I don't mean to call Joe out, but there needs to be more specificity across the industry with regard to PDFs and what "editing" means.  

Acrobat Reader CAN change PDFs, but only in specific ways.  I've had faculty insist for years that they *need* Adobe Acrobat Pro so they can "edit" PDFs and the vast majority of the time, they only need to do markup.  Explaining the difference got to be tiresome, but their understanding was critical as a cost-saving measure.  Thus, I created a (internal) wiki page for our library to explain the different ways of working with PDFs.  I have exported it (as a PDF) and attached it here.  All the blue text should be links to additional information. 

As for Charles' question, what I would do in that case is open the PDF, and create a white (or black) box to overlay on top of the signature.  Then use Windows built-in Print-to-PDF option to "print" another copy that won't have a record of that markup (otherwise it might be possible to remove that overlay).

Hope this helps someone (and feel free to critique the document -- I'm happy to improve it in any way).

Erich



On Wednesday, July 13, 2022 at 15:04, Joe Hourclé eloquently inscribed:

> ‘Reader’ is read only.  You need ‘Adobe Acrobat’ or ‘Adobe Acrobat Pro’ to
> make changes.
> 
> However, Acrobat isn’t the only game on town these days.  As PDF is an open
> format, there are other programs that should be able to modify it.
> 
> (I have an ancient copy of Acrobat Pro, however, so I don’t know whatthe
> other options are)
> 
> -Joe
> 
> Sent from a mobile device with a crappy on screen keyboard and obnoxious
> "autocorrect"
> 
>> On Jul 13, 2022, at 10:09 AM, charles meyer <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi my esteemed listmates,
>> 
>> 
>> A PDF document was emailed to me And I need to erase their name off it.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> In older Adobe Acrobat Reader you just clicked on the Eraser icon and
>> erased.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> We now have the “new and improved” Reader and I Googled this and
>> results said to click Tool and choose Erase. In mine when you click
>> Tools you get all these options for a 7 day trial basis, including Edit.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Is tee no way to erase for free in Adobe Acrobat Reader?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> If so, what free program do you use to erase in a PDF?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Thank you!
>> 
>> 
>> Charles.