Frequently asked questions

Yes. Every feature is free with no account, no watermark and no file size or page limits. There is no paid version to upgrade to.

There isn't one. The project is funded by voluntary donations, which unlock nothing. Your documents are never uploaded, so there is no data to sell. If ads are ever added, they will be announced on the How it works page first and will never track you.

No. There is no sign-up and no login at all. Open the page and start working.

No. It runs in your web browser on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. Many browsers also let you install it as an app from the address bar if you prefer a separate window.

Yes, after your first visit. Your browser keeps a copy of the app's own files (never your documents), so you can open, edit and save PDFs without an internet connection. The status bar tells you when you're offline.

DyadForge. The editor is a folder of static files with no backend, and its limitations are published alongside its features.

No. All editing happens inside your browser, so your files never leave your device. There is no server that could receive them.

Any of these works on its own:

• Verify it yourself: the step-by-step checks, with the page's security policy shown live.
• Go offline: load the editor, then turn off Wi-Fi. Opening, editing and saving still work, because nothing needs our server.
• Developer tools: watch the Network tab while you open, edit and save a PDF. No request carries your document.

The editor never sends documents anywhere, and the browser is instructed to block connections to other sites. What it can't protect against is your own device: browser extensions, malware or a managed work computer can see what's on your screen. See known limitations.

No. There are no cookies, no analytics, no tracking pixels and no fingerprinting. If you ever find anything that looks otherwise, please report it to us here. We'll review it and act on it.

Only what you choose: your light/dark theme, signatures you tick “Remember in this browser” for, and an offline copy of the app's own files. You can see and delete all of it on the How it works page.

Only when you ask it to: extra OCR language packs come from a public CDN after you confirm, bug reports are sent only when you click Send, and donation buttons open the platform in a new tab. The complete list is published.

Yes. Choose Edit text, click any line and type. The font, size and colour are detected automatically, and the original text is removed from the file, not painted over.

Usually it doesn't: the document's own font is reused when it contains every character you type. PDFs often include only the letters they use, so a newly typed letter switches that line to the closest included font (Noto Sans, Serif or Mono). You can pick another font in the Properties panel, including fonts installed on your device in Chrome and Edge. More details.

Yes: Tools → Change font of all text replaces every line in the font you choose. Lines are replaced one by one rather than reflowed, so check the result: wider fonts can overlap, and rotated text or text inside some embedded graphics isn't changed. One Undo reverts it. How to.

A scan is a picture of text, so there's no text to edit directly. Run OCR to make it searchable, then use Add text with a white background to type over what you need to change.

Yes: images and logos, sticky-note comments (saved as real PDF comments), highlight, underline, strikethrough, pen, shapes, arrows, measurements and stamps.

Yes. Everything can be undone, including page deletions, redactions and text edits, until you close the tab.

Yes. Draw your signature, type it in a handwriting style, or upload a photo of it, then place it on the page. Saved signatures stay on this device only, and only if you choose to remember them.

There are two kinds. A drawn, typed or uploaded signature is a visual electronic signature, which is fine for much everyday paperwork. Sign with certificate adds a PAdES digital signature that proves who signed and reveals later changes, using a certificate file (smart cards and system certificates are part of our enterprise solutions). Whether either is enough depends on the document and where you are. For example, EU qualified signatures need a qualified certificate, usually on a card.

Yes: text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdowns and lists. When saving you can keep the form fillable or flatten it to make the answers permanent.

Yes: text fields, checkboxes, dropdowns, list boxes, radio groups and buttons (reset, print or open a link), plus calculated fields such as a sum or average of other fields. Custom form scripts aren't supported, by design, because they run inside other people's PDF readers.

Yes. Choose Compare documents, pick the other file, and both appear side by side with every added, removed and changed word listed. A Visual mode also spots layout and image changes. Both files are compared on your device and never uploaded.

Yes. Open Bookmarks on the right of the toolbar to add, rename, reorder, nest or delete them. They follow their page when you reorder, and each file's bookmarks are kept when you merge.

Not yet. We can't add or repair accessibility tags. Tags already in a file are kept when you save it without adding, removing or reordering pages, but edited text isn't tagged and page changes drop them. For PDF/UA or WCAG work, check the file in a dedicated accessibility tool.

Yes. Add files to merge PDFs and images, then use Organize to drag pages into order, rotate, duplicate, delete, insert blank pages, extract pages, or split into several files.

We set none. Very large files (hundreds of MB, thousands of pages) are limited by your computer's memory and may be slow on older machines.

Yes. When saving, choose a compression level. Lossless keeps everything as is; the smaller options turn pages into images, which makes text unselectable until you run OCR.

No. Good Office conversion needs a server, which would mean uploading your file, and we won't do that. You can export text, Markdown, HTML, PNG or JPEG instead, and turn images into a PDF.

14, including English, German, French, Spanish, Hindi, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Arabic. English is built in; other languages are downloaded once from a public CDN after you confirm. Your document is never sent.

Yes. Everything under the marks is removed from the file itself, so it can't be copied, searched or recovered, and the rest of the page stays editable text. If an image, embedded graphic or form field sits under a mark, that page is converted to an image instead, so nothing underneath survives.

Yes, with AES-256 encryption, plus optional permissions to restrict printing, copying, editing, comments or form filling. There's no password recovery, because the password never leaves your device.

Yes. Edit it in Tools → Document properties, or tick Remove metadata when saving to strip it, including hidden XMP data.

“Chat with your PDF” features send your document to a cloud service, which would break the core promise. If on-device AI becomes practical in browsers, it may be added as a strictly local, opt-in feature.

Use Tools → Report a problem in the editor, or the report form. You see exactly what will be sent, and reports never include your document.

Donate if it has been useful, tell someone who still pays for a PDF subscription, or report a bug. Donating unlocks nothing: every feature stays available to everyone.