Online PDF Editor
Add text, highlights, images, and shapes to any PDF — free and private.
Also known as: Edit PDF, PDF editor, Add text to PDF, PDF annotator, PDF markup tool
How it works
- 1Upload the PDF you want to edit.
- 2Pick a tool — Text, Highlight, Whiteout, Shape, Image, or Draw — and click or drag on the page to add it.
- 3Move, resize, recolor, or delete anything you've added; rotate or delete whole pages if needed.
- 4Click "Save PDF" and download your edited file.
Why use Online PDF Editor
Six editing tools in one
Text, highlight, whiteout, shapes, images, and freehand drawing, all in a single tool.
Exact placement
Elements are saved at the exact position you placed them — what you see while editing is what you get.
Page control included
Rotate or delete individual pages without needing a separate tool.
Full undo/redo
Every action — including page rotate and delete — can be undone, so it's safe to experiment.
Nothing uploaded
Your PDF is rendered, edited, and saved entirely in your browser tab.
Free, no watermark
No account, no trial limit, and nothing stamped into your edited document.
Who uses Online PDF Editor
Filling in a form
Type answers directly onto a PDF form that isn't set up with fillable form fields.
Signing or initialing
Drop in a photo of your signature, or draw one, to sign a contract or agreement.
Covering outdated info
Whiteout an old address, price, or date before resending a document.
Highlighting key clauses
Highlight important text in a contract or report before sharing it.
Adding a stamp or logo
Place a company stamp or logo onto an official document.
Marking up a draft
Add notes, arrows, or shapes to a document for review.
About Online PDF Editor
Most of the time, "edit a PDF" doesn't actually mean rewriting the document's original paragraphs — it means adding something to it: filling in a blank, covering up an old date before resending a form, signing a contract, highlighting a clause, or dropping a stamp onto an official document. This tool is built around that reality, and it's worth being upfront about it: it adds new content on top of your PDF, it does not rewrite or reflow the text that's already there. True in-place text editing of existing PDF content is a much harder problem that even most professional PDF software handles by covering the old text and placing new text over it — this tool gives you those same building blocks directly.
You get six tools: Text for typing anywhere on the page, Highlight for marking up existing content, Whiteout for covering something up, Shape for a simple outlined rectangle, Image for dropping in a logo, stamp, or signature photo, and Draw for freehand marks or a drawn signature. Alongside those, you can rotate or delete individual pages. Everything you add can be moved, resized, recolored, or deleted before you save, and undo/redo covers every action so it's safe to experiment.
Positioning is handled carefully: your PDF is rendered page by page in the browser using pdf.js, and everything you place is tracked in the exact same coordinate space as the underlying PDF page. When you save, each element is written directly into the PDF at that exact position using pdf-lib — what you see while editing is what ends up in the saved file, with no separate upload-and-reprocess step to introduce drift.
Because rendering, editing, and saving all happen locally, this is a reasonable choice for documents you'd rather not hand to a third-party server just to add a signature or a note — contracts, forms, and internal paperwork included.
Online PDF Editor vs. other options
How Open Tools Library compares to desktop software and other online tools.
| Feature | Open Tools Library | Desktop software | Other online tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, unlimited | Often paid or subscription | Often free with daily limits |
| Installation | None | Required | None |
| File privacy | Never leaves your device | Stays local | Uploaded to a server |
| Editing existing text | Not supported (add-on content only) | Sometimes, with limits | Rarely supported |
| Speed | Instant, on-device | Fast | Depends on upload + server queue |
| Watermarks | Never | Never | Sometimes on free tiers |
Pro tips
- This tool adds content on top of your PDF — it doesn't rewrite or reflow the document's existing text.
- Double-click any text box to edit its wording; press Enter for a new line — text boxes don't auto-wrap.
- Whiteout is fully opaque within its box — resize it to make sure it covers everything you want hidden.
- Undo works across every action, including page rotate and delete, so it's safe to experiment.
- Pages that already have their own rotation set can't have content added directly — rotate or delete them instead.
Technical specs
- Supported input
- Output format
- Tools
- Text, Highlight, Whiteout, Shape, Image, Draw
- Page operations
- Rotate, delete
- Existing text
- Not editable — new content only
- Processing location
- 100% local, in your browser
Privacy & security
Editing a PDF often means signing it, filling it in, or covering something up — exactly the kind of task you don't want routed through an unfamiliar server.
Every edit is rendered and saved locally — your PDF and everything you add to it stay on your device.
No account or signup, so there's no login tied to the contract or form you're editing.
Once you download the edited file, nothing about your session remains on a server.
Just as suited to signing a personal lease as it is to marking up an internal document.
Frequently asked questions
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. Your PDF is rendered, edited, and saved entirely in your browser — it never leaves your device.
Can this tool edit the PDF's existing text?
No. It adds new content on top of your PDF — text, highlights, whiteout, shapes, images, and drawings — but it doesn't rewrite or reflow text that's already in the document.
Does whiteout permanently remove the content underneath, or just hide it?
Whiteout draws an opaque box on top of the content — it hides it visually, but the original content is technically still present in the underlying PDF data. For genuinely sensitive information (like an SSN or account number), don't rely on whiteout alone; use a tool built specifically for secure redaction, or recreate the document without that content.
Can I sign a PDF with this?
Yes — draw a signature with the Draw tool, or upload a photo of your signature with the Image tool.
Is there a page limit?
No hard limit — longer PDFs just take a little longer to load and render each page.
Can I undo a mistake?
Yes. Undo and redo cover every action during your editing session, including page rotate and delete.
Troubleshooting
My new text looks slightly different from the rest of the PDF
Added text uses a standard sans-serif font — it won't automatically match custom fonts already embedded in your document.
I can't add anything to a page
That page likely already has its own rotation set in the source PDF, which this tool can't place new content on accurately. You can still view it, or rotate/delete it — switch to a different page to keep editing.
Whiteout isn't fully hiding what's underneath
Resize the whiteout box so it fully covers the area you want hidden — it's opaque, but only within its own boundaries.
My changes disappeared after I picked a new file
Choosing a different file starts a fresh editing session. Download your first file before switching if you need to keep both.
Related searches
Landed here looking for something worded a little differently? Online PDF Editor covers all of these too:
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Free, private, and ready right now — no signup required.
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