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Edit PDF Files

View and Edit PDF Properties

To view and modify the PDF properties, please navigate to File > Properties.

Description

This tab shows some basic information about the document. The person who created the document in the source application may have set the title, subject, author, and keywords. Click Custom, and the pop-up Custom Properties dialog box shows some document information (such as comments and the company name). You can easily edit the document information within the PDF document, a useful way for searching and indexing files.

You can also customize document properties by clicking Custom. In the pop-up Custom Properties dialog box, input the property name and the value, and then click Add to add a custom property. To change the value of a property, select it and update the value, and then click Change. To change the name of a custom property, you need to delete the property and create a new custom property. To delete a property, select it and click Delete.

Initial View

When a user opens your PDF document, they see the initial view of the PDF (if preset). You can set the initial view to the magnification level, page and page layout that you want.

Layout and Destination

Tip: If users specify the layout settings in the initial view and page display preferences, the settings in initial view will prevail.

Window Options

User Interface Options

Choose options to hide parts of the interface as needed.

Security

This tab describes security permissions and what functionality is allowed within a PDF. You can change document security settings if the permission allows.

Fonts

The Fonts tab lists the fonts and the font types used in the original document, as well as the encoding used to display the original fonts.

Advanced

This tab lists the items of Print Dialog Presets for the document, which will be applied automatically when you print the PDF file with Foxit PDF Editor. The Reading Options group allows you to specify the reading direction and language that screen readers use to read the PDF document. 

Page Scaling: Choose Default to scale the page with the application default setting when printing, which is Fit to printer margins. Or choose None to preserve the scale in the documents. To print with additional page scaling types as shown in the Print dialog box, you need to choose one of them when printing.

DuplexMode: Choose Simplex to print on one side of the page. Or choose Duplex Flip Long/Short Edge to print a document double sided and flip pages on long/short edges.

Number of Copies: Choose the number of copies you want to print. Or choose Default to use the application default copies, which is one copy.

Pages: Specify the page range you want to print.

Paper Source by Page Size: Automatically select the paper type according to the page size of the PDFs when printing.

Binding: Choose a reading direction in which you read a document in Facing or Continuous Facing mode. Choose Left Edge to read from left to right, or choose Right Edge to read from right to left.

Language: Specify the document language that screen readers use to read the document.

Manage Bookmarks

Bookmarks are navigation tools that make your PDF files easier to read. With Foxit PDF Editor, you can easily add, edit, or delete bookmarks in a PDF file if the security settings allow.

Open the Bookmarks Panel

Add a Bookmark

Tip: After adding a bookmark, you can also move it to a desired hierarchy, if necessary. Please refer to Move a Bookmark for more information.

Edit a Bookmark

In Foxit PDF Editor, you are able to rename a bookmark, reset a bookmark's destination, or customize the text appearance of a bookmark with ease if the security settings allow.

Rename a Bookmark

Reset a Bookmark's Destination

Customize the Text Appearance of a Bookmark

Tip: After defining a bookmark's appearance, you can set it as bookmarks' default property by right-clicking the bookmark and then selecting Use Current Appearance as New Default option.

Add an Action to a Bookmark

Expand or Collapse a Bookmark

In a bookmark hierarchy, to expand a bookmark (a parent bookmark with child bookmarks) and show the child bookmarks, directly click the plus sign (+) next to the parent bookmark. Click the minus sign (-) to collapse the parent bookmark and hide its child bookmarks.

To collapse all bookmarks, right-click any bookmark in the Bookmarks panel (or click the Options menu  at the top of the Bookmarks panel) and choose Expand/Collapse All Bookmarks. When no bookmarks are expanded in the Bookmarks panel, you can right-click any bookmark (or click the Options menu  at the top of the Bookmarks panel) and choose Expand/Collapse All Bookmarks to expand all bookmarks.

Delete a Bookmark

To remove a bookmark from the bookmark list, please do one of the following in the Bookmarks panel:

Tips:

Move a Bookmark

To move a bookmark, please do one of the following in the Bookmarks panel:

Tip: Moving a bookmark only changes its position in the Bookmark list, and the pages that the bookmark is linked to will remain at the original location in the document. When you move a parent bookmark, all its child bookmarks (if any) will be moved to the new position in the Bookmark list.

Create a Table of Contents from Bookmarks

To create a table of contents in a current PDF, please select New TOC from bookmarks from the Options menu  on the Bookmarks panel. In the pop-up Add a new content of table dialog box, do the following:

Create Bookmarks by Text Styles or Search Strings

In addition to creating bookmarks manually, you have the option to use the Auto Create Bookmarks feature to automatically generate multi-level bookmarks from text content by specifying text styles or search strings and presetting the properties for the generated bookmarks. This feature is useful when you need to create bookmarks from headings or text that contains keywords, especially in a large document.

Export and Import Bookmarks

Foxit PDF Editor supports exporting and importing bookmarks. You may need to export bookmarks from your document to share the bookmarks with others who have a copy of a document without the bookmarks (or with an old version of the bookmarks). Or if your document is too large, you need to export and delete the bookmarks from the document, and then send the document (without bookmarks) and its bookmarks separately to others. Then users who receive the bookmarks can import the bookmarks to their documents.

To export bookmarks, follow the steps below:

As needed, open the XML bookmark file with a text editor like Notepad and edit the data in the given structure.

To import bookmarks to a document, do the following:

Create and Manage Destinations

When creating a link in a PDF, you can link to a specified destination in the document. With Foxit PDF Editor, you can create and manage destinations in the Destinations panel in the navigation pane.

Open the Destinations Panel

Do any of the following to open the Destinations panel:

Create a Destination

Manage Destinations

Sort Destinations

To sort destinations, click the Options menu in the Destinations panel, and select Sort by Name or Sort by Page.

Change Destinations

Delete Destinations

To delete a destination, right-click a destination and choose Delete. Or choose the destination and press Delete on the keyboard.

Manage File Attachments

Open the Attachments Panel

Do any of the following to open the Attachments panel:

Add a File Attachment

Work on the File Attachments

Configure Security Settings

You can configure the security settings about how to open a file attachment with the following steps:

Manage File Attachments

In the Attachments panel, right-click a file attachment, and select one of the following options from the context menu:

Manage Page Thumbnails

Open the Pages Panel

Do any of the following to open the Pages panel:

Work on Page Thumbnails

The Pages panel displays all the page thumbnails of a PDF file which is opened in Foxit PDF Editor. In the Pages panel, you can do any of the following:

Tip: When you are organizing pages, you can also right-click on any page thumbnail in the Thumbnail window, and choose the Print Pages or Properties or Embed All Page Thumbnails/Remove Embedded Page Thumbnails option from the context menu to print pages, change page properties or embed/unembed page thumbnails.

Work with Audio & Video

Play Audio or Video

To play audio or video, please make sure you have necessary media player installed on your device, and then do the following:

Add Audio or Video

Foxit PDF Editor allows you to add audio and video in the popular formats (including .mov, .mpg, .mpeg, .mp4, .wav. .mp3, etc.) to PDF files.

Add Audio or Video

Edit the Play Area

Set Audio & Video Properties

Audio & Video Properties

Rendition Settings

Use current playback settings as default for this type of media: Set your settings as the new default for all the multimedia files you create in future.

Work with Layers

Foxit PDF Editor supports the ability to import, merge, flatten, reorder, rename, and delete layers in PDF documents, and change the properties of layers.

Show or Hide PDF Layers

Import Layers

You can import layers from a PDF file or import images as layers into a target PDF file.

Merge Layers

Note: Merged layers will have the same properties of the target layer. After you merge the layers, you cannot undo the operation.

Flatten Layers

In the Layers panel, click the Options menu  at the top left corner, choose Flatten Layer, and confirm your operation.

Note: After the flattening operation, all layers will be consolidated, while the layers that are originally not visible will be removed. After you flatten the layers, you cannot undo the operation.

Delete Layers

Note: When you delete a layer, its corresponding content will be removed.

Reorder Layers

In the Layers panel, press the Option key while you click the layer’s name, and drag it to the desired location.

Note: You cannot reorder locked layers or layers in nested layer groups.

Edit Layer Properties

Work with Image Annotations

Add an Image Annotation

You can add an image annotation to a PDF with the Image Annotation command.

To add an image annotation, do the following:

Manage Image Annotations

After you insert a new image annotation, you can adjust its size and position, change the appearance and other settings, etc.

Move, Resize, or Delete Image Annotations

You can manage image annotations in the same way that you manage form fields. To move, resize, or delete an image annotation, please make sure that you have chosen the Select Annotation or Image Annotation command, and then follow the instructions in “Move a Form Field”, “Resize a Form Field”, and “Delete a Form Field”.

Set Properties of an Image Annotation

Arrange Image Annotations

For existing image annotations in a PDF file, you can align, center, distribute, or resize them based on an anchor object. Arranging image annotations is similar to arranging form fields. For more information, please refer to “Arrange Form Fields”.

Search and Replace Text

The Search & Replace function allows you to quickly update the text that occurs multiple times in the document. Foxit PDF Editor will find the next occurrence of your specified text and replace it with your new text.

Add and Edit Objects in a PDF

Add Objects in a PDF

You can add or insert new text, image, path, or shading objects into a PDF.

Add New Text Objects

Add New Image Objects

Add New Shape Objects

Add a Path Object

Add a Shading Object

Link and Join Text Blocks

To make editing easier, Foxit PDF Editor supports linking multiple text blocks together or connecting separate text blocks into one single paragraph.

Link and Unlink Text Blocks

Using the Link command, you can link multiple text blocks together and then editing text in these blocks will be treated as editing one paragraph. You can link text blocks not only on one page but also across pages. Text will reflow in these linked blocks.

To link text blocks, please do the following:

To unlink a text block, please click Edit in the Ribbon > Link & Join Text, select the text block you need to unlink and then click Unlink in the Join & Split Tool context tab. You can also right-click the selected block and choose Unlink Text Boxes.

Note:
You can select and link text blocks that are discontinuous or in different columns, or that are not arranged from top to bottom or from left to right on the page.

Join and Split Text Blocks

With the Join command, you can connect blocks of text into one single paragraph in a block to improve text reflow. Blocks of text may be joined together when you need to join text as one object. Otherwise, a block of text can be divided up into several parts with the Split command.

To join text blocks, do the following:

To split a text block, please click Edit in the Ribbon > Link & Join Text button and click the text block you want to split. Click Split in the Join & Split Tool context tab, or right-click the selected block and select Split Text Boxes. Then the selected block will be divided.

Note: All selected blocks should be on the same page.

Edit Objects in a PDF

Edit Text in a Paragraph

With Foxit PDF Editor, you can either edit text in a paragraph like Microsoft Office Word or edit text as an independent object.

To edit text in a paragraph, please do the following:

Edit Text Objects

Edit a Text Object

To edit a text object, please do the following:

Convert Text Objects to Shape Objects

Foxit PDF Editor supports to convert the selected text object(s) into path(s), which will meet the pre-press requirement. For those computers that do not support or display certain embedded fonts, this new feature helps to overcome that issue. To convert text objects to shape objects, select the text objects, and do one of the following:

Merge and Split Text Objects

Remove Kerning for Text Objects

You can remove the space between the letters of words to improve the appearance of text content by clicking the Remove Kerning icon in the Split group in the Format panel.

Edit Image and Shape Objects

Manage Objects

When you select one or more objects, the selected objects will be outlined by a bounding box, and the Format panel will be displayed on the right of the document pane by default. Then you can change the appearances, resize, move, arrange objects, and much more.    

Select Objects

Tip: To deselect all the objects, click any blank area in the document.

Move Objects

To move objects, select the objects first, and then do one of the following:

Resize Objects

To resize objects, select the objects first, and then do one of the following:

Rotate Objects

To rotate objects, select the objects first, and then do one of the following:

Flip Objects

To flip objects, select the objects first, and then do one of the following:

Change the Z-order of an Object

When objects overlap on a layout, one object will be on top of all other elements. You can control how the overlapping objects are displayed by changing the Z-order (stacking order). 

To move an object to the front or back of all other elements, select it, and do one of the following:

To move an object up or down one level in a stack, select it, and do one of the following:

Clip Objects

Foxit PDF Editor allows you to create clipping marks (clipping paths) to mask other artwork and make only the area within the clipping shape visible. You can only clip one object at a time.

Shear Objects

Select the objects first, and then do one of the following:

Delete Objects

To delete objects, select the objects first, and then do one of the following:

Arrange Objects

You can align, center, distribute, or resize the objects based on an anchor using the options in the Format panel or context menu. For more information, please refer to “Arrange Form Fields”.

Change the Appearances and Properties

Change the Appearances of Objects in the Format Panel

By default, when you select an object with an Edit tool, the Format panel will be displayed automatically on the right of the document pane. You can hide the Format panel by clicking on anywhere along its left border. Foxit PDF Editor will remember the display status of the Format panel and keep it as it is until you re-adjust it manually. To re-display the Format panel after it has been hidden or closed, please click on its left border again. 

In the Format panel, you will find the following groups based on the object you have selected:

 

Buttons in the Text Style Group
Button
Name
Description
Font
 Change the font style. Click on the drop-down menu to choose a font style.
Font Size
 Change the font size. Click on the drop-down menu to choose a font size. Or input a value in the box and press Enter to apply it.
Font Color
 Simply click on the font color button to apply the color shown to the text.
Bold
 Text with bold formatting has thicker strokes than its ordinary form.
Italic
 Text with italic formatting leans to the right.
Underline
 Draw a line under the text.
Strikethrough
 Draw a line to cross out text, making others know the text is deleted.
Superscript
 Decrease the font size proportionally and raise the baseline, like the trademark.
Subscript
 Decrease the font size proportionally and lower the baseline, like a footnote.
Align Left
 Align the left edge of the paragraph to the left margin.
Center
Center each line of the paragraph with even space on both sides.
Align Right
Align the right edge of the paragraph to the right margin.
Justify
Align both sides of the paragraph with both margins.
Increase Indent
 Move the paragraph farther away from the left margin.
Decrease Indent
 Move the paragraph closer to the left margin.
Bullets

Create a bulleted list for paragraphs. Click on the drop-down menu to choose a bullet style. While editing text in a bulleted list, you can press Enter to start a new line with the automatic bullet formatting, or press Shift + Enter to start a non-bulleted line. 
Numbering

Create a numbered list for paragraphs. Click on the drop-down menu to choose a number style. While editing text in a numbered list, you can press Enter to start a new line with the automatic numbering, or press Shift + Enter to start a non-numbered line.
Writing Direction
 Set the writing direction (left-to-right or right-to-left) in which you type text.
Line Spacing
 Set the space between each line in a paragraph.
Paragraph Spacing
 Set the space between two paragraphs.
Character Scale
 Set the width of each character.
Character Spacing
 Set the space between each character that you type.
Word Spacing
 Set the space between each word.

 

Buttons in the Shape Style Group
Button
Name
Description
Preset Style
 Foxit PDF Editor provides popular preset styles at the top part of the Shape Style group. Select it to apply the preset style to the object.
Color
 Select a line color for the object.
Fill Color
 Set the fill color for the object.
Opacity
 Set the opacity of the object by dragging the slider.
Line Width
 Set the line thickness of the object.
Dash Type
 Select an option from the list to make the line dashed.
Line Cap
 Specify the shape to be used at the ends of open sub paths when they are stroked.
Line Join
 Specify the shape to be used at the corners of paths that are stroked.
Miter Limit
 Set the maximum length of mitered line joins for the stroked shapes.

 

Buttons in the Shading Style Group
Button
Name
Description
Preset Style
 Foxit PDF Editor provides popular preset styles at the top part of the Shading Style group. Select it to apply the preset style to the object.
Opacity
 Set the opacity of the object by dragging the slider.
Gradient Stops
 Describe the location and color of a transition point in a gradient.
Reference Line
 Change the setting of the gradient reference line.

Change the Properties of Objects in the Properties Dialog Box

Work with Articles

For PDF documents that include articles and arrange text content in multiple columns and across several pages, you may need lots of scrolling or zooming to navigate the articles. To make article viewing effective, Foxit PDF Editor allows you to define a navigational path (or an article thread) for an article in the document by marking out a series of boxes around the article content in the order you want the content to be viewed in. With article threads, you can skim through a document, focusing on a specific article and ignoring the rest, as you do in a traditional print newspaper or magazine.  

Define Articles

To define an article, please follow the steps:

View Articles

Notes:

Modify Articles

You can rename and delete articles, move and resize article boxes, edit article properties, and more.

Rename Articles

To rename an article, click the article name directly in the Articles panel and type a new name for it, or right-click the article and choose Rename to rename it.

Move and Resize an Article Box

To move an article box, select the article box with the Add Article Box command. Then drag the box to the desired position.

To resize an article box, select the article box with the Add Article Box command. Then drag a handle of the box.

Note: To select an article box with the Add Article Box command, you need to click on the label of the box. When an article box is selected, you can see the selection handles  appear on the borders of the article box with a plus sign  at the bottom of the article box.

Delete an Article or Article Box

To delete an entire article, do any of the following:

To delete an article box, select the article box you want to delete with the Add Article Box command. Then right-click the box and choose Delete. In the pop-up dialog box, choose Box.

After an article or an article box is deleted, the remaining articles or article boxes in the document will be automatically renumbered.

Edit Article Properties

You can edit the article title, subject, author, and keywords in the article property dialog box. To open the article property dialog box, do any of the following:

Insert article boxes into an article thread

Combine Two Articles

Create Links in a PDF

Links help you to lead the readers to related articles, references, or the intended web page.

Rectangle Links

Add a Rectangle Link

Move or Resize a Rectangle Link

You can move and resize the rectangle link after you create it.

Delete a Rectangle Link

Web Links

Foxit PDF Editor enables you to find and convert URLs in text format to web link objects. Web link objects can guide you to corresponding websites directly when you click them in the default tool mode. With Foxit PDF Editor, you can also convert linked web page to PDF and append it to your PDF file. 

Create Web Link Objects from URLs

By default, Foxit PDF Editor will detect URLs in text format and convert them to web link objects automatically when you open a PDF file. If you do not want to create web link objects automatically, please go to File tab (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > General, and uncheck the Create links from URLs option in the Basic Tools group.

To create web link objects manually, please do the following:

Remove Web Link Objects

Append All Web Links on the Current Page

You can download all web links on the current page and convert the linked web pages to PDF pages that will be appended to the end of the current PDF. Steps are as follows:  

By default, only one level of the linked websites is converted to PDF pages. After conversion, the downloaded links in the document will change to internal links that jump to the converted page in the document when you click them.

Append Selected Web Links on the Current Page

Besides appending all web links at one time, Foxit PDF Editor also allows users to view all web links on a page, and select links as desired to convert the linked web pages with custom settings to PDFs that will be appended to the end of the current PDF.

After the downloading completes, you can see the linked web pages are successfully converted and appended to the end of the current document. Please note that after conversion the downloaded links in the document will change to internal links that will jump to the converted pages in the document when you click them.

Cross-references

The Cross Reference feature is used to create a group of linked cross-references, and clicking on each cross-reference jumps to its next one in the group in the order you created them (Clicking on the last one in the group jumps the first one.). For example, you can use linked cross-references to link a text string to a paragraph or chart that appears elsewhere in the document. With this feature, you can quickly and easily navigate among multiple locations in a PDF file with one click, which can be helpful if you are working on a long document.

To create and manage cross-references, do the following:

Optimize PDF Files

With the PDF optimizer, users can update the PDF version and reduce file size by compressing contents, unembedding fonts, and clearing out the data redundancy of PDF objects. Users can optimize PDFs with custom advanced settings, or reduce file size quickly with the default settings.

Note: During the optimization, PDF Optimizer doesn’t optimize file attachments in the document, including attachments added to the PDF as comments.

Reduce File Size with Default Settings

You can use the Reduce File Size command to quickly optimize documents with the default settings, which are suitable for a wide range of documents. With this command, you can also reduce file size for multiple files at the same time.

Reduce the Size of the Current File with Default Settings

Reduce the Size of Multiple Files with Default Settings

Advanced Optimization

With the Advanced Optimization command, you can select professional settings to achieve advanced PDF optimization. To optimize PDF with advanced settings, please do as follows:

Optimize Scanned PDF

Foxit PDF Editor supports the size optimization of scanned PDFs during PDF creation from a scanner or by choosing File in the Ribbon > PDF Optimizer > Optimize Scanned PDF group > Optimize Scanned PDF in an existing scanned or image-based PDF. See also “The Optimization Options in Custom Scan”.

Action Wizard

For users who need to work on PDF documents through a series of routine tasks, Foxit PDF Editor’s Action Wizard can help them to automate it with a predefined action. What users need to do is just create an action that includes all the tasks to be applied to the PDFs, and then run the action to process the PDFs in a single step.

Create an Action

Foxit PDF Editor provides several predefined ready-to-use actions that include common tasks like file distribution, PDF optimization, sensitive information protection, and document archive. You can also create your own actions to perform the routine tasks based on your specific needs.

Run an Action

Manage Actions

You can edit, rename, copy, delete, reorder, or import/export actions in the Manage Actions dialog box.

Tip: The Manage Actions dialog box lists all the available actions, including the preset actions (predefined by Foxit) and custom actions (created by users). The actions predefined by Foxit cannot be edited, renamed or removed.

Spelling Check

Foxit PDF Editor allows users to check the spelling of PDF files and provides suggestions to correct misspelled words. This feature is useful when users want to proofread text. You can check for possible mistakes and then confirm each correction.

Before using the spell check feature, you can choose File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PDF Editor in the menu bar) > Preferences > Spelling to specify the spelling preferences, including enable/disable automatic check and add/remove/reorder dictionaries.

By default, Foxit PDF Editor automatically checks the spelling when you edit text, add text comments, or fill in text fields in interactive PDF forms. The suspected misspellings will be underlined with red squiggly lines. You can right-click a misspelled word to find suggestions and correct it quickly.

If you need to check spelling within an entire document, please do the following: