Free online PDF editor
Add text, stamp a signature, compress a file that is too big to email, or reorder pages that came out of the scanner backwards. Everything happens inside your browser — your document is never uploaded, so it works with contracts and client paperwork you would not want sitting on someone else’s server.
- Files never leave your device
- No signup, no account
- No watermark on the output
- Free with no page limit
What this editor is actually for
Most people arrive at a PDF editor with one of four jobs: something needs signing, something needs correcting before it goes out, a file is too large to send, or a scan came out in the wrong order. This tool is built around those four, and it does them without asking you to create an account or hand over the document.
Adding text and images. Drop a text box anywhere on the page, set the size and position, and burn it into the document on export. The same applies to images — a signature, a company stamp, initials in a margin. “Burning in” matters: it means the change becomes part of the page rather than a floating annotation that another PDF reader might render differently or hide entirely.
Signing. For your own signature, stamp an image of it and export. For a document someone else has to sign, generate a link and send it — they sign in their browser without installing anything or creating an account. That is usually the difference between a contract coming back the same afternoon and chasing it for a week.
Compressing. A PDF that will not attach to an email is almost always image-heavy — a scanned page is a photograph of a document, not text. Lighter compression re-packs the file and keeps the text selectable; stronger levels flatten pages to images and shrink the file much further, at the cost of being able to copy text out of it afterwards.
Reordering, rotating and deleting pages. The unglamorous one, and the one people need most often. Scanners produce pages upside down, in reverse, or with a blank sheet in the middle. Fix the order, drop the blanks, straighten the rotation, export.
Why it runs in your browser
Nearly every free PDF site works by uploading your file to a server, processing it there, and giving you a download link. That is fine for a takeaway menu. It is a poor idea for a signed employment agreement, a tenancy application, a medical form or anything with a client’s bank details on it — you have handed a copy to a company whose retention policy you have never read.
This editor never transmits your document. It opens from your disk straight into your browser’s memory, and the exported file is written back to your downloads folder. There is no server to store it on, which is a stronger guarantee than a privacy policy promising deletion.
The practical test: load the page, turn off your wi-fi, and keep working. It carries on, because there was never a round trip to interrupt.
Single file, or a whole library?
This page is the quick path — open one document, make the change, export, done. Nothing is kept once you close the tab. If you would rather keep a library of documents between visits, the PDF App is the same editor wrapped in a workspace. And if you only need one specific operation, the single-purpose tools are faster: merge, split, compress, rotate, watermark and OCR.
PDF editor — FAQ
Is this PDF editor really free?
Yes, and there is no catch worth hiding. There is no signup, no page limit, no watermark stamped on your document and no paid tier that unlocks the useful features. The site is funded by ads and by the occasional person who hires me for marketing work.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. The editor runs entirely in your browser using pdf.js and pdf-lib. Your document is opened from your own disk into your browser's memory, edited there, and saved back to your downloads folder. Nothing is transmitted to a server, which is why it still works if you disconnect from the internet after the page has loaded.
Can I edit the existing text in a PDF?
Not in the way you would edit a Word document, and any tool promising otherwise is usually rasterising the page. A PDF stores text as positioned glyphs rather than reflowing paragraphs. What this editor does is let you cover and replace — add new text boxes, stamp images, and burn those changes into the page so they are permanent in the exported file. For small corrections, redactions and filling in forms, that is what you actually need.
How do I sign a PDF?
Add an image of your signature and place it where it needs to go, or type your name in a signature-style font. Once you burn it in and export, the signature is part of the page. For a document that someone else needs to sign, use the send-to-sign link so they can add their own signature without installing anything.
Why is my PDF so large, and will compressing it lose quality?
Large PDFs are usually large because of images — a scanned page is a photograph of a document, not text. Light compression re-packs the file losslessly and keeps text selectable. Stronger compression flattens pages to images, which shrinks the file much further but means the text can no longer be copied or searched. Choose based on whether anyone needs to select text from it later.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. It runs in mobile browsers, though a large document on an older phone will be slower because all the rendering happens on your device. For heavy work — reordering a long report, or compressing a very large scan — a laptop will be noticeably more comfortable.
What happens to my document when I close the tab?
It is gone from the editor. Because there is no server and no account, nothing persists unless you export it. Download the finished file before you close the tab. If you want a workspace that keeps a library of documents between visits, use the PDF App instead.