Top 8 PDF Editors for Students

Audrey Goodwin

2024-05-22 13:36:15 • Filed to: Software for Students • Proven solutions

PDF is increasingly becoming the most popular format in education circles because it is universal and secure. However, editing these documents may prove troublesome and that is where PDF editors save the day. There are countless PDF editors in the market. In order to find the best PDF editor for students, factors like functionalities, features, advantages, and disadvantages should be considered. Here is a list of 7 remarkable editors for students.

Best PDF Editor for Students

1. PDFelement

Wondershare PDFelement - PDF Editor is definitely the best PDF editor for students. It has lots of incredible tools for editing text and images in PDF, converting files from or to PDF, adding comments, online document filling, recognizing text from scanned PDF, and combining or spliting PDFs. 

The latest version of PDFelement is now equipped with AI capabilities for PDFs, allowing students to summarize, proofread, and translate content directly within a PDF without needing to convert the file. This smart PDF solution can significantly enhance your study efficiency. 

Features:

• It can generate PDF documents flawlessly. The PDFs can be converted to many formats(Word, Excel, etc.) without compromising the overall quality.
• Effortless PDF editing for students to edit PDFs, scanned files, images, and many more.
• Excellent for adding markups to PDF. This program also allows students to add bookmarks, comments, signature, and many more.
• Summarize, translate, and proofread PDFs with AI.
• Easy document compilation and splitting. Students can merge documents, organize pages, and even combine different PDFs.
• Fast OCR and bulk processing. The OCR tools make it simple for students to edit scanned PDFs.
• Compatible with Windows, MacOS, Android, and iPhone.
• Available free try-outs with basic features.

Students Discount: Up to 60% price cut for students.

Systems Compatibility: Compatible with Windows, MacOS, Android, and iPhone.

Best Free PDF Editor for Students

1. Adobe Acrobat Reader - Free PDF Editor for Laptop

Adobe Acrobat Reader has been the mainstay free PDF viewer and editor for years especially for laptop. If you just need to view research paper in PDF and make annotation witht text boxes, sticky notes, and highlights, the free Acrobat reader fit you just well.

However, if you also need PDF editing and converting features, you will need to subscribe to Acrobat Pro. It offers a 60% student discount, bringing the cost down to as low as $19.99 per month.

Pros:

• Free PDF viewing and annotation.
• Fill and sign PDF form for free.
• Available for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
• Store PDF files to online storgae so that you can access your files everywhere.

Cons:

• It is comparatively expensive which can be difficult for those with limited budgets.

Discount for Students: Students and teachers can get it at $239.88 per year or a 19.99 per month fee.

Systems Compatibility: Adobe Acrobat Reader works with your laptop, iPad, iPhone and more.

2. Wondershare Free PDF Reader & Editor for Windows

Wondershare Free PDF Reader is another free PDF tool for students. With the ability to create PDFs, add text comments, highlight content, and sign documents, it is much more than just a PDF reader. For advanced PDF editing capabilities such as modifying text, converting, or compressing PDFs, you can upgrade to PDFelement. A student discount is available, starting at $47.99 for a full year. 

Pros:

• View PDF like a real book in 3D Mode.
• Modern privacy and protect PDFs with password protection for free.
• Electronic signatures options.
• Add notes to PDF documents with Typewriter, Text Box and Callout.
• Take screenshots of your PDF document to save it as an image.

Cons:

• Only available for Windows PC.

Discount for Students: Free to use.

Systems Compatibility: All Windows systems are supported.

3. Preview - Free PDF Editor for MacBook

Preview is the default PDF viewer on your MacBook and it can also works as a free PDF editor for students who just need basic PDF editing feature. You can enjoy a better reading experience and annotate your file with Preview on Mac for free.

Pros:

• Good PDF Viewer. Read lightly and smoothly in different views: Single Page View, Two Page View, Continuous Scroll n.
• Rich Annotation Tools. Highlight key points, note down thoughts, and quotes with text box and Sticky Note when reading piles of reference documents.
• Add Signature. Fill out PDF forms and add electronic signature.
• Create PDF from images. Fast convert your JPG, PNG, TIFF to PDF.
• Redact text on PDF. Select text to permanently remove it from view.

Cons:

• Unable to make changes to the existing text on PDFs.

Discount for Students: Free to use.

4. iScanner - Free PDF Editor for Students on Mobile

iScanner is not only a  PDF scanner app  is also another PDF editor for students with excellent features. It has new tools like voice automated recognition technology.

Pros:

• It has voice recognition technology.
• It provides conversion, modification, and note taking.
• Offers protection options.
• It is compatible with many systems.

Cons:

• Expensive when compared to various PDF editors out there.
• The user interface is not suitable for newcomers.

Discount for Students: The cost of Nuance begins at $149. Students from accredited institutions can use Nuance Academic Editions.

Systems Compatibility: It has great compatibility with Windows systems.

5. AbleWord

It may not be as famous as the rest but it offers great features for students. Being a word processor, you can easily reformat and edit a Word document. It is a free PDF editor for students.

Pros:

• Modify images with ease.
• You can change headers and footers easily.
• Its features are easy to learn.
• Supports some Ms Word tools.
• It is free.

Cons:

• It cannot perform certain functions.
• The output is a relatively low quality when compared to other editors.

Discount for Students: Download and use for free.

Systems Compatibility: The PDF editor supports all Windows software. It is also compatible with Mac.

6. Sejda - Free Online PDF Editor for Students

This is another PDF editor suitable for students. Despite being free it still has remarkable editing features.

Pros:

• Enables you to sign electronically.
• Easy note-making tools.
• Easy addition of links to a document.
• There is no restriction on time or the number of pages you can edit.

Cons:

• When compared to other PDF editors, Sejda offers little PDF protection options.
• You won't have OCR technology.
• Their interface is not as modern as for the others.
• There are limits on free software.

Discount for Students: You can use the free version despite its restrictions. They have limited use to 50MB or 200 pages per hour which aren't that bad for a student.

Systems Compatibility: Works well on the web.

7. PDF Buddy - Online PDF Editor for Students

This is another free PDF editor for students that allows you to edit your documents online. There is no installation needed.

Pros:

• Easy upload and modification of documents.
• You learn to use it in seconds.
• Easy registration.
• It is free for Windows.
• Highlight and censor content.

Cons:

• There is a lack of certain features such as merging options and options to create new files.
• Security is not guaranteed because editing is done online.

Discount for Students: It is free.

Systems Compatibility: It is a web application that can work on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.

Comparison of the Best PDF Editor for Students

Free Download or Buy PDFelement right now!

Free Download or Buy PDFelement right now!

Buy PDFelement right now!

Buy PDFelement right now!

Audrey Goodwin

chief Editor

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