How to Make PDFs Editable with Google Docs

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Find out the best way to edit a PDF using Google Docs

Written by Travis Boylls

Last Updated: April 20, 2025 Fact Checked

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Is it possible?

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Editing a PDF in Google Docs

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Using a PDF Editor

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Q&A

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Google Docs and Google Drive are one of the most popular file-sharing platforms on the planet. Its cloud storage and sharing capabilities make it the perfect platform for sharing and collaborating. PDFs are one of the most secure file types you can use. But what if you need to make a change to a PDF that you uploaded to Google Drive or Google Docs? Can you edit a PDF in Google Docs? This wikiHow article answers all your questions and explains.

Quickly Edit a PDF in Google Docs

Upload a PDF to Google Drive on a computer.
Right-click the PDF in Google Drive and select Open with.
Click Google Doc to convert the PDF to a Google Doc.
Edit the Google Doc file.
Click File > Download > PDF Document when finished.

Section 1 of 3:

Can you edit a PDF in Google Docs?

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1
You can use Google Docs to convert a PDF to a document. Google doesn’t have a PDF editor of its own, but you can upload a PDF to Google Drive and then open it in Google Docs. This will convert the PDF into a Google Doc that you can edit. Once you are finished editing, you can download the file again in the PDF format.
- While this technically makes it possible to edit a PDF in Google Docs, the process won't be as seamless as using a PDF editor.
2
While you can make a PDF editable, you'll lose special formatting. When Google Docs converts a PDF to a Google Doc, it will lose much of the formatting that the PDF has. PDFs that have lots of tables, charts, diagrams, and images are especially prone to losing formatting in Google Docs, and you may spend a lot of time reformatting the text, tables, and pictures.
- PDFs that are mostly text-based will likely convert to an editable document with minimal formatting issues.

Section 2 of 3:

How to Edit a PDF in Google Docs

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1
Upload a PDF to Google Drive. As long as you have a Google (Gmail) account, you can upload a PDF to Google Drive. Use the following steps to do so:
- Open Google Drive in a web browser.
- If prompted, sign in to your Google account.
- Click + New in the upper-left corner.
- Click File Upload.
- Select your PDF.
- Click Open.
- When the upload is complete, you will see "1 upload complete" in the bottom-right corner of Google Drive.
Once your PDF is uploaded to Google Drive, locate the file. You may have to scroll down to find it. Right-click or control-click the file to display a context menu.
When your mouse is over this context menu item, you will see some options you can use to open the file.
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Click Google Docs. This will convert the PDF to a Google Doc file and open it in Google Docs for editing.
- If the PDF contained a lot of charts, images, and special formatting, those elements may not display properly in the converted file. As a result, it may look like parts of the PDF are missing. Unfortunately, you will not be able to edit those parts in an editor like Google Docs.
You can make whatever changes you need to make to the document in Google Docs format. You will probably need to spend some time making changes to the formatting to make it look right.
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Download the Google Doc as a PDF. Once you are finished editing the PDF in Google Docs, you can download and save a new version of the PDF. You will then find the downloaded PDF file in your Downloads folder by default. Use the following steps to download the Google Doc as a PDF:^{[1]
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- Click File in the menu bar at the top.
- Select the Download menu.
- Click PDF Document (*.pdf).
- If prompted, click Save or OK to start the download.

Section 3 of 3:

Try a PDF Editor for Better Results

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To get the best results when editing a PDF, use a PDF editing program. Because Google Docs was not designed for PDF editing, it likely won't be the best solution for your needs. Fortunately, you can edit a PDF without altering its formatting by using programs other than Google Docs.
- Adobe Acrobat Pro: Use Adobe Acrobat Pro, the official PDF editor from the company that created PDF files, to add, remove, and edit text and other elements. The software is not free—you will need to subscribe to use it.
  - Free trials are usually available. If you just need to edit a PDF once, you may be able to just use the free trial to make your edits and then cancel if you don't want to keep the software.
- Paid alternatives to Acrobat: For a paid alternative that allows you to buy the software once instead of subscribing on an ongoing basis, check out Master PDF Editor, PDF-Xchange, or Nitro PDF.
- LibreOffice Draw: This software is free and comes with LibreOffice, an alternative to Microsoft 365 (Office). You can use it to open and edit PDFs, though you may still lose some formatting (like in Google Docs).
- Free PDF editors: Free online PDF editors like Canva's PDF editor, SmallPDF, and PDFEscape allow you to edit a limited number of PDFs in your web browser. You can usually just use these tools to sign and fill PDFs , not edit existing text.

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I have a .pdf doc in Google Drive and I want to edit it. How can I do that?

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Convert that PDF file to a Word document to edit it. Copy all the content of the PDF file into a document, then save it as a new PDF for future use.

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I edited a PDF using DocHub. How do I save the edited file in Drive? It autosaves, but it's autosaved on DocHub and not in Drive.

Aditya.Prasad

Community Answer

Download the PDF as a .docx or a .pdf (docx recommended), and save it to Google Drive.

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Tips

You cannot convert a PDF to a document in Google Drive and Google Docs on mobile.^{[2]
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Research source}

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While there are PDF-to-Word apps that you can install for Google Drive, none of them will allow you to convert the PDF's images and formatting into a Word document.

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You don't need a full-featured PDF editor to sign PDFs.

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