Applies to:
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Occasionally you may receive a document that you need to edit, but you've been sent it as a PDF.
Normally, PDFs are not editable - however, by opening the file in Microsoft Word, you can convert it to an editable format.
First, you need to download the PDF to your computer. When you try to open a PDF in your web browser, it may look something like this.
Click the floppy disk icon in the top right to download the file. Make sure you select 'Downloads' on the left sidebar (a.k.a. directory tree) as this will make it easier to find later. If you like, you can change the file name to something more descriptive.
Now, open Microsoft Word. You'll see the Welcome screen. From here, click Open, and then Browse.
Alternatively, if Word is already open, you instead need to go to File -> Open, and then Browse.
Navigate to the Downloads folder as before, and double-click your PDF file to open it in Word. The following dialogue box will pop up. Please be aware that the PDF's formatting may change after it is converted, so be prepared for images and text to look a little different.
Finally, you may be shown a warning from Microsoft Defender while it checks the file for threats. This is shown in a yellow bar along the top of the Word window. Once this scan is complete, you can click Enable Editing.
You now have an editable PDF, and you can make changes to it as you would any other Word document. Note that my example document looks slightly different to the screenshot above.
If you wish to try this yourself, you can download the sample PDF below.