How to edit a downloaded .pdf file?

Bostonfan49 wrote:
Hi! Have a downloaded .pdf file, (application for employment form) My options are to print out/fill out. I want to know if there is a way that I can edit the application so that I can fill it out on line (Neater) then print. Between a 2004 version of Word, plus Keynote, Pages and Adobe 8, I can't edit the application. I called Apple and they said there is no way that I edit a pdf file so that I can complete the application on line. There must be a way to do this, right? Thanks, Bill

Yes, there is a way. First, if check the security on the pdf. Adobe has many levels of security, so that files can be printed but not edited and not made into smaller files, etc.
Usually you would need the real Adobe app, not the reader. But then, even though Adobe can edit pdf files, it will not do so if the file is protected. You normally would be asked for a password when you attempt to modify a PW-protected pdf document.

That all being said, if the document is protected I can only refer you to ghostscript, ghostview and GSView.

You can open a PDF file in GraphicConverter
<http://www.lemkesoft.com/>
then add text. Not nearly as simple as a PDF that has fillable fields, but it does work.

You can fake an edit - if you have Photoshop. Open Photoshop and use the Text tool to add text in the appropriate areas. It will create the text on a new layer for each new text box. You can then merge the layers and either print or save.

Provided the pdf is not protected, you can easily edit and annotate pdfs using PDF Pen. It's not expensive and it works very nicely. Plus you can draw/doodle on the pdf, highlight sections of text etc etc. It even has a basic OCR function. It's very easy to use.