PDF Editing (Portable Document Format)

How we edit or proofread (the basis of the edit) your PDF:

WordsRU receive many documents in Adobe Acrobat’s portable document format (PDF) for editing and proofreading. The standard editing mode for WordsRU’s professional editors is Microsoft Word due to its tracked changes facility.

Editing an Adobe Acrobat PDF requires a different approach and uses that application’s review and comment feature. Editing and proofreading changes are tagged and changes and suggestions are then taken up by you in your original source file, which is then converted to a further PDF (if your source file is available as a Microsoft Word document we can edit in the usual way and then convert it to another PDF as part of our editorial service).

View How WordsRU Works for more information on the document submission process.

"Words and sentences are subject to revision; paragraphs and whole compositions are subjects of prevision"
- Barrett Wendall

About Adobe Acrobat

This WordsRU resource does not purport to be authoritative or definitive on this subject but simply to offer our customers a general introduction to the PDF concept.

The Portable Document Format (PDF) was developed by Adobe Systems® as a means of achieving a secure distribution of documents irrespective of platforms. In other words, the conversion of a document to a PDF format via Adobe Acrobat® protects and preserves the document’s formatting and enhancements, and allows the transfer of related electronic information between various systems and platforms while ensuring that it is secure, searchable and accessible. PDF documents created in this way may also be digitally signed or password-protected. Although viewing a PDF may be carried out with Adobe’s complimentary Adobe Reader® software, documents can only be converted to a PDF using the full application known as Adobe Acrobat®, which also makes it possible to print and edit (as well as view) PDF files. For specific technical information and other details, please visit www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/adobepdf.html

1) Text-based PDF Documents:

In creating and writing a text document, converting the file to HTML or keeping it in the original word processor format probably offers you (and your editor) the most accessible option. It is important to think about the accessibility of your document from the outset. There are many aspects associated to this availability, but the one that concerns WordsRU’s administrators and our editors and proofreaders is, for example, the availability of your final draft in the original word processing format for editing, which can then be converted into a PDF file on completion of the edit.

2) Image-based PDF documents:

Image-based PDF documents generated from the scan of a hardcopy or paper document are completely inaccessible on screen as they consist of only a bitmap of the image that offers no searchable text. There are methods of achieving accessibility such as scanning the image with OCR software but they are beyond the scope of these WordsRU resource notes. WordsRU are unable to edit and proofread an image-based PDF document. The document would need to be retyped first or the edit conducted in hard copy.

Example of an Adobe PDF edit

As already discussed, editing a PDF is achieved via Adobe Acrobat® and its review and comment feature. Consistent with the premise that a picture (or an example) tells a thousand words, below is an example of a pdf edit.

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WordsRU Proofreading and Editing Services:

WordsRU editing will ensure that your PDF document is edited in a way that will attract the highest possible quality outcomes.

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