A touch screen-based document editing device and method, the device includes an editing symbol storage for storing editing symbols used for editing a document; a display for presenting the document, the display being implemented as a touch screen; a user interface for allowing a user to input an editing request for editing the document presented on the display; a video processor for managing presentation information of the document, displaying the document in an editing mode screen in response to the editing request, and presenting the editing symbol on the document; a video analyzer for receiving the presentation information from the video processor, and extracting the editing symbols and positions of the editing symbols in the document; an editing symbol recognizer for retrieving the editing symbols from the editing symbol storage; and a document editor for executing an editing command on the basis of the editing symbols.