One of the features of most web browsers is the ability to open PDF files . Thanks to it we can see any document from the Internet even without the need to download it to the computer. However, this function is very simple and does not allow us to do anything other than see the contents of the file. Although, with the appropriate extensions, we will be able to convert our Chrome browser into a complete program to edit PDF.
Thanks to the extensions it is possible to provide web browsers with functions and features that, by default, do not come with them. Many extensions allow us to make modifications to the websites, block tracking and improve privacy or add a notification system, for example, for email. As expected, there are extensions that will allow us to take the PDF viewer of browsers to a new level.
View and edit PDF from Chrome
PDF Viewer
Although Chrome can read PDF without problems, this extension adds an important utility to this function. With PDF Viewer we will be able to open all kinds of documents from the browser, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, among others, without having to download them. So we can save ourselves from having to install these programs on the PC and download the documents if we don’t need them.
This extension allows us to open streaming documents from the Internet, from cloud storage platforms such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, or Dropbox, and also, if we want, it allows us to save these documents on the PC.
Kami
The first extension that we are going to talk about is Kami. This extension was born as a solution to introduce annotations in documents, but it has been evolving and changing to become one of the most complete PDF editing programs from Chrome that we can find. The Kami Toolbar is the one that brings us all these editing options and tools to work better with documents. Some of the most important are:
- Select text.
- Complete dictionary to correct PDFs.
- Function to read a document aloud.
- Tools for underlining.
- Text editor.
- Tool to introduce equations.
- Pencil, brushes and other tools to edit documents.
- Eraser.
- Possibility of adding images.
- Digital signature system.
- In addition to PDF, it supports other documents, such as DOCX, Excel, PowerPoints, and even images.
This extension is intended, above all, for school environments and for education. It has a large number of online collaboration options and, in addition, it integrates with the main Google services, such as Classroom and Drive, among others.
This program has a free version, one designed for schools and educational settings and another for professional settings. And we can easily download it from the Chrome Store.
Exodus PDF
This extension is one of the fastest and most reliable for editing documents from the browser. This extension can be configured as the default PDF viewer for Windows, so whenever we open a document with a double click, it opens by default with this extension, within Chrome.
The editing functions offered by this extension are:
- Advanced engine to open PDFs quickly and move smoothly through them.
- Lets you write directly to the document, highlight text, or underline parts of it.
- Save the edited PDFs on our computer without overwriting the originals.
- It allows you to fill out forms included in the documents and digitally sign them.
- Lets you draw and add lines and shapes with your own tools.
Although it may be somewhat more limited than the previous ones, the advantage of this extension is that it is completely free for all users. It has no ads, no limitations or hidden purchases. And we can download it from the Chrome Store.
Smallpdf
This is another simple extension that will allow us to edit, convert, mix, divide and convert PDF directly from the browser, without needing anything else. This extension integrates with the cloud and with other services, such as Gmail, and allows us to easily upload files in order to process them.
Among the editing functions that it offers us, we can find the basic tools that any PDF editing program will offer us. In addition, we will also have the possibility to delete pages or rotate them, among many other functions.
Merge and Split
Merge PDF
This is one of the most complete extensions that we can find to divide or combine PDF documents from the browser. Some of the tools included in this extension to work comfortably with our documents are:
- Simple function to edit PDF from Chrome with which we can change text or images, or add links.
- Document compressor.
- Delete pages.
- Join or divide documents.
- Extract specific pages from a document.
- Convert documents between various formats.
- Digital signature.
- Features to protect documents.
In total, an extension made up of 32 tools with which we will be able to do almost everything with documents. And best of all, completely free of charge.
Split PDF
The name of this extension makes its main use clear. This is one of the fastest and easiest extensions to divide any PDF document into several parts. Just drag the document to the browser and click on the split button, nothing more.
PDF Merge and Download and View
Another interesting Chrome extension that will allow us to work more comfortably with PDF documents from the browser. This program is mainly focused on combining and merging documents in Adobe format through a very clear and easy to understand interface.
Other extensions
In addition, we can also find other extensions for Chrome that will allow us to turn our browser into a complete PDF tool with which we can do literally everything.
Print Friendly and PDF
Surely we have ever come across a website that, for whatever reason, we want to save it. We can always use the bookmarks, or the printing functions of the browser. However, thanks to Print Friendly we will be able to print any website, along with all its content, as a document in Adobe format.
This extension will take care of converting the web page into a PDF, but it will also allow us to add or remove the pages that we are not interested in, in order to have the most optimized content possible.
Compress PDF
If we have a PDF document that takes up a lot of space, thanks to this extension we will be able to reduce its final size. Thus it will take up less space on our hard disk, and it will also be fast to send over the Internet. This extension allows us to choose the PDF that we want to compress, and it will compress it to an optimal size with 144 PPP quality and an adequate compression of the images to JPG. In this way we will save a lot of space and hardly lose quality.
This extension is totally free, it has no blocked functions or hidden purchases. And it also does not add watermarks to the generated documents.
PDF Converter
Another of the functions that we can miss in the browser’s PDF viewer is the possibility of converting documents from one format to another. This function is usually reserved for professional editors, however, thanks to this extension, we will be able to do it.
PDF Converter allows us to convert practically any type of document to PDF. This extension allows us to pass a web in HTML to a document, or convert images, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Postscript files and plain text to this Adobe format. In addition, it integrates with Google Drive, so we will be able to convert documents from the cloud.