where you want your new shape to be placed on your PDF. You can resize existing checks, crosses, and dots by clicking the blue circles around the shape. Delete the shapes with the delete key or by clicking the trash can. 

The post What Is a PDF Editor? What Does the PDF.Live Edit App Do? appeared first on pdf.live.

We created this tutorial to help people who are searching for ways to connect multiple PDFs. When we gathered all the search terms, we couldn’t believe how many ways people ask, “How do you merge multiple PDFs into one?” We aim to answer 10 versions of the same question, How to …

1. attach PDF files to each other
2. connect PDFs
3. consolidate PDFs
4. convert multiple files to a PDF format
5. create one PDF from multiple files
6. join PDFs
7. make a single PDF file from multiple files
8. put multiple files into one PDF
9. save several PDFs into one
10. turn multiple PDFs into one

So, if you asked any of those 10 or one of the many other synonyms (oh, the English language…), you’ll find answers here.

PDFs are pretty easy to create and are meant to be shared across the web. 

You will need to turn all of your other files into PDFs before you can add a PDF to another PDF. In the PDF.Live convert PDF page, you’ll see some popular file formats that you can convert to PDFs. For example, you can convert DOC, XLS, and PPT files to PDF documents.

You cannot create one PDF from multiple files that are not PDFs. All of your files need to be PDFs before you can combine them.

Is There an App to Combine PDF Files?

Yes, there’s an app that easily allows you to put multiple PDFs into a single file. The PDF.Live merge tool is a web-based app that allows you to make a single PDF file by uploading multiple PDF files to the tool and combining them. PDF.Live’s tool is entirely online, which means no additional software or downloads are required to turn multiple PDFs into one.

Wondering how to join PDFs on Mac? This tool works on Mac! Any Apple laptop or desktop with a modern web browser can use it. If you need to compile PDFs offline, Apple’s built-in Preview app works too.

How to connect PDFs on Windows? PDF.Live is also a great option for Windows users. Unlike Apple computers, many Windows PCs do not come with a PDF reader installed. We offer a limited number of tasks for free; super-users can subscribe for a low monthly fee.

How to Group Multiple PDFs with PDF.Live

1. Head to PDF.Live’s PDF Merge tool.
2. Click Select File to Merge. Or Drag and Drop your PDF into the tool.

3. Once your first PDF is uploaded, you’ll see the option to upload a second PDF.

4. Click Merge PDF to join all of your PDFs into a single document.

After you select Merge PDF, you’ll see the action icons that read Document Merging in Progress.

5. After a few seconds, your joined file will be available to download via the Download button.

When your connected PDFs are ready, you’ll see a message that says so. Click the download button.

Need to reorder the pages of the multiple PDFs you’ve turned into one? Select Edit PDF and follow the prompts to upload your newly connected PDF to change the page order.

Misc FAQs About Combining PDFs

Can I combine multiple PDFs into one?

Adding two or more PDFs together is simple using PDF.Live. This tool allows you to add as many PDFs as you want to create a single document. 

1. Upload your 1st PDF.
2. When prompted, upload your 2nd, 3rd, etc., PDF.
3. When all are uploaded, select merge.
4. Wait patiently; it takes only a few seconds, but larger files take longer.
5. Download!

Can you combine PDFs of different sizes?

Yes, multiple PDFs of different sizes can be combined into a single PDF file. A PDF file can have landscape and portrait pages, as well as 8.5 x 11 standard paper size mixed with other custom sizes. You may run into issues when you print a PDF with varying page dimensions. If you’re set up to print to 8.5 x 11 paper, for example, all PDF pages default to be scaled to fit the 8.5 x 11 dimensions.

Is PDF.Live software that must be downloaded and installed?

No, PDF.Live is an online, web-based service that doesn’t require bulky software downloads to function. Simply head over to PDF.Live to view the merge PDF and many other tools for working with PDFs. We ask only for your name and email address to create an account, so we can ensure our users are real people; we don’t sell your information.

Can you explain how to consolidate PDFs and other files into a single file?

If you don’t want to merge PDFs, but you want to put all of your files in a single compressed folder for sharing, consider the benefits of a ZIP file. Zipping allows you to “smoosh” multiple file types together into a single format (.zip) for easy sharing.

Otherwise, you can use PDF.Live’s PDF joining tool to combine multiple PDFs.

How do you unmerge PDF files?

When you unmerge a PDF, you split that one PDF into multiple components. Think of it as packing a moving truck full of furniture, clothes, and other belongings. All that stuff is stored in a single space so it can be easily transported. Then, when it arrives at its destination, you “unmerge” that truck as you unpack.

There are three methods we’re going to cover for unmerging a PDF online: delete pages, using PDF.Live, and using a PDF reader.

Method 1: Unmerge PDF by Deleting Pages

One of the simplest ways to separate a PDF is to create copies of the original and delete pages from the new one. To illustrate, let’s say we have a 60-page PDF called kayaking.pdf that we want to break into two, smaller PDFs, one with 15 pages and one with 45 pages.

1. Make a copy of the original file, kayaking.pdf, by right-clicking and selecting Duplicate, if you’re on an Apple, or Copy, or Open as copy if you’re on a Windows PC.
2. Name the new file. For our example, we’ll name it kayaking-15-page.pdf.
3. Rename the original file. For our example, we’ll rename kayaking.pdf to kayaking-45-page.pdf.
4. Open the 15-page PDF in any reader or using PDF.Live’s editing tool. Delete the 45 pages that you don’t want.
5. Do the same for the 45-page PDF; delete the 15 pages you don’t want.

For more tips on deleting pages from a PDF, read our related post.

Method 2: Split a PDF using PDF.Live

1. Upload your PDF to the PDF.Live editor. Select Edit PDF.
   Click and drag your PDF to the PDF Live online editor to unmerge pages from the PDF.
2. On the left-hand side of PDF.Live, click the Manage Pages button.
   

This allows you to view and manage the individual pages of your PDF. You can change the order that the pages of your PDF are in if you want to unmerge specific sections of your PDF, or even delete pages if you want to get rid of them entirely.

3. Click Extract Page and then click the pages that you’d like to unmerge from your document. Once you’ve selected them you can then click Extract to download a PDF with just those pages in it.
4. Then, click the Extract Page again to return to managing the pages. Then, click the pages you want removed from your current PDF and click Delete Page. Once you’ve deleted all the pages you want removed, click Confirm. 

Method 3: Unmerge a PDF Using Your Web Browser or PDF Reader

1. Open your PDF using a web browser or PDF reader.
2. Select Print.

When selecting print, a dialogue box will open up with a few print settings. Although you could use this to print a physical version of your document, we’ll be using it to download a new version of your PDF. Therefore, select Microsoft Print to PDF or otherwise Print as PDF.

3. In the Pages area, select Custom.

Here, you’ll designate a page range that you’re going to print your new PDF as. Remember — we aren’t printing a physical version of the PDF, but rather downloading a new version of the PDF on our computer.

If you combine two PDFs into one and know that pages 1-3 are PDF #1 and pages 4-6 are PDF #2, you can print two separate documents with page ranges 1-3 and 4-6.

While this method is effective and free, it is a bit tedious.

Try Our PDF Merger for Free

If you’re interested in easy combining and editing of PDFs using a web browser, consider trying out PDF.Live today for free. PDF.Live allows limited free daily transactions of PDF management services. We have PDF converters, a PDF editor, and even online PDF fax services, so you can skip the fax machine!

The post How to Combine PDF Files: Split and Merge PDFs appeared first on pdf.live.

• How do you add shapes to a PDF?
• Can you insert or draw shapes on a PDF?
• Show me how to circle something in a PDF?

Drawing Custom Shapes with PDF.Live’s Editor

There are endless possibilities to how you edit your PDFs using PDF.Live’s editor. This extends to creating shapes, as the PDF.Live editor allows you to draw free-form shapes. With the editor, you can draw a few preset shapes on a PDF — circle, square, polygon, etc. — and you can draw custom shapes on any PDF.

1. Upload your PDF to the PDF.Live editor.

You can either drag and drop your PDF to upload it, or click Select File and navigate to where your PDF is located on your computer. Once you’ve uploaded your PDF, click Continue to open the PDF.Live editor and get started.

2. In the PDF.Live toolbar, select Shapes to add a shape to your PDF.

The Shapes panel will open at the top of the PDF.Live editor, which allows you to create a number of different shapes in your PDF. 

Your cursor will then turn into a plus sign, signifying that you can start drawing your shape anywhere on your PDF. By default, you’ll be drawing a rectangle. 

To do this, hold down your left-click button and drag your mouse to start drawing a shape. Once you’ve made your shape, you can select the Pan tool that looks like a hand or simply click the shape you’ve created to reposition it. You’ll be able to see if you have the shape selected if it has multiple blue circles around the perimeter and the toolbar underneath.

The Toolbar allows you to change the formatting settings of your shape. If you want to change the shape’s color or add an internal fill, you can do so from here. You’re also able to change the thickness or erase the shape entirely. 

3. For other free-form but preset shapes, check out some other icons within the Shapes tab. 

For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll be focusing on the Polygon and Polyline functions. These tools allow you to draw multiple straight lines within a single shape. The rectangle that we drew before was fine, but with the polygon function, we’ll be able to create more complex shapes.settings to change how your shapes appear on your PDF.

Select Polygon and click anywhere in your PDF. A line will then be anchored to that point. From there, you can click somewhere else in your PDF to create an endpoint for that line. You’ll see a line appear between the anchor and your mouse cursor, so you know what the line will look like.

Once you’re drawing the final line within your shape, attach it to the beginning of your shape, which is marked by the outlined box. You can also double-click at any time to have the polygon tool automatically attach a line from the beginning of your shape to the final line you’ve drawn. 

Try experimenting by making shapes of your own on your PDF! Try adjusting the formatting settings to change how your shapes appear on your PDF.

The post How to Add Shapes to PDF Files appeared first on pdf.live.

When you need to create a fillable PDF, we have an online tool that lets you add “boxes” that will allow you or others to fill in information. This is especially helpful for job applications, surveys, and other online form needs.

The PDF is the best format to send documents online. PDFs are compact and preserve formatting settings across any device. But let’s say you need to make a contract, send out a survey, or invite someone to apply for a job. How do you make sure the recipient can fill out the areas that you’ve designated?

You need a fillable form PDF where you can designate specific areas that are marked as fillable fields. A fillable field allows someone else to insert text into that spot, so they can “fill out” the PDF before sending it back. This is useful because not everyone has access to a PDF editor, and converting a PDF to a Word document can create issues with formatting, depending on the tool you use to do it. (Try PDF.Live’s PDF to Word converter).

So how do you make a fillable PDF? How do you designate the areas you’d like to be marked as fillable? In this article, we’ll be going through everything that you need to know about PDF Fillable Forms.

Can I Create a Fillable Form for Free?

Looking for ways to create fillable PDF forms for free online? If you need to create just one fill form, sign up for a free trial of PDF.Live. You can cancel at any time, before you are charged. If you have a high volume of fill forms to create, or if you need to use the tool regularly, subscribe to PDF.Live. The fees are very reasonable (see pricing page for latest subscription rate and offers), and includes practically unlimited conversions and edits every month.

Convert an MS Word Doc into a Fillable PDF Form

If you’ve created the form in a program like Microsoft Word, you’ll need to export it as a PDF. It’s ok if you only have this document as a DOC file! We can convert your Word docs to PDFs. 

Head over to PDF.Live’s DOC to PDF converter. Click Select File to Convert and then navigate to where the Word doc is stored on your computer. Then, upload it. Alternatively, drag and drop your Word doc into the converter. Then, click Convert Doc to PDF.

You can then download your converted PDF, or you can select Edit to change your PDF right in PDF.Live’s online editor.

Steps to Convert a PDF to a Fillable Form

Making edits to PDFs is easier than ever with PDF.Live’s Edit tool. While this tool has a host of editing options, the one we’ll be highlighting here is the Text Field and Free Text features. These features allow you to designate areas as fillable. First, import your PDF into the PDF.Live editor. 

You can either drag and drop your file or select the file wherever it is saved on your device. Once your PDF is in the editor tool, select the Edit Text option at the top of the screen. A toolbar will then appear with some useful tools. 

We’ll be focusing on the Forms tab…

From left to right, these are:

• Add Text — Create a text box field that you or the recipient can type in. 
• Add Cross — Create a cross box for the recipient to X out. 
• Add Check — Create a checkmark box for the recipient to select to mark something as “checked.”
• Add Dot — Adds a bullet dot to your form. 
• Insert Signature Field — Add a field for the recipient to sign. 
• Insert Text Field — Adds a text box marked to be filled by the recipient. 

Let’s use the Text Field tool to create our fillable form!

This feature allows you to click and drag your mouse to create text fields in your PDF. The person receiving the PDF will be able to enter text into the field while viewing the PDF on software like a PDF reader or a web browser.

To do this, click and drag to create a box in the area that you want the person filling out your PDF to be able to type in. 

If the field is initially too large, click and drag the blue dots around the perimeter of the box to resize it to fit your form. 

The text that they can fill in will appear like this in the PDF: 

The text fields you’ve specified can then be filled out by the recipient. You can even experiment with typing text in the forms to make sure they’re in the right areas. This only previews the text; the background color of the text won’t appear in the final downloaded version.

Once you’re happy with the state of your fillable form, hover over the Menu and click Download or Save As. You can also just click the icon with the arrow pointing down. Opening the new downloaded version of your PDF will then have several fillable fields that you’ve designated. Users will be able to type in these fields and only these fields.

Once the form is filled out, it can be downloaded or saved as a new PDF. If the PDF is being viewed on a web browser, you will be prompted to download the form with the “changes” made. These changes are the lines of text that the recipient has added.

The PDF that has been filled out will now be able to be viewed with the changes made.

Now What? Filling in a PDF Form

When you send the PDF form to someone, how do they fill it in? Do they need special software to fill in a PDF, and are there free versions?

For Mac and Apple users, the Preview app recognizes fillable fields. Preview is the default PDF reader on Apple laptops and computers, so there is no need to download and install special software. However, on older devices, Preview may have been removed, so you can use an online PDF reader to open and complete the form.

On modern Windows PCs, Microsoft Edge is typically the default PDF reader that recognizes fillable fields. Older PCs may come equipped with Adobe Acrobat Reader. In a separate post, we cover free and paid Windows apps for reading PDFs.

All Windows and Apple devices can work with PDF.Live’s online editing tool, including fill forms. Because the app is web-based and works in your browser, you won’t need to download and install any special software to complete your form. Ready to start? Edit a PDF.

How to Write on a PDF Form (Without Fillable Fields)

Sometimes, it’s not possible to add fillable fields to a PDF. The PDF may be locked, or the OCR (optical character recognition) isn’t picking up the text fields. Or, perhaps someone sent you a PDF that doesn’t include fillable fields, but you want to provide information. There is a way to write on a PDF form without using form-fill fields. 

You can add your own text boxes in the PDF.Live editor if you received a non-fillable form that you need to fill out.

Open the document in the editor tool and go to the Free Text option under the Forms toolbar.

This redirects you to the Add Text tab and allows you to click an area on the PDF that you want to type words in. For example:

Before you type the text, you can change the style of it, including the color, font, and alignment. You can also change this later on by selecting the text again with the Move hand and then adjusting the formatting settings found at the top toolbar. 

Remember that if the words don’t quite sit properly on the line, you can always adjust where they’re placed by dragging the outer edges of the box to adjust where the text box is placed. Adjust this while the Move tool is selected.

What Are Fillable Forms Used For?

PDF.Live’s fillable form feature can be used for myriad purposes, including:

• Survey responses
• Client intake forms
• Nondisclosure agreements
• Job applications
• Rental applications
• Maintenance requests
• Event signups/registrations
• Volunteer signups
• Membership applications
• Purchase orders and invoices

Speaking of invoices, PDF.Live’s Invoice Template is a downloadable PDF that you can use and customize at no additional cost to your PDF.live subscription.  

Be careful about asking for and sharing sensitive personal information such as Social Security Numbers. Follow local, state and federal privacy laws when sending personal information through PDF, whether by email, online form, fax and other methods of delivery.

The post How Do I Make a PDF Form Fillable? appeared first on pdf.live.

You can make an invoice template yourself, but a professional invoice usually has additional small touches that take time to create. If you’re looking for professional invoice templates that you can customize and use for your business, PDF.Live has three different invoice templates that you can choose from. 

In this blog post, we’ll show you how you can use these invoices for your own business using PDF.Live. 

3 Free PDF Invoice Templates

You’ll find 3 free PDF invoice templates here.

The three free templates that PDF.Live has are: 

• Small business invoice: A quick invoice with six line items and a blue accent color. This invoice template is a simple but professional choice for your business. As with all the invoices, you can insert your own logo at the top. 
• Formal business invoice: A formal invoice with more line item areas. This invoice includes an area for the invoice #, PO #, and invoice date. You can add your own logo on the top left. 
• Simple monochrome invoice: If the free invoice colors clash with your logo, we offer a simple monochromatic invoice, which is a simple black-and-white color scheme that will save on ink if you print and send it. 

When choosing an invoice, you can preview how this invoice will look with text. Once you’ve selected your invoice, click Use this invoice. You’ll be taken to the PDF.Live editor to fill out your invoice PDF. 

Filling Out Your Invoice Template

The PDF.Live invoice template comes as a fillable form. This means that you can edit the PDF as a form once you’ve downloaded it. To do this, immediately download the template as it’s presented to you in the PDF.Live editor. Note: If you want to make any changes to the PDF (such as adding your logo or changing the location of a text area), do this in the editor before you download it. 

Using the invoice with a PDF reader

With the PDF open in your PDF reader of choice (keep reading to learn how to use the template in PDF.Live online), you’ll see text areas that are marked as being editable, or fillable. 

In the above screenshot, these areas are blue boxes (colors may vary depending on your PDF reader’s settings). If you click one of these blue boxes, you’ll be able to type in it like a form. You can fill out your invoice this way. 

Once you’ve filled it out, save or download the form as a PDF. This is an important step in order to save the contents of the invoice and ensure that the recipient can’t easily edit your invoice. 

Editing the invoice in PDF.Live online

Alternatively, you can fill out your invoice with PDF.Live. This is useful for when you need to edit the structure of the PDF, too. With your invoice template open in the PDF.Live editor, you’ll see that the invoice looks a bit different from the template. 

These blue boxes are indicators of areas in which you can type your own text. If you click on a blue box, you’ll be able to type in it as you would any other form. In the below example, we’ve typed out some text in the text box areas of the invoice. 

Adding a logo

The exception to this is the logo area that’s directly above the invoice text. This logo will not automatically insert itself when you click the yellow box. Instead, you’ll need to follow the following steps:

1. Select the Insert tab.  
2. Click the image icon.
3. Click on the invoice where you’d like to insert your image. 
4. Select your company logo wherever it’s saved in your file explorer. 

Using Free PDF Invoices

PDF.Live lets you try out the free PDF invoices, as well as all of our powerful PDF management tools, with a free trial. With the free trial, you can try out the PDF.Live editor, which lets you edit PDFs entirely from your web browser with no need for third-party downloads. 

PDF.Live offers both monthly and annual payment plans that include unlimited use of all PDF.Live’s PDF management services. Create your own PDFs, edit existing PDFs, and convert your documents to the PDF format. 

The post How to Create Free PDF Invoices appeared first on pdf.live.

• Add photos to a PDF
• Add JPG and other image files to PDFs
• Insert a photo into a PDF
• Paste images in PDFs
• Remove images from PDFs
• Extract specific images from PDFs
• Delete images from a PDF

PDF.Live’s online editor allows you to work with PDFs and several image formats. We’ve covered how to convert PDFs to JPEG images as well as how to turn pictures into PDFs. But what if you want to add an image to a PDF? What if you want to remove a specific image from a PDF? Or pull that image out of a PDF for use somewhere else?

With the editor, you can both add and remove an image from a PDF entirely online. This works with several popular image formats and with all PDFs. 

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process for adding and removing images from PDFs. 

How to Insert Photos to a PDF with the PDF.Live Editor

1. Upload your PDF to the online editor to convert it to an editable PDF.

Either drag and drop your PDF into the editor, or select the file from your browser. Then select Edit PDF to enter the editor.

2. In the PDF editor toolbar, select Add Image.

3.  Click anywhere in your document where you’d like your image to appear.

The location and size of the image can be adjusted once it’s inserted, so don’t worry too much about getting the exact location correct. Focus on inserting the image on the right page of your PDF.

4. Navigate to the file location that contains the image you’d like to add to your PDF.

You can add images in the form of several popular file formats, such as JPEG, PNG and TIFF. GIF files can also be added to the PDF, but they may not be animated, and are typically of low resolution if your intention is to print the PDF. There may be other image file formats your images are in, such as HEIC. However, those are not supported by the add image feature.

Select the image file you’d like to add.

You will then see the image added to your PDF. You can further adjust the width and height of the image (in pixels) by dragging the dimensions of the picture with your mouse.

You can also click the center of the image to change its placement in your PDF. Select the Trash can icon at the bottom of the image to delete it.

Notice that the Select icon is currently selected. If you deselect or click away from any images you’ve added to your PDF, or make other edits, you can always go back and edit their positions again by clicking the Select icon. You will also have to click New Image to continue editing existing images. You can even edit images that are already in your PDF!

Note that the quality of your images will be tied to the original file’s resolution. If you resize an image to have a larger pixel dimension than the original file, it may look blocky and low-quality. The larger the original PDF image, the fewer issues you’ll likely have.

How To Delete an Image From a PDF

While editing content, you’ll notice that the PDF.Live editor detects regions of content for you to edit, including images. If you want to remove an image entirely, follow these steps: 

1.  Click the Select tool. 

2. Click the image that you want to remove that you added. 

3. Click Delete to remove the image from your PDF. 

This process can be undone with the undo feature Ctrl + Z. If you want that image back, you can undo your last command or redo a command by selecting one of those options on the top right of the PDF.Live editor!

4. To remove an image that’s already in your PDF, select the Edit Text tab. Editable areas of your PDF, including images, can now be selected.

5. Click the image that you want to remove in your PDF. Click the Trash Can icon or press Delete on your keyboard. That image will be deleted.

You can also Move existing images around in your PDF this way!

The post How to Add and Remove Images From PDFs appeared first on pdf.live.

A PDF file is basically a piece of code that tells software how to display a document. A PDF reader is the tool that can look at that code and understand how to open it for viewing.

If you try opening a PDF in Word, Word will attempt to convert it to a DOC file, and the formatting often falls apart. A reader keeps everything intact.

PDF readers don’t always include editing tools, but PDF editors can always read PDFs.

If You Only Need to Read PDFs

You don’t have to install anything on a Windows PC to read a PDF. Your browser or cloud storage solution can handle basic viewing. Making changes is more complicated, but tools like PDF.Live let you edit PDFs online without adding software to your computer. Let’s see some options for reading and editing PDFs. 

Free Ways to Read PDFs on Windows 10 and Higher

Viewing in a web browser

Any modern web browser can open a PDF. No downloads or software required if you already have a web browser! Examples of web browsers are Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox. 

How to test it:

1. Open File Explorer on your PC.
2. Drag a PDF into an open browser window.
3. The file will display in a new tab. Instead of a website URL in the address bar, you will see the file location of the PDF.

If you want your browser to handle PDFs automatically:

1. Right-click a PDF → Open with → choose your browser.

2. Right-click again → Properties → set it as the default under Opens with.

Great for quick reading, not editing. If you’re happy with something that can handle opening up PDFs for viewing, a web browser should be all that you need. 

Google Drive

If you have a Gmail account, you already have Drive. Google Drive is a form of cloud-based storage that can store and share files remotely so you can access them from anywhere.  

What you can do:

• Upload a PDF to Drive.
• Open and read it from any device.

Drive also gives you the option to open a PDF in Google Docs. That lets you make changes, but Docs converts the file to .DOC, so formatting may shift.

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

Acrobat Reader DC is Adobe’s free viewer, which lets you open PDFs for easy viewing. More functionality is included in Adobe Acrobat, but that requires a monthly subscription. 

With Adobe Reader DC You can:

• Search the document
• Highlight text
• Add simple notes

Adobe Reader DC is a good choice for commenting or collaborating on documents. Anything beyond basic markup requires Adobe Acrobat, though. 

PDF.Live (web-based editor)

PDF.Live runs in your browser, so there’s nothing to install. If you’re wondering how to edit a PDF online, this is your best option. 

With PDF.Live, you can:

• Edit text
• Sign documents
• Merge or compress files
• Strike out and annotate text
• Create forms
• Convert to and from formats like Word, Excel, JPG

If you want to try out PDF.Live, we offer a free trial (click Start Free Trial).

Paid PDF Reader Options

Adobe Acrobat (Standard, Pro or Studio)

Adobe’s PDF editor has a lot of advanced editing tools, like editing the metadata of a PDF and securing it with a password. It’s a top-of-the-line PDF editor, but only available with a paid subscription. 

If you only need PDF viewing, light edits, quick fixes, and document sharing capabilities, a full Acrobat subscription may be more than you need.

The post PDF Readers for Windows PCs (Free and Paid) appeared first on pdf.live.