Editing text in a PDF isnt working?

If PDF were just another word processor file format you'd have no
difficulty performing spell checks, major or minor edits to layout, format, text, etc.
However, PDF is not a word processor/content creation-editing file format.

Manipulation capabilities of content with a word processor or text editor
end when you output to paper. White out and correction tape only go so far.

Think of PDF as "electronic" paper.
Acrobat's tools are certainly quantum steps beyond white out or correction tape
but still not the same as what a full feature publishing application or word processor
provide.

Presuming the 2000 pages are renderable text, perhaps you could save as to
a text file. This file could be opened by a full featured editing application.
Extracting smaller page ranges that are then exported out might provide
managable file sizes.

Be well...

Thank you for the info. I guess i can try to manage the corrections in textedit. But i have another question if that is ok. Right now all the transcriptions are in one long string of pages, but within the document they are separated by dates. I am sure there is a way to make a PDF that can open the whole document and then also separate the file by dates. I guess what I am trying to say is like when a PDF book is separated by chapters that appear in the side window which can then expand to show the pages in that chapter. I have books like that and I would ultimately like to make this file like that, with all the dates appearing in the sidebar and individually expandable. Right now it is very hard to navigate such a big file. I dont know what the real term is for this maybe 'Chapter Markers' or something like that (just guessing) but I am sure it can be done.

THanks for the help in advance.

Locating something in a PDF and doing something with it via Acrobat JavaScript is something that comes up in the AUC's
JavaScript Forum somewhat often. So, a search of that forum may provide some pointers/mechanisms that might help
in regards to the dates. To use a phrase, I've seen often in the JavaScript Forum, such an approach may be "non-trival" .From you initial post I've the impression that you can open the PDF with Acrobat Pro.
So, if using Acrobat JavaScript or hooking up with a developer is, for any reason, not practical then, perhaps
you could extract pages of content associated with specific dates. There may be some page overlap if date entries fall
somewhere other than at a page's start.
Each the smaller individual PDF files could have Bookmarks added manually with Acrobat Pro.
Or, again, from smaller files make the content available to an application that permits layout/format with Headings by use of
Save As to a text file or export to one of the supported file formats in Acrobat Pro for Mac.
If the application supports output PDFs with Bookmarks created by the formal Headings/Styles/Paragraph Tags then
you'd have your PDFs with Bookmarks.

I've focused on making a set of smaller PDFs in light of your observation that the source PDF's size appears to be
straining your computer's resources. However, you could add PDF Bookmarks to the source PDF manually.


Be well...

Thank you very much again. From the answers/suggestions you gave me above i think i will try to 'add bookmarks to source pdf' first because if it works i think that will be the quickest with the least extra steps.
Also just for clarification, its not the PDF which strains my computer, that file actually is very quick and responsive, its when i open the file as a .txt or doc. that it freezes up.

I will try to add the bookmarks with Acrobat Pro and If i run into more questions i may have to came back and hope for more of your time.

Thank you very much for your help.