How to Edit a PDF Without Adobe: Top Alternative Ways [2025]

Many users would agree that Adobe Acrobat is expensive, with a free version that barely lets you do more than read PDFs.

• It can be slow with large files, doesn’t let you easily move text or images, and has some features most people don’t really need.
• Not to mention, customer service, system requirements, and subscription issues can be exasperating.
• Thus, finding how to edit a PDF without Adobe is the need of the hour.
• However, there are not many good PDF editors out there, even as they claim to be.

So in this article, I share my own experience after performing hands-on testing on online, offline, and built-in PDF editors for Mac and Windows. I’ll go over how they performed, what they’re best for, and the limitations that I faced. All of this will help you pick a tool that’s the most suitable for you!

Part 1: How to Edit a PDF Without Adobe - Getting Started

Picking the right PDF editors depends on certain factors, like what you need from it, what it’s best for, its limitations, and compatibility. Here’s a short comparison of all the PDF editors I’ve reviewed in the later sections, covering these factors. So, you can quickly choose the one that’s most suitable for your needs:

Please swipe to view

Part 2: How to Edit a PDF Without Adobe Subscription or Premium？

If you want to learn how to edit a PDF without Adobe Premium or a subscription, Tenorshare PDNob is the best option to have.

Best For: It’s a free tool, ideal for advanced PDF editing and conversion, OCR, annotations, form creation and filling, and encryption. But that’s not all. It offers numerous other functions. Here’s a detailed outlook on them:

• 99% OCR Accuracy: Offers 99% accuracy in transforming scanned PDFs into documents with search and edit capabilities.
• 30+ Formats Convert: Change your text to dozens of formats, such as Word, Excel, PPT, images, EPUB, and PDF/A.
• 100+ Text Edits: You can edit text with 100+ tools, like changing background, adding a watermark, etc.
• 200+ Annotations: Offers 200+ annotation tools such as highlighter, shapes, stamps, and notes.
• PDF Management: Users can compress, split, and merge their PDF files easily.
• AI Summarizer: It offers a GPT-5-powered tool to summarize lengthy documents, draw insights, and answer questions.
• Screenshot Capability: When users are making edits, they can take a screenshot to save their editing procedure.
• Multilingual Support: The program supports 20+ languages, including English, Chinese, and French, among others.
• Platform Compatibility: It supports both Windows and macOS platforms.

Time / Effort Required: Overall, it took me less than 10 minutes to edit the PDF in Tenorshare PDNob.

What Need to Prepare: Download and install Tenorshare PDNob on your Windows or Mac computer.

My Hands-On Test: Here’s how to edit a PDF without Adobe subscription with Tenorshare PDNob, including my personal experience:

• I tested a 100+ page scanned PDF with Tenorshare PDNob on my Windows computer. With the “OCR PDF” button, I could upload the PDF.

• The tool downloaded the OCR firmware, which took only a few minutes. Then, I chose “OCR” from the “Home” tab in the menu. Next, I clicked “Perform OCR.”

• I could customize “Scan Option,” “Language Recognition,” and “Page Range.” Then, I clicked “Perform OCR” again.

• Next, I wanted to make some edits in the document. It didn’t take me any time to learn the different tools, as the interface was straightforward.
• I chose the “Edit” tab from the menu to make changes to the text. Then, used the “Comments” tab to highlight and add notes.

• After finishing, I saved the edited PDF to my computer using File > Save As.

Part 3: How to Edit a PDF Without Adobe on Mac?

If you’re looking for how to edit a PDF without Adobe for free on Mac, then Preview is a built-in app on macOS. It lets you open, view, and make simple edits to PDF files without needing extra software.

Best For: The app is great for basic tasks like adding text, highlighting, underlining, drawing, filling out forms, signing documents, and rearranging or deleting pages. You can also use it to annotate, organize, and print PDFs , making it a useful tool for everyday use on a Mac.

Time / Effort Required: Overall, the PDF editing process in the Preview app only took 10-15 minutes without much effort.

What Need to Prepare: You don’t have to download anything, as the Preview app is a built-in macOS tool.

My Hands-On Test / Personal Experience: Here’s how to edit a PDF without Adobe on Mac, and with the Preview app, including my own personal experience:

• I tested a 35-page PDF in Preview containing text and images. I used the “Markup Toolbar” to try different tools.

• Adding text with the “T” button was quick, and I could change the font and size easily in 5 minutes. But the main limitation I noticed was that it’s not designed for editing the existing text, removing big chunks of content, or reformatting layouts.

• Highlighting and underlining text worked flawlessly with the “Highlight” tool.

• I also liked how simple it was to add notes or draw shapes directly on the pages with the “Notes” button.

• I tested adding my signature with the “Signature” button. I chose “Create Signature” and added my signature using the trackpad. It was straightforward and accurate.

• Reordering and deleting pages in the sidebar was very intuitive. Dragging thumbnails around felt natural.

• Rotating pages was also point on with the “Rotate” button.

• Saving changes was simple, though I also tried exporting, which worked but didn’t give me many advanced options.

Part 4: How to Edit a PDF Without Adobe on Windows

If you want to learn how to edit a PDF without Adobe Acrobat on Windows, there are two ways to do that. You can either employ Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Here’s how:

Method 1: Editing PDFs in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word can open and edit PDFs by converting them into an editable Word file.

Best For: It functions best with text-based PDFs like reports or articles, especially if they were originally made in Word. You can make simple edits such as adding, deleting, or changing text and formatting.

Time / Effort Required: Overall, it took me only 10 minutes for the PDF editing process in Word, with more time spent in finding the correct tools.

What Need to Prepare: There’s nothing to prepare. You’ll only have to wait for MS Word to prepare your PDF for editing.

My Hands-On Test / Personal Experience: Here’s how to edit a PDF without Adobe Pro, and with MS Word, including my own personal experience:

• I tested a 12-page PDF in Word with text, tables, and images. I opened it through the “File” and “Open” options. Then, I selected the file and confirmed the conversion prompt.

• Word turned the PDF into an editable document. But it took some time because my PDF was graphic-heavy.
• I was able to change text, adjust formatting, and even add or remove images from the “Insert” tab quite quickly.

• I could also drag images to move them around, and the text adjusted automatically.
• From the “Layout” tab, I could crop, add borders, or insert captions. But I could not reorder the pages because the PDF was in a single scrolling file.

• There are no dedicated annotation tools available in Word for PDF. But from the “Review” tab, I could add comments without a problem.

• To add highlights, I selected the text, and from the “Home” tab, I chose the “Text Highlight Color” button in the “Font” group.

• Saving was simple. I could keep it as a Word file or re-export it as a PDF.

• The process did well for text-heavy documents, but I noticed some limitations:
• The formatting didn’t always match the original, especially with tables and graphics.
• Complex layouts required extra manual adjustments.
• Editing images inside the PDF was limited compared to dedicated PDF editors.
• Word is not ideal for scanned PDFs.

Pros

• Familiar interface, easy for most people to use.
• Great for editing text, adding, deleting, or formatting is simple.
• Images can be inserted and moved easily, with text wrapping around them.
• Good for collaboration, multiple people can edit, comment, and track changes.
• Widely available on PCs and Macs.
• Extra tools like spell-check and grammar-check make it versatile.

Cons

• Formatting can break when converting complex PDFs with tables or graphics.
• No built-in PDF annotation tools.
• Hard to reorder pages since PDFs open as one long document.
• Not reliable for PDFs with heavy graphics or complex layouts.
• Converted documents may not match the original page by page.
• Conversion isn’t always perfect and may need fixes.

Method 2: Editing PDFs in Google Docs (Free & Online)

Google Docs is a free online word processor that can also be used to edit PDFs. When you open a PDF, it converts the file into a Google Docs format using OCR, which makes the text editable.

Best For: Google Docs is best for simple, text-based PDFs where you just need to add, delete, or change text. It’s also useful for quick highlights and annotations, collaborating with others.

Time / Effort Required: Overall, the PDF editing process took me minimal effort and only 12 minutes in Google Docs.

What Need to Prepare: You’ll need an internet connection to upload the PDF to Google Drive, convert it into Google Docs, and perform editing on it.

My Hands-On Test / Personal Experience: Here’s how to edit a PDF without Adobe, and with Google Docs, including my own personal experience:

• I uploaded a 25-page PDF to Google Drive. Then, opened it with Google Docs, which converted it into an editable document.

• For editing text and images, you have to choose the “Editing” tool in the top-right corner.

• I could easily type directly, change fonts, and adjust formatting from options in the toolbar, though the layout sometimes shifted. However, the formatting wasn’t always accurate, especially with tables and complex layouts, and the eSignature feature requires a subscription.

• If you have the Grammarly extension installed in Google Docs, you can also spell-check and correct grammar.
• Adding images was on point, but I had to reposition them because some didn’t align correctly after conversion.
• Highlighting text and adding comments were simple with the “Highlight” tool and “Comment” feature. You can also add citations, links, and more.

• Once done, I downloaded the file back as a PDF without any issues.

Pros

• Free to use, no need to buy extra software.
• Supports any device with internet and a browser.
• Supports real-time collaboration with others.
• No installation required, everything is online.
• Integrated with Google Drive for easy saving and access.
• Offers basic editing like text changes, highlighting, and comments.

Cons

• Formatting often breaks on complex PDFs with tables, graphics, or special layouts.
• Limited features, e.g, can’t delete pages, batch edit, or manage scanned PDFs well.
• Requires converting PDFs to Google Docs format, which may change formatting.
• Can struggle with large files.
• Needs an internet connection to function.
• Image size can be restricted.

Part 5: How to Make a Fillable PDF Form Without Adobe Acrobat?

PDFescape is a PDF tool available both online and as a desktop app, offering free and paid options.

Best For: It lets you edit PDFs, create and fill out forms, add annotations, secure files, and convert PDFs to word, excel and other format, both offline and online. Where the online version operates in any browser, and the desktop version provides more features.

Time / Effort Required: Overall, it took me around 15 minutes to create fillable forms and customize them in PDFescape. Most effort was spent on adding multiple forms.

What Need to Prepare: You need an internet connection to visit the PDFescape site and edit a PDF online.

My Hands-On Test / Personal Experience: Here’s how to make a fillable PDF form without Acrobat with PDFescape, including my own personal experience:

• I tested a 26-page PDF document with the free version of PDFescape online, which has a 10MB or 100-page limitation. I uploaded my PDF form to make the PDF fillable. (The free version can’t edit existing text and has ads.)

• Then, I used the “Form Field” option. It offers to add text boxes, checkboxes, drop-downs, and buttons. I chose to add textboxes. You can also add more form fields.

• I selected the form field in “Edit” mode. Then, I clicked the “properties” icon to customize settings like size, color, alignment, etc. However, the performance was sometimes slow while editing.

• I repeated the steps for all fields, saved the form, and tested it by filling the form in a PDF viewer. It did well as I expected.

Pros

• The free version is cost-effective and offers many features.
• Easy to use with a clear interface for creating fillable PDF forms.
• Accessible online and via desktop, it functions on mobile browsers.
• Versatile, can edit, organize, merge, compress PDFs, and convert 300+ file formats.
• Includes editing, annotations, password protection, and form creation.
• Files are safely transferred without viruses or malware.
• Convenient for creating and editing PDFs on the go without installation.

Cons

• The free version can’t edit existing text and contains ads.
• Requires internet for online use.
• The full version needs a paid subscription.
• Only 10MB and 100 pages on the free plan.
• Performance can be slow, and advanced editing is not very user-friendly.
• The whiteout tool has minor errors.
• The full version is more expensive than similar tools.

FAQs About Edit a PDF Without Adobe

How can I edit a PDF for free on my computer?

You can edit a PDF for free on your computer with an offline tool like Tenorshare PDNob. It offers advanced PDF editing and conversion, OCR, and also provides additional tools like an AI Summarizer for extracting insights and summarizing lengthy PDFs.

Are online PDF editors secure to use?

Most trusted online PDF editors take steps to keep your data safe. For example, Smallpdf uses encryption, is ISO/IEC 27001 certified, and follows GDPR rules, while Xodo keeps files entirely on your device. Still, it’s smart to check a service’s privacy policy before uploading sensitive documents.

It’s Good to Chat

Knowing how to edit a PDF without Adobe is easier with many online, offline, and built-in tools like Preview, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and PDFescape. But some of them can’t edit existing text or complex layouts, while others are only good for basic edits.

For a more powerful yet free solution, Tenorshare PDNob stands out for beginners and advanced users alike. It offers advanced text and image editing, annotations, conversion, OCR, form creation, batch processing, and AI-assisted summaries.

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