Your friend sends a tenancy form and says 'just fill it in and send it back'. You open it and... nothing happens. No fields to click. No way to type. PDFs love this kind of ambush.
There's no fillable form built in
A PDF only has clickable fields if someone designed them in. If the sender just exported a Word document, you'll be looking at a flat page. The fix: open the PDF in an editor that lets you add text on top — Flint's edit-pdf does exactly that. Click anywhere on the page and start typing. No fields required.
It's locked against editing
If the sender added permissions, your editor will refuse to save changes. Look for a padlock icon. If it's your file, unlock PDF clears it. If it's someone else's, ask for an editable version — they probably didn't mean to lock it that hard. Many people send PDFs through 'Print to PDF' which adds locks by default without anyone noticing.
It's a scan and looks editable but isn't
Scanned PDFs are images — you can't change letters that don't exist as letters. Run OCR first to add a real text layer, then edit normally. The original image stays visible underneath so the document still looks like the original. Most editors, including Flint, can OCR a page in seconds.
FAQ
Will my edits survive when I send it back?
Yes, as long as you save the file properly and the recipient opens it in a PDF viewer. To make edits truly permanent, flatten the document before sending so nothing can be moved.
Can I edit a signed PDF?
Editing a signed PDF usually invalidates the signature — that's the whole point of signing. If you need to change something, ask for a fresh unsigned copy and re-sign after edits.
Why does my editor say 'read-only'?
Often a sync issue: the file is open elsewhere, or in a cloud folder marked read-only. Close other viewers, copy the file to your desktop, and try again.
Most 'uneditable' PDFs are just flat pages waiting for a proper editor. Open yours in Flint and start typing.