Edit

Edit PDF

Change the text in a PDF, add your own text and images, highlight, fill forms and rearrange pages, all in your browser. The file is not uploaded.

Runs on your device: your file is not uploaded

What Edit PDF does

Choose Edit text and click a line of original text to retype it, or use Find to search and replace a word throughout the document. You can also add text boxes, images, shapes, drawing, highlights, links, a signature and fillable form fields.

How well original text can be changed depends on how the PDF was made. A PDF stores text as individually positioned characters, not paragraphs, and often embeds only the letters the document uses. That is why a corrected word can look slightly different from its neighbors, and why you can import a matching TrueType font. Scanned pages are pictures of text, so there is nothing to retype.

All editing happens on your device, and a draft is saved in this browser so you can pick up where you left off. Download PDF writes a new file.

Is this the right tool?

Good for

  • Fixing a typo, a date or a price when you no longer have the original Word file.
  • Filling in a form that was not made fillable, by typing over the blanks.
  • Turning a flat form into a fillable one with text, checkbox, dropdown and radio fields.

Not the right tool for

  • Rewriting whole paragraphs or reflowing a layout. Convert the file, edit it in Word, and export it again.PDF to Word
  • Removing confidential information. Whiteout and shapes only cover content; the words underneath stay in the file.Redact PDF
  • Changing the wording of a scan. Our guide explains what can be edited and the workarounds.Guide: editing existing PDF text

How to edit a PDF

  1. Open your PDF

    Select Open PDF or drop a file up to 50 MB.

  2. Change existing text

    Choose Edit text, click the text, retype it and choose Done. For a repeated word, open Find and enter the text and its replacement.

  3. Add and mark up

    Add text places a new text box where you click. Image inserts a PNG or JPEG. Highlight, Draw, Rectangle, Ellipse and Arrow are for markup; Sign, Links, Forms and Pages open the document tools.

  4. Download

    Select Download PDF. You can keep editing and download again.

Worked example

Correcting a due date on an invoice

Say you issued an invoice as a PDF and then noticed the due date reads March 15 when it should be March 25. The accounting program that made it is on another computer.

Open the invoice, choose Edit text and click the date. Change 15 to 25 and choose Done. If the new digits look different from the date above, open the Font menu and choose the entry marked original, a built-in font, or a .ttf file of the invoice's typeface.

Use Find to make sure the old date does not also appear in a payment terms line, then select Download PDF.

Tips for a better result

  • Keep replacement text about the same length as the original. Longer text may run into whatever sits beside it, because a PDF does not reflow.
  • When you upload a font, choose the exact face you need, such as the bold file for bold text; the editor does not fake bold or italic.
  • Press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo; the editor remembers your last 50 actions.

Edit PDF: questions and answers

Why can't I click on some text to edit it?

Either the page is a scan, where the words are part of a picture, or the text is stored in a way the editor cannot rewrite safely, such as some complex scripts. Point at the text and a tooltip explains why. You can still cover it with Whiteout and add new wording on top.

Why does my edited text look different from the text around it?

A newly typed letter sometimes has to come from another font, because the PDF embeds only the characters it already used. In the Font menu, choose the entry marked original if it is offered, or upload the matching .ttf file, which stays on your device.

Does editing a PDF reduce its quality?

No. Pages you do not touch are left as they are. Text and shapes you add are drawn as sharp vector content, and images are embedded as you supplied them.

Can I save my PDF edits and finish later?

Yes. The editor saves a draft in this browser as you work. Open Edit PDF in the same browser later and choose to pick up where you left off.

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