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How to Open PDF in Paint (Updated for 2024)

Audrey Goodwin

2024-04-18 11:56:27 • Filed to: PDF Edit • Proven solutions

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 edit the PDF file using different images present in the Paint. If you need to open and edit PDF in Paint, here are the two different ways to open PDF files in MS Paint.

Part 1: Can You Open a PDF in Paint?
Part 2: How to Open PDF in Paint
Part 3: How to Open PDF in Paint via Screenshot

Part 1: Can You 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, overtime period, Microsoft has brought small changes in the paint application and there have never been any major changes in the application.

MS Paint can only open the image files so you can't directly open the PDF files in Paint. This application is basically used to create and edit different types of images and MS Paint only supports JPEG, BMP, PNG, and GIF formats.

So, in order to open the PDF file in Paint, you will have to convert it into an image in JPG, PNG, etc.

Part 2: How to Open PDF in Paint in Easiest Way

Wondershare PDFelement - PDF Editor promises to provide a better way to open the PDF file in MS Paint. You simply convert the PDF file to high-quality images to open in Microsoft Paint. PDFelement is a complete converter to convert PDF files to PNG, JPG, Word, PPT, XLS, HTML, and more with intact formatting. Yes, using this tool, you can convert PDF to Paint without losing quality. Click below to try it out for free!

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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 PDFelement and edit text, annotate on PDF. New images or objects can be added to the PDF files and previously present images can be extracted, cropped out, resize or rotate using PDFelement. If you want to open PDF in Paint for editing, you can save your time by editing PDF in PDFelement directly.

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

Step 1: Convert PDF to Image

Launch PDFelement for Windows on your computer and click Open files to open a PDF file. If you want to convert multiple PDFs to Paint, click on the "Batch PDF" button from the main window, and select as many PDF files that you want to open in Paint.

Step 2: Select Paint Compatible Format

When the PDF file is opened in PDFelement, click Convert > to Image. Now you select the Paint supported image formats including "GIF", "PNG", "JPG", and finally click on the "Apply" button in the top-bottom corner. You can also change the location for the output file by clicking on the "Output folder" button to choose a local folder to save the converted file.

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Step 3: Open Converted PDF File in Paint

Launch Paint application on Windows and click on the "File" button in the 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.

The Most Useful Tips for Using Paint

The following are some useful tips for using Paint:

Open each image file at one time as Paint cannot handle more than one image 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 in PNG format as it is smaller in size and has better quality.

Part 3: How to Open a PDF in Paint via Screenshot

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 the 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 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 it 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 images that can easily be opened in Microsoft Paint without any effort.

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