Two Ways to Open PDF in MS Paint

Although Microsoft provides a built-in program to open PDF files in the latest versions of Windows 8 and 10, yet some users prefer to use older ways. There are plenty of reasons why would someone want to open the PDF in Paint and one of them is to annotate the PDF file using different images present in the Paint. MS Paint can only open the image files and it can never directly open the PDF Files. So, in order to open PDF file in Paint, you will have to convert it into an image. Here are the two different ways to open PDF files in MS Paint.

Part 1A Step-by Step Guide to Open a PDF in Paint

What is MS Paint? MS Paint is probably one of the oldest applications present in Microsoft Windows since Windows 98 days, over the time period, Microsoft has brought small changes in the paint application and there have never been any major changes in the application.

This application is basically used to create and edit different types of images and MS Paint only supports JPEG, BMP, PNG and GIF formats. In this method, you will take a screenshot of the PDF file and later this screenshot can be opened or edited in Microsoft Paint. Here’s how this method will work:

The detailed tutorial on opening PDF in Paint:

• 1. Open PDF File:
  In order to open the required PDF file in paint, first open the file in the PDF viewer. Once the file is opened, navigate to the page that you want to edit in Microsoft Paint.
• 2. Take a Screenshot in PDF:
  Now, hit the Prt-Scr Key on your keyboard, this key is normally present right next to the F12 or "Insert" button on the keyboard. This will basically capture the whole screen and copy the screenshot to the clipboard which can be pasted in any other program.
• 3. Open PDF Screenshot in MS Paint:
  Finally, Launch Microsoft Paint on your windows computer and click on the "Edit" button on the top and select "Paste", you can also use the "Ctrl + V" shortcut to paste the image in paint. After making required changes to the PDF file, you can save the image using the "Ctrl + S" command from your Keyboard.

The Disadvantages of Opening PDF in Paint by Screenshot

• Although this way seems to be easiest to follow, yet it has several disadvantages. First of the all, the quality of the captured screenshots is not as good as the quality of the PDF file.
• Secondly, taking a screenshot of each and every program is not an easy task. You will have to go to the individual page manually and take a screenshot and paste in the paint one-by-one.
• Lastly, you will also have to crop each and every image in Microsoft Paint to get the best results.
• Alternatively, there is a better way to open PDF files in Paint using Wondershare PDFelement. This method will basically convert all the PDF pages to the images which can easily be opened in the Microsoft Paint without any effort.

Part 2An Easier Way to Open a PDF in Paint

Wondershare PDFelement promises to provide a better way to open the PDF file in MS Paint. Unlike the above mentioned method, you do not have to take screenshot with the low quality results; rather you can simply convert the PDF file to Images to open in the Microsoft Paint. Wondershare PDFelement is a complete converter to convert PDF Files to Word text, PPT, XLS, HTML or image format with the intact formatting. Yes, using this tool, the content or the formatting of the PDF file will not be disturbed at all.

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Apart from converting, it is a great tool to create and edit PDF files in real time. You can open any PDF file using Wondershare PDFelement and can also open the Images, word documents, presentations, sheets or images as the PDF File and can even edit them in the best way. New images or objects can be added to the PDF files and previously present images can be extracted, cropped out, resize or rotate using Wondershare PDFelement. Lastly, it also features the OCR tool to edit any text present in the image of the PDF file.

Here's the step by step guide to convert and open PDF file in MS Paint using Wondershare PDFelement.

Step 1: Convert PDF to Image in Batch

Launch Wondershare PDFelement for Windows on your computer and from the main window, click on the "Convert PDF" button which will open another window in Wondershare PDFelement.

Now, click on the "Add Files" or "Add Folder" button in the top left corner of the screen and select as many as PDF files that you want to open in Paint.

Step 2: Select Paint Compatible Format

Select the output format for your PDF, it can be done by clicking on the output formats button in the top right corner. From the drop down button, select the Paint supported image formats including "GIF", "PNG", "JPG", and finally click on the "Convert" button in the top bottom corner. You can also change the location for the output file by clicking on the browse button. It will convert each page of the PDF file as the separate image.

Step 3: Open Converted PDF File in Paint

Launch Paint application on Windows and click on the "File" button in top left corner and select "Open". Now, select the recently converted image file in paint. The quality of the output file will be much better as compared to the screenshots.

Part 3The Most Useful Tips for Using Paint

• Open each image file at one time as the Paint cannot handle more than one images at the same time.
• In order to remove the extra content from the PDF file, you can use the Crop option.
• After making changes to the PDF file, always save the images as PNG format as it is smaller in size and has better quality.

Posted by Audrey Goodwin to Open PDF | Follow @AudreySGoodwin
Published: Aug 22,2016 17:40 pm / Updated: Aug 24,2016 15:07 pm