Edit PDF in Word – 3 Efficient Methods to Add Texts to PDF [Solved]
Last Updated on September 21, 2025 by Tina Clark
If you have received some PDF forms, but do not familiar with the methods to fill out the PDF, you can simply edit a PDF in Word. Thanks to the new PDF editing feature of Microsoft, you can directly add texts/images and make some changes to the PDF in a Word document. But there are some limitations, such as the OCR algorithms to extract the texts from an image-based PDF. Here is the detailed process to edit PDFs in Word and the best alternative you should know.
Part 1: How to Edit PDF Directly with PDF Editor (Recommended)
Whether you need to apply the Word features or edit a PDF as simple as Word, PDFelement is a versatile PDF editor with a whole series of editing features, OCR algorithms, converting methods, and signing PDF files. It is compatible with Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Moreover, you can also convert PDF to Word/Excel, or vice versa.
1. Add text, images, shapes, annotations, and watermarks to PDFs like Word.
2. Change sizes, colors, font styles, hyperlinks, and others within the PDF file.
3. Convert PDFs to Word/Excel/PowerPoint, and vice versa in original quality.
4. Provide the OCR algorithms to extract the text and images from PDF files.
How to Edit PDF like Word Directly
Step 1: Download and install PDFelement, you can launch the program on your computer. Click the Open files button in the home interface to find the desired PDF. After that, you can select the PDF file and click the Open button to import the PDF files.
Step 2: Choose the Edit button on the top menu bar to edit a PDF like Word. It enables you to choose the different editing features, such as Add Text, Add Image, Link, Watermark, Background, Header & Footer, Bates Number, and edit the PDF directly.
Note: It not only enables you to edit PDF files but also adjusts the font, size, color, and more of the texts. Besides, it allows you to change pages, like deleting unwanted pages, adjusting the page order, white outing sensitive information, etc.
Step 3: Click the Form menu and choose the Recognize option if you need to edit an image-based PDF in Word. It will recognize the form fields in your PDF file automatically. After the recognition process, the form of PDFs turns out to be editable.
Step 4: Once you have filled out the PDF forms or edited the PDF documents, you can save the edited PDF as a new PDF or replace the original one. You just need to click the File menu and choose the Save button to export the edited PDF directly to your computer.
How to Convert PDFs to Word for Editing
Step 1: Launch PDFelement after installing the program, click the Convert PDF button from the main user interface. After that, you can simply convert PDFs to Word, Excel, PPT, etc. Moreover, you can also import multiple PDFs for the batch process.
Step 2: Select the output format as the Word format and set the destination folder to save the converted file. Once you have done, you can click the Save button to save the PDF as an editable word. It will retain the original frame and structure of the PDF.
Step 3: Once you have converted PDF to Word, you can open the converted file and fill out the form with Office Word or edit the PDF file in Word easily. Moreover, you can also convert the Word document to a PDF file before sharing the file with others.
Part 2: How to Edit PDF Files with the Latest Word
Just as mentioned above, Microsoft Office has introduced features to edit PDF files in Word. Before Office 2013, it will convert PDF to Word only. As for Microsoft 2013, you can only convert editable text, the other elements might not appear as you expect. Of course, it does not support performing the OCR algorithms to extract the text files.
Step 1: Open a File Explorer window, locate the PDF file, right-click on it, select the Open With option and choose the desired Word document. In old versions, you need to create a blank document in MS Word and open the PDF for further editing.
Step 2: Click the OK button or the Enable Editing button. It will automatically convert the PDF into an editable Word file. After that, you can begin editing PDF in Word, such as correcting content and adding texts, graphics, tables, or pictures to the PDF document.
Step 3: It provides the basic features to edit the margins, the page size, or alter the size of the page. As for image editing, you can make a host of changes to the images, including cropping, changing their position, replacing the image, text wrapping, and a lot more.
Step 4: After PDF editing, go to the File menu and click the Save As option. Here you can save the PDF as a Word document. To keep the PDF format, set the output location, enter a filename, and choose the PDF option from the Format button before clicking the Save button.
Conclusion
Is it possible to edit a PDF in Word without conversion? Yes. Editing PDFs in Microsoft Word has become easier since Microsoft included more functionality in Word 2013. Although you can't get a full-fledged PDF editor for complex work, Word now has the ability to open and edit PDFs. When you need to edit the PDF as a profession, PDFelement is the all-in-one choice to edit the PDF without conversion, perform the OCR algorithms for the image-based PDF, and manage the pages with ease.