> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.brieftech.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.brieftech.ai/how-to-guides/process/edit-pdf.md).

# Edit a PDF

Open a PDF in BriefTech's built-in editor, then choose how to apply your changes.

Select the file you want to change, then open BriefTech's built-in PDF editor from the **Tools** menu.

## Before you start

* You need access to the matter that lets you change its documents — see [Matter roles and permissions](/reference/matter-roles-and-permissions.md).
* Select **exactly one file that has a PDF version**. That includes files BriefTech has converted to PDF for you — a Word document, an email, a scanned image — not only files that arrived as PDFs. If you select more than one file, or a file that has no PDF version yet, the action does not appear at all.
* The editor opens in a **separate pop-up window**, so allow pop-ups for BriefTech if your browser blocks them. If it is blocked, BriefTech tells you so.

## Open the editor

1. On the <img src="https://2262431129-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FlnHu06wl3NH457iwjBmr%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-30913153ebd9cc9194606c644922feb649ae10a5%2Ftab-files.svg?alt=media" alt="Files tab" data-size="line"> tab or the <img src="https://2262431129-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FlnHu06wl3NH457iwjBmr%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-8f18f06a78c4d0bf6e51eac54ec7d3e5d2cdb8a2%2Ftab-review.svg?alt=media" alt="Review tab" data-size="line"> tab, select one such file.
2. Open the **Tools** menu and choose **Edit PDF** — or right-click the row and choose **Edit PDF**.
3. Make your changes in the editor window that opens, and save them.

## What you can do in the editor

The editor shows your PDF as a grid of page thumbnails, with a larger single-page view for closer work. Inside it you can reorder, rotate, delete, insert, crop, and mark up pages, undo or redo as you work, and split the document into separate files (see *If you split the PDF into several files* below). Nothing in your matter changes until you choose **Save** — **Cancel** closes the editor and discards your edits.

## Choose how to apply your changes

In the **Apply PDF edits** dialog — which BriefTech shows when you save a single-PDF edit — choose one of two options:

* **Apply edits** — BriefTech stores your edited PDF and shows it from then on.
* **Replace original** — the same, and BriefTech additionally re-runs conversion, OCR and text extraction over the edited PDF, so the document's searchable text and extracted details match what you have just changed. This takes longer.

Either way **your original file is kept** — neither choice deletes or overwrites the file you uploaded, and no second document appears in your list.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Which option?** **Apply edits** is quicker; choose **Replace original** when the change should be reflected in search and the document's extracted details too.
{% endhint %}

## If you split the PDF into several files

In your matter, if your edits split the document into separate files, BriefTech does not ask the question above — it creates the split sections as new documents alongside the original, and they process like any newly added file.

## What you've done

You've edited the PDF in the built-in editor and chosen how the result applies to the document in your matter. Your original file is always kept; if you split the document, the new sections are added as their own documents alongside it.

## Related

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Split a PDF</strong></td><td>Split one PDF into several separate documents with the PDF Splitter tool.</td><td><a href="/how-to-guides/process/split-pdf.md">Split a PDF</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Reprocess a failed document</strong></td><td>Retry a document that hit an error during conversion, OCR, or another processing step.</td><td><a href="/how-to-guides/process/reprocess-failed-document.md">Reprocess a failed document</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Previewing documents</strong></td><td>Move through pages, zoom, rotate, and pan in the preview.</td><td><a href="/reference/previewing-documents.md">Previewing documents</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Supported file formats</strong></td><td>Which file types BriefTech accepts and converts.</td><td><a href="/reference/supported-file-formats.md">Supported file formats</a></td></tr></tbody></table>


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