how to activate editing tools for Word and pdf's on my ipad air 3

Hello Hariana. It sounds like you're having trouble accessing editing capabilities for Word and PDF documents on your iPad Air 3. First, editing features on mobile devices such as the iPad do typically require an active Microsoft 365 subscription. To confirm whether you have an active Microsoft 365 subscription, go to your iPad's "Settings," tap your name at the very top, and check for your subscription under Subscriptions.

Once you confirm that your subscription plan is active, open the Word app and sign in using the Microsoft account associated with your subscription. If your editing options remain grayed out, check to see if there is an update for the Word app through the App Store as older versions can limit features, such as certain editing options.

Also, if the document you are trying to edit was coming from an email or other restricted location, this could have limited your editing options. Try moving the document to OneDrive or the Files app and this action alone may unlock your editing capabilities. With regard to PDFs, Microsoft Word allows you to open and annotate any PDFs you have; however, editing is only possible by converting the PDF to their Word format, unless you use dedicated apps like Microsoft Edge or Adobe Acrobat Reader. Both of these offer decent resources for markup and annotation on iPadOS and do not need a subscription.

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