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editing text of pdf

jojo
Registered: Jul 23 2007
Posts: 2

i was told by a colleague that I am able to edit text of a pdf, like change a url or add commas and such. When I attempt to do this on the pdf it doesnt do anything. the closest i can get is a mark up tool. I also get a message that I can not change the text with the font that is in the pdf.

i want to be able to change the text in the pdf and am using adobe acrobat 7.0 professional.

advice? is it possible like I have been told?

tedpadova
ExpertTeam
Registered: Dec 31 2005
Posts: 848
First off, be certain to use the proper tool. You'll see the Select tool by default when you open Acrobat —that's the wrong tool! You need to open the Advanced Editing toolbar and select the TouchUp Text tool. Click the tool in the text block you want to edit.

There are some limitations however. If a font is embedded in the document and you don't have the font installed on your sustem, you won't be able to edit the text. If this is the case, you might be able to select the text (again using the TouchUp text tool) and open a context menu (right click on the selected text - Windows or Control + click on the selected text - Mac). From the popup menu options choose Properties.

In the TouchUp Properties dialog box, open the Font menu. You'll see some font names appearing above a line in the scrollable menu. Click a font below the line (those are the fonts installed in your system). If you can change the font, you can then edit the text.

—ted

The author of numerous books on Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator and the Adobe Creative Suite, and an international speaker on Adobe Acrobat, Ted Padova is a well-known PDF guru.

taxlady
Registered: Sep 11 2007
Posts: 7
I tried exactly what you said and I got a message that said the font could not be replaced because the font encoding differs. What does that mean? We are using a true type proprietary font for our PDF's.
gkaiseril
Expert
Registered: Feb 23 2006
Posts: 4308
Carefully reread Ted Padova's reply, especially paragraphs 2 and 3.

You do not have the fonts on your system, so you might not be able to touch up the font as desired.

George Kaiser