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Free online PDF editor

Change the words in a PDF, add text, pictures, highlights and your signature, black out private details, sort and turn pages, and read scanned pages with OCR. It also edits Word documents, text files and photos. Your file never leaves your device.

  • Free
  • No sign-up
  • Private — runs in your browser

How do I edit a PDF online?

  1. 1Choose a PDF, Word (.docx), text file or photo, or drop it on the box.
  2. 2Pick a tool: Edit text to change the document's own words, Add text, Draw, Highlight, shapes, Image or Sign.
  3. 3Click or drag on the page. Select anything you added to move it, resize it, recolour it or delete it — Undo and Redo work for every step.
  4. 4Use Pages to turn, reorder, delete or add pages, and Recognise text (OCR) for scanned pages.
  5. 5Press Download PDF (or PNG / JPG for photos, Word for documents). Preview opens the result first.

How does this PDF editor change text?

  1. 01PDF pages are copied as they are; your edits are added on top as real PDF text, lines, shapes and pictures
  2. 02Changed text = a patch in the page's own background colour + the new words in a matching font, size and colour
  3. 03Redacted page = rebuilt from a 180–250 dpi picture with the black boxes burned in (the hidden words are gone)
  4. 04OCR (Tesseract) reads scans in 14 languages; its words can be edited or added as invisible, searchable text
  5. 05Word files: edited as rich text, saved back to .docx or to PDF; photos: crop, resize, turn, blur, then PNG / JPG / PDF

A PDF stores its text as positioned words in fixed fonts, often only the letters actually used, so no browser editor can retype inside the original font. This editor does what the big desktop editors do for most files: when you change a line it covers the old words with a patch in the page's own background colour, measured from the page itself, and writes your new words in the same place with a matching font style, size and colour. Everything you didn't touch stays exactly as it was — the original pages are copied into the new file, not redrawn, so text stays sharp and searchable.

Redaction is different from covering. A black box on top of text still leaves the words in the file, where anyone can copy them out. When a page has a redaction, the editor rebuilds that page from a high-resolution picture with the box burned in, so the hidden words are really removed — and it tells you so before you start.

Everything runs in your browser with open-source libraries: Mozilla's pdf.js draws the pages, pdf-lib writes the new PDF, Tesseract.js reads scanned text and docx-preview opens Word files. Your document is never sent to a server, so you can safely edit contracts, ID scans, bank papers and CVs.

Good to know

  • To change a word in a PDF, choose Edit text and click the line — you edit the whole line at once, in a matching style.
  • Signing a contract? Use Sign, draw your signature once, then click on every page that needs it.
  • Hiding an account number or ID? Use Redact, not Whiteout: only Redact removes the words from the file.
  • A scanned PDF has no real text. Press Recognise text (OCR) first, then Edit text works on it and the downloaded PDF becomes searchable.
  • Big file or a phone? Edit, then use Download PDF once at the end — every step stays undoable until then.
  • Need the pages in another order or one page removed? Open Pages: drag a page or use the arrows, turn or delete it.

PDF editor — common questions

Is my file uploaded?

No. The file is opened, edited and saved inside your browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server, and closing the page clears it.

Can I really change the text that is already in my PDF?

Yes. Choose Edit text and click a line: it becomes editable with the same size, colour and font style. The new words are written over a patch in the page's background colour. Very decorative fonts are replaced by the closest standard font (sans-serif, serif or monospace).

How do I sign a PDF for free?

Open the PDF, choose Sign, draw your signature with the mouse or your finger (or type your name), then click where it should go. You can move and resize it, and place it on as many pages as you like. The signature isn't saved anywhere.

Does it work with scanned PDFs?

Yes. Press Recognise text (OCR), pick the language and the editor reads the page. You can then change the recognised lines with Edit text, copy all the text, or download a searchable PDF with an invisible text layer.

Is redacting here safe?

Redact removes the words for good: the page with the black boxes is rebuilt from a picture, so the hidden text is no longer in the file. Whiteout only covers things up and is meant for tidying a page, not for hiding secrets.

Can I edit Word documents and photos too?

Yes. A .docx, .odt, .rtf or .txt file opens as an editable document with bold, colours, headings, lists, links, tables and pictures, and saves back to Word, PDF or text. A photo can be cropped, resized, turned, blurred, written and drawn on, then saved as PNG, JPG or PDF.

Can I add, delete, turn or reorder pages?

Yes. Open Pages to turn a page, move it up or down (or drag it), delete it, add a blank page, or insert the pages of another PDF or a photo.

Will the PDF keep its quality?

Yes. Pages you didn't redact are copied unchanged, so text stays selectable and pictures keep their resolution. Only your additions are new. A redacted page becomes a high-resolution picture.

Sources

Formulas last reviewed: September 30, 2026 ·How we check our formulas

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