Many of my colleagues and clients ask, “How do you edit a PDF?” The simple answer is, you don’t. But there are ways around the issue. My esteemed writing colleague, Katharine O’Moore-Klopf, has this to say on the topic:
“PDFs aren’t meant for editing, because they are images. You can’t actually correct the text in them; you can only mark them up so that someone can then go in and make the noted corrections to the source document (e.g., to a Word document). That said, if you must mark up a PDF as part of proofreading, there are lots of blog posts and video tutorials on how to do that as painlessly as possible.”
Katharine adds the following: “If the original file went through Adobe Distiller (the application that converts Word, Excel, etc to PDF) and if the security settings weren’t set, you can actually edit the text in a PDF file. But that’s still not great for real editing (i.e., heavy-duty editing.)”
The following links come from the “Editing Tools” page of the Copyeditors’ Knowledge Base, which is curated by Katharine.
*Annotating PDFs: A Piece of the Digital Workflow (a 3-part video):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBbN0d0UoaQ>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSY2wuAipfY>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPvDP1BTBsA>
*”Basic PDF Mark-Up for Copy Editors and Proofreaders”:
<http://blog.catchthesun.net/2011/05/basic-pdf-mark-up-for-copy-editors-a
nd-proofreaders/>, or http://tinyurl.com/6y8rsed
*”Create a Checklist of Your PDF Mark-up in 2 Clicks”:
<http://blog.catchthesun.net/2011/07/create-a-checklist-of-your-pdf-mark-
up-in-2-clicks/>, or http://tinyurl.com/43cufdz
*”Edit Tools for Marking up PDFs in Acrobat”:
<http://blog.catchthesun.net/2011/06/edit-tools-for-marking-up-pdfs-in-ac
robat/>, or http://tinyurl.com/5wfz3ae
*”Key Mark-Up Techniques for Proofreading PDFs”:
<http://blog.catchthesun.net/2011/06/key-mark-up-techniques-for-proofread
ing-pdfs/>, or http://tinyurl.com/62xr4qx
*PDF editing stamps (American proofreading symbols) made available by
Wiley & Sons: <http://www.wiley.com/legacy/ptvendors/production.html>, or
http://tinyurl.com/77gk4h3
*PDF editing stamps (American proofreading symbols): red set and black
set (made available by Copyediting-L): <http://www.copyediting-l.info/>
(click on the “Resources” tab, and then use your browser’s page-search
function to find the phrase “Diana Stirling’s”)
*”PDF Editing–Making the Most of the Stamps Tool”:
<http://louiseharnbyproofreading.weebly.com/4/post/2012/01/pdf-editing-ma
king-the-most-of-the-stamps-tool.html>, or http://tinyurl.com/7zjtxrk
*”Timesaving PDF Markup Using Adobe Acrobat”:
<http://www.copyediting.com/sites/default/files/CE0212_0.pdf>, or
http://tinyurl.com/6o783ce (article in _Copyediting_ newsletter; paid
subscription required)
*”Using the PDF Markup Comments List: One User’s Experience”:
<http://blog.catchthesun.net/2011/07/using-the-pdf-markup-comments-list-o
ne-user%e2%80%99s-experience/>, or http://tinyurl.com/3e3eny5
How Do You Edit a PDF?
By Bouvier Grant Group
We stay current on NIH happenings and would be delighted to keep you informed.
Many of my colleagues and clients ask, “How do you edit a PDF?” The simple answer is, you don’t. But there are ways around the issue. My esteemed writing colleague, Katharine O’Moore-Klopf, has this to say on the topic:
“PDFs aren’t meant for editing, because they are images. You can’t actually correct the text in them; you can only mark them up so that someone can then go in and make the noted corrections to the source document (e.g., to a Word document). That said, if you must mark up a PDF as part of proofreading, there are lots of blog posts and video tutorials on how to do that as painlessly as possible.”
Katharine adds the following: “If the original file went through Adobe Distiller (the application that converts Word, Excel, etc to PDF) and if the security settings weren’t set, you can actually edit the text in a PDF file. But that’s still not great for real editing (i.e., heavy-duty editing.)”
The following links come from the “Editing Tools” page of the Copyeditors’ Knowledge Base, which is curated by Katharine.
*Annotating PDFs: A Piece of the Digital Workflow (a 3-part video):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBbN0d0UoaQ>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSY2wuAipfY>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPvDP1BTBsA>
*”Basic PDF Mark-Up for Copy Editors and Proofreaders”:
<http://blog.catchthesun.net/2011/05/basic-pdf-mark-up-for-copy-editors-a
nd-proofreaders/>, or http://tinyurl.com/6y8rsed
*”Create a Checklist of Your PDF Mark-up in 2 Clicks”:
<http://blog.catchthesun.net/2011/07/create-a-checklist-of-your-pdf-mark-
up-in-2-clicks/>, or http://tinyurl.com/43cufdz
*”Edit Tools for Marking up PDFs in Acrobat”:
<http://blog.catchthesun.net/2011/06/edit-tools-for-marking-up-pdfs-in-ac
robat/>, or http://tinyurl.com/5wfz3ae
*”Key Mark-Up Techniques for Proofreading PDFs”:
<http://blog.catchthesun.net/2011/06/key-mark-up-techniques-for-proofread
ing-pdfs/>, or http://tinyurl.com/62xr4qx
*PDF editing stamps (American proofreading symbols) made available by
Wiley & Sons: <http://www.wiley.com/legacy/ptvendors/production.html>, or
http://tinyurl.com/77gk4h3
*PDF editing stamps (American proofreading symbols): red set and black
set (made available by Copyediting-L): <http://www.copyediting-l.info/>
(click on the “Resources” tab, and then use your browser’s page-search
function to find the phrase “Diana Stirling’s”)
*”PDF Editing–Making the Most of the Stamps Tool”:
<http://louiseharnbyproofreading.weebly.com/4/post/2012/01/pdf-editing-ma
king-the-most-of-the-stamps-tool.html>, or http://tinyurl.com/7zjtxrk
*”Timesaving PDF Markup Using Adobe Acrobat”:
<http://www.copyediting.com/sites/default/files/CE0212_0.pdf>, or
http://tinyurl.com/6o783ce (article in _Copyediting_ newsletter; paid
subscription required)
*”Using the PDF Markup Comments List: One User’s Experience”:
<http://blog.catchthesun.net/2011/07/using-the-pdf-markup-comments-list-o
ne-user%e2%80%99s-experience/>, or http://tinyurl.com/3e3eny5
Author:
Dr. Meg Bouvier
Margaret Bouvier received her PhD in 1995 in Biomedical Sciences from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. After an NINDS post-doctoral fellowship, she worked as a staff writer for long-standing NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins in the Office of Press, Policy, and Communications for the Human Genome Project and NHGRI. Since 2007, Meg has specialized in editing and advising on NIH submissions, and began offering virtual courses in 2015. She's recently worked with more than 40% of the nation's highest-performing hospitals*, four of the top 10 cancer hospitals, three of the top five medical schools for research, and 14 NCI-designated cancer centers. Her experience at NIH as both a bench scientist and staff writer greatly informs her approach to NIH grantwriting. She has helped clients land over half a billion in federal funding. Bouvier Grant Group is a woman-owned small business.
*Our clients include 9 of the top 22 hospitals as recognized by the 2023/24 US News & World Report honor roll
Categories:
Related posts
You May Also Be Interested In
NIH’s Simplified Peer Review Framework
Promotional Adjectives in NIH Abstracts May Be On the Rise