Edit PDFs in your browser with this plugin

Chrome and Edge come with their own built-in PDF viewer, but they have their limitations. Adobe recently launched a free PDF editor in the form of a plug-in for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. It allows you to edit PDFs in the browser, add comments, and save the edited PDFs locally on the computer or upload them directly to the Adobe Cloud.

to install

You can get the new Adobe Acrobat extension from the Chrome and Edge web stores. For Chrome you do that via https://kwikr.nl/aach and for Edge you do that via https://kwikr.nl/aaed† After installing the add-on, you need to enable the extension and set it as the default tool for PDF. Afterwards, if you click on a direct PDF link or if you open a PDF document in the browser, Acrobat’s plug-in will be used. The extension asks for permission to read and change data on the website. That’s not uncommon, otherwise the tool won’t be able to do its job.

Basic tools

The basic tools for editing a PDF can be found in the toolbar at the top. These tools let you draw freehand, highlight text, and add comments. The comments you add will be neatly lined up to the right of your document. In addition, there is a second set of tools, but it only comes into view when you select text in the PDF. With this set you can highlight, strikethrough, underline and copy text.

You can add as many comments as you want. With the tool Sign and secure other users can fill out PDF forms and add signatures without leaving the browser.

Additional tools

The features listed are all free, but a few other features require an Acrobat DC subscription. This way you can send a PDF directly from the browser to Microsoft Word convert without losing formatting. Or you compress a PDF file, because especially if it contains images, the file size of these types of documents can be quite large.

You can also delete pages from a document and even split the document into several PDF files. Or protect the PDF document with a password. Keep in mind that these tools are not actually built into the extension. When you select a tool from this list, you will be redirected to Adobe’s website where you can upload the PDF file you want to convert.

†