Edit PDF in sharepoint online

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Dear community, 

I am trying to edit pdfs stored in a document library on sharepoint with no success. 

Is this possible at all to do? 

 

Regards! 

 

66 Replies

There's a few problems working against PDFs, here.

 

1) PDFs were never meant to be edited. They're a *print* format.

2) PDF "standard" isn't a standard. Adobe has extended/abused PDF to no end. This lead to a misuse of PDFs; see #1. Think of OpenGL. There's a standard, and then there is vendor abuse of said standard.

3) Because of this, Microsoft cannot implement a fully featured PDF viewer/editor, due to #2.

 

As far as browser integration goes, this is a problem on the client side. All major browsers, sans IE, have built-in PDF viewers. It is up to the vendors of PDF software to integrate with those built-in viewers. For example, Adobe has a Chrome web extension that allows you to go from the built-in Chrome web view to Adobe Reader/Acrobat.

 

OneDrive sync or adding the library within Acrobat are the routes I would personally take in a scenario where these cannot be converted to a proper format designed for editing.

PDF format isn’t overused or abused, it does what its supposed to; a read only document that can have a signature or markup attached. The headache for users of SharePoint and PDFs is that even if they open a PDF from SP in desktop, when they go to save it gets saved in some obscure temporary directory instead of back to SP. Suggestions to download to desktop, open/edit in application, then reupload back to SP are pure typical MS idiocracy at its best.

Hey Everyone - just letting you know Adobe now has a version of Acrobat that connects to your SharePoint Online/Azure subscription as an Enterprise App. You'll need your O365 Admin to install it but once installed it allows Annotation of PDFs inside the browser for PDFs stored on your SharePoint Online site.

 

Find more info here:
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/o365pdf/start.html

Opening PDFs seems to go through the documentcloud.adobe.com and is a little slower than browser supported viewing of PDFs but the annotation in browser editing is worth it IMHO.

 

We looked at this recently, if memory serves, you have to configure any SharePoint library/folder location that you want to work in first in Adobe. A common scenario for us is users sharing PDFs for review with others via OneDrive. Adobe DocumentCloud was a non runner as it still makes the process for the user cumbersome.

If you discover different, please let me know.

@Richard Bourke 

 

There is still the ability to open the library in explorer view (using IE). This allows you to edit the pdf in place and it saves the changes to the online file with no need to download/re-upload. Yeah, it's not lightning fast...but it does work.

@Richard Bourke The Adobe Acrobat Cloud is setup as an Enterprise App authorized to your O365/Azure subscription and then you don't need to authorize it for each folder. 

Once the user is allowed access to the Enterprise App they use it anywhere SharePoint or OneDrive

@SteveMartin, don't you need to configure each site URL via Add an account?
I recall it working great for a user in their own OneDrive or team site (which was added as an account for that user) but not so great an experience when random users share a PDF to others for feedback/review from their own OneDrive. I may have to revisit it if that's not the case.

@Richard Bourke 

 

I'd be interested to hear how this works. If we can enable it tenant wide, then that would be fantastic.

Not so great if it needs enabling on a folder by folder level.

 

@SteveMartin - Do you only get the ability to annotate?  We're looking for the full capacity of adobe either in the browser, or the ability to open from SharePoint in the client application without having to go via file explorer.

@Andrew Silcock It works just as you'd expect. SharePoint or OneDrive content PDF file opens in the browser routing by way of documentcloud.adobe.com. The free version only lets you add comments and highlight/markup. But if you sign-in on Adobe and you have a license then you get all tools like combining pdf files, managing pages, etc. (license is not cheap of course - you pay per user/month).

Have your O365 Admin install the App on your tenant and give it a whirl its free - but likely you are exposing any PDF you open to Adobe (which you'd be doing anyway if you signup for the digital signing option).

 

InBrowser EditingInBrowser Editing

@Richard Bourke Once installed as an Enterprise App (follow the process on Adobe linked above) you then just need to authorize users on that Enterprise App in your Azure Portal. Authorize everyone using an NT Group.

EnterpriseAppSetup.png

@Chad Woodward if _only_ it was used as a read only format. Nope, instead it is used as a full fledged editable document. Yes, it is abused and misused, unfortunately.

Hey @SteveMartin, I tested this out again. It looks really slick, particularly for the single user working on a PDF. 

Do you know if co-authoring is something that will be coming along in the future? It seems to not fully support it currently from my limited testing.

Also, am I correct that for commenting/annotating PDFs there is no license required?

No one in the organization can find a print command when opening a PDF in Adobe Document Cloud. Is this to be expected for the "free" version? Organize pages, combine files, export PDF to Word/PPT/Excel/rtf, download PDF, drawing tool, highlight text, and sticky note are all visible but a print option isn't. Right click options are add sticky note and use drawing tool. I consented for this enterprise app to be used on behalf of the organization and no one is signing in with an Adobe Document Cloud account because they don't have such accounts. 

@Richard Bourke - Sorry not sure on Adobe's plans to allow co-authoring 

Annotating/Commenting/markup does seem to be totally free - no Adobe account login required.
They get you when you want to combine, Organize or Convert PDFs - plus they want to hook you on their signature document signing platform.

@KD10018 True print option isn't available as I suspect its difficult to do through the Adobe DocumentCloud and not possible like the built in PDF viewer in the browser. 

Its a good way to discourage printing and do more Sharing :) - in the interim I see you can Download the PDF then view it in the local browser viewer to do printing.

 

There is no need to signin on Adobe for all of the markup features. You only need to signin / pay for features like convert PDF/Organize PDF and the more extensive editing features of full Acrobat editing.

@SteveMartin Sigh. I'm at a nonprofit that is a financial institution where printing is unfortunately still quite common and SharePoint is de facto treated as a digital backup of a paper client folder. I'm afraid that asking staff to download and then print is just a step too far. The goal is to stay in the browser. What I had been looking for in the enterprise app was the ability for team site members to fill out fillable PDF forms in the browser rather than having to download, fill out, and re-upload.

@SteveMartinCan you give more detail on how to sign into Adobe Cloud DC to have the full editing capabilities from SharePoint? I guess I'm not seeing how to do that. 

This feature is available in Onedrive (within Office 365 Home). Why would it not be available on Sharepoint (which is within Office 365 Business Premium) 

 

I am paying nearly 10 times as much to use Business Premium, and I need at very minimum for the feature i had within Office 365 Home and Onedrive to be available to me and my employees @Juan Carlos González Martín 

I have been trying to get Adobe Document Cloud to edit files in my Sharepoint Online Library.  It appears that everything is there to make this work, but there is something missing.  This is what I did:

 

1. Open Acrobat DC Pro

2. On the left bar, I pick "Add an Account"

3. Select "Add" under Sharepoint Site logo

4. Enter your SP account and URL

2020-02-05 09_37_29-Add Microsoft SharePoint Account.png

5. Finish login/password

6. Open the site!

 

My issue, none of the folders that show up have any files in them.  All are empty.  Ive been trying to figure out what is missing here.  The hard part is done, Reader is connected to SP, and brings up the folder structure, but no files.

 

Oh, so what about the Sharepoint side?

 

1. Open up MICROSOFT EXPLORER!!  (Sorry, yes.  No menus in chrome.)

2. Open up your list, and find the item you wish to edit.

3. Select "Open in Adobe Document Cloud"

2020-02-05 09_44_04-Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.png

4. All looks like its going to work...

 

2020-02-05 09_45_18-Adobe Document Cloud for SharePoint_OneDrive - Internet Explorer.png

But HAHA!  No, just kidding... 

This error appears, end of 2nd failure.

2020-02-05 09_46_21-Adobe Document Cloud for SharePoint_OneDrive - Internet Explorer.png

 

Whats missing here?  This has to work.  Must be something simple.

 

 

@SteveMartin thanks for the link, but, Acrobat wants another $16/month per seat for this benefit.  We already have a PDF editing tool but we are being blocked from using it on the 365 platform (not sure blocked is the right term but you get the idea).  PDF format is an open language and we should be able to use the tools we already have to provide this functionality.