What you can do
Rich text tool
Add text in Helvetica, Times New Roman or Courier, bold or regular, aligned left, center or right.
Adjustable highlights
Highlight any area in your chosen colour with a custom opacity level.
Draw or upload a signature
Sign by hand with your mouse or trackpad, or upload an image of your existing signature.
Stamps, notes and links
Drop in APPROVED / CONFIDENTIAL / DRAFT / REJECTED stamps, sticky notes, or real clickable links.
Lines and images
Draw straight lines and place your own images anywhere on the page.
Manage pages
Delete or rotate individual pages before you save.
Full undo/redo
Every change is tracked - undo, redo, or delete any element at any time.
Print or save instantly
Open your edited PDF in a new tab to print, or download it directly - nothing is ever uploaded to a server.
How this works in your browser
While you are working, each element you place is held as an object in an editing model: its type, position, page, and styling such as font, colour and opacity. That model is what makes undo, redo, repositioning and deletion possible, since nothing has been committed to the document yet. The rendered page you drag things onto is a PDF.js canvas, used purely for reference. When you save, pdf-lib walks that list and writes every element into the corresponding page content stream, translating editor coordinates into PDF page space. The important consequence is that the output contains no annotation objects at all: text, highlights, stamps and signatures become part of the page drawing, which is why they survive being opened in any reader and cannot be selected away.
Edit PDF vs. traditional online converters
| Feature | Edit PDF (in-browser) | Traditional online converters |
|---|---|---|
| File upload required | No - never leaves your device | Yes - file is sent to a server |
| Processing queue | None - starts instantly | Often, especially at peak times |
| Watermark on output | Never | Common on free plans |
| Usage limits | None - free, unlimited use | Often capped per day or file size |
| Works offline once loaded | Yes, for most tools | No - requires a live connection |
| Account required | No | Often, for anything beyond a trial |
How to use Edit PDF
- 1
Open Edit PDF and upload your file
Click "Use Edit PDF" and choose a PDF from your device. It opens in its own dedicated editor tab.
- 2
Pick a tool from the toolbar
Choose Text, Highlight, Line, Stamp, Note, Link, Sign or Image from the toolbar at the top.
- 3
Click anywhere on the page to place it
Drag to reposition, use the colour, font and opacity controls to customise it, and press Delete or Backspace to remove anything you no longer need.
- 4
Manage pages if needed
Open the Pages panel to delete or rotate individual pages.
- 5
Save or print your PDF
Click Save PDF to download your edited file, or Print to open it in a new tab ready to print.
Common ways to use Edit PDF
Fill out a form without a printer
Add typed text directly into blank fields on a scanned or digital form.
Mark up a contract before signing
Highlight key clauses, add sticky notes for questions, then sign and save.
Stamp a document
Drop an APPROVED, DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL stamp onto every relevant page.
Build a clickable PDF report
Add real, clickable links to a table of contents or reference URLs.
Sign documents remotely
Draw a signature by hand, or upload a photo of your existing signature, and place it exactly where it needs to go.
Frequently asked questions
Can I edit existing text already in the PDF?
This tool adds new text and other elements on top of pages. Editing the original text of a PDF requires full text-stream editing, which is a fundamentally different operation and not yet supported. To change existing text, use a dedicated PDF editor.
Can I remove something I added by mistake?
Yes. Select it and press Delete or Backspace, or use the Undo button (or Ctrl+Z) to step back through your recent changes.
Can I use my own signature?
Yes. Draw one by hand with your mouse or trackpad, or click "Upload a signature image instead" to use a photo or scan of your existing signature.
Does Edit PDF open in a new tab?
Yes. Uploading a file opens the full editor in its own dedicated browser tab, so your place in the rest of the toolkit is never lost.
Are my changes embedded permanently or stored separately?
Everything you add is written directly into the page content when you save - it is permanent and will appear in all PDF viewers without needing a special annotation reader.
Why does it open in a separate tab?
Because a full editor needs the whole viewport for the page canvas, the toolbar and the pages panel, and it holds your document in memory while you work. Giving it its own tab means the rest of the toolkit stays exactly where you left it and an accidental navigation cannot discard unsaved edits.
Will my edits still show if someone opens the file in a different reader?
Yes, and that is the key difference from annotation-based editors. Comment and markup layers can render differently, or not at all, depending on the reader. Because everything here is drawn into the page itself, what you see is what every viewer shows.