--- title: "Edit the existing text in a PDF" description: "Change words already printed in a PDF: switch to Edit PDF, click a line, retype it and pick the font, size and color. Includes find & replace and limits." url: https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/edit-existing-pdf-text/ collection: "Editing & annotating" section: "Basics" updated: 2026-10-18 publisher: "PDFBetter (AI Generated Inc.)" --- # Edit the existing text in a PDF > Switch the editor from **Fill out** to **Edit PDF** (or press `E`), click a line of the document's text and type. The new text is drawn over a cover patch in the closest standard font; the old characters stay in the file unless you redact them. - Counts toward: Edited-document downloads Do it in PDFBetter: https://pdfbetter.com/app/documents/ The editor has two editing modes. **Fill out** adds things on top of the page (text, ticks, signatures). **Edit PDF** lets you change the document's own text and images. Use the **Fill out | Edit PDF** switch at the right of the toolbar, or press `E` to flip between them. 1. **Switch to Edit PDF**: In **Edit & fill** mode, click **Edit PDF** in the toolbar switch. Blocks of the document's text get a faint outline. 2. **Click the line you want to change**: Click any outlined text and type. Press `Esc` when you're done, or click elsewhere on the page. 3. **Adjust the font and layout**: With the text selected, the properties bar shows **Font** (Sans, Serif or Mono), **Font size**, **Bold**, **Italic**, alignment and **Text color**. **More text options** opens headings, lists, line and letter spacing. 4. **Replace or move an image**: In Edit PDF, click an image on the page and choose **Replace** to swap it for a PNG or JPG, or **Cover** to hide it. You can also drag it to a new spot. ## How edited text is stored PDFs don't store paragraphs the way a word processor does, so PDFBetter doesn't rewrite the original characters. It covers the old line with a patch in the page's background color and draws your new text on top, matching weight and slant with the closest standard font: Sans (Helvetica), Serif (Times) or Mono (Courier). The **Cover patch** setting in the properties bar lets you change the patch color if it doesn't match the paper. > **The old words are still in the file:** Anyone who copies text out of the downloaded PDF can still find the original characters under the patch. If the old text must be gone (a wrong account number, a name), use **Redact** instead. See [Redact a PDF permanently](https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/redact-pdf-permanently/). ## Find & replace across the document Open **More** in the toolbar and choose **Find & replace**. Type what to find and what to replace it with, set **Match case** or **Whole words**, and check each match in the list before you click **Replace** or **Replace all**. Replacements use the same cover-patch method, and one undo reverses a whole **Replace all**. ## What can't be edited in place - **Scanned pages.** A scan is a picture with no text to click. Run OCR first, or type over it with the **Text** tool. See [Make a scanned PDF editable with OCR](https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/make-scanned-pdf-editable-ocr/). - **Rotated or vertical text.** Cover it with **Erase** (whiteout) and add new **Text** on top. - **The original typeface.** Edited lines use one of the three standard fonts, so a decorative or brand font won't match exactly. ### Why does my edited line look slightly different from the rest? Edited text is redrawn in the closest standard font (Sans, Serif or Mono) at the detected size. Adjust **Font size** or **Letter spacing (pt)** in **More text options** to bring it closer. More in [Fonts look different after editing](https://help.pdfbetter.com/troubleshooting/fonts-look-different-after-editing/). ### Can I edit a Word file instead? Yes: the [Edit Word](https://pdfbetter.com/tools/edit-word/) tool converts the DOCX to PDF and opens it in this editor. To get a Word file back, download the PDF and convert it with [PDF to Word](https://pdfbetter.com/tools/pdf-to-word/). ### Does editing change my original upload? No. Your changes are saved as a new version of the document and rendered into a new PDF when you download. The uploaded file is never modified. ## Related articles - [Add text, images, shapes and whiteout to a PDF](https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/add-text-images-shapes.md): In Edit & fill mode, pick a tool from the toolbar (Text, Image, Erase, shapes, marks, Table, Date, Draw) and click or drag on the page. Select anything you added to restyle, move, lock or copy it to other pages. - [Redact a PDF permanently](https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/redact-pdf-permanently.md): Choose Redact (in the Cover group), drag over everything to remove, then click Apply redactions and confirm. Text, images and drawings under each mark are removed from the file, not just covered, and the affected pages become images. - [Make a scanned PDF editable and searchable with OCR](https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/make-scanned-pdf-editable-ocr.md): Open the OCR PDF tool, upload the scan, pick the Languages and pages and click Recognize text. The result looks identical but has a searchable text layer; click Open in the editor to change its text. OCR is counted per page recognized. - [Fonts look different, or characters show as “?” after editing](https://help.pdfbetter.com/troubleshooting/fonts-look-different-after-editing.md): PDFBetter can't reuse the fonts embedded in a PDF, so edited and added text uses the closest of three standard families (sans, serif, mono). Characters no available font can draw come out as “?”. Pick the closest family and size, or cover and retype the whole line. - [Translate, edit and proofread a PDF with AI](https://help.pdfbetter.com/ai/translate-edit-proofread-ai.md): In the AI assistant, Translate makes a new translated copy (1 credit per page), Edit turns an instruction into edits you accept one by one (2 credits), and Proofread lists issues to fix (1 credit per page). Nothing changes until you apply it. --- Source: https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/edit-existing-pdf-text/ · PDFBetter Help Center · Last checked against the product 2026-10-18. Questions: support@pdfbetter.com