Short, step-by-step answers. Type what you want to do, like “sign”, “combine two PDFs” or “make smaller”.
No guide matches that yet. Try a simpler word (e.g. “sign” instead of “signature placement”), or browse the topics. The ? button in the editor also lists every keyboard shortcut.
Nothing is uploaded: “opening” just reads the file into your browser.
Your original file is never changed; you always save a new copy.
On the start screen click Start with a blank document. Add pages later with Tools → Insert blank page or in Organize → + Blank.
Everything can be undone: Ctrl/Cmd Z to undo, Ctrl/Cmd Shift Z or Ctrl Y to redo, or use the ↶ ↷ buttons. That includes page deletions, redactions and text edits, until you close the tab.
V select · E edit text · T add text · Shift H highlight · N note · P pen · R/O/L/A shapes · S sign · D redact · X eraser · Del delete selection · arrow keys nudge (Shift = 10×) · Ctrl/Cmd D duplicate · Ctrl/Cmd F search · Ctrl/Cmd P print · Esc back to Select. Press ? in the editor for the full list.
When you save, the original words are removed from the file, not just covered, so nobody can copy the old text out.
New text uses Helvetica, Times or Courier, matched to the original style. See why.
Choose Image (I), pick a file, then click on the page. Or just drag an image file onto a page. Drag the corners to resize (the aspect ratio is kept; hold Shift to stretch).
With Select (V), click an item to select it, drag to move it, drag the corner handles to resize, and press Delete to remove it. Arrow keys nudge it. The right panel has Duplicate, Front and Back buttons. Or use the Eraser (X) and click the items to delete.
Tip: search for a word and use Highlight all to mark every occurrence.
Choose Note (N), click on the page, and type your comment in the right panel. Notes are saved as real PDF comments, so people can read and reply to them in Acrobat, Preview and other apps. The 💬 sidebar tab lists every comment and can export the list as CSV.
Choose 📏 Measure (M) and drag between two points. For plans and drawings, set the scale (e.g. 100 for 1:100) and the unit (mm, cm, in, pt) in the right panel.
Click Stamp, choose a preset or type your own text, and click on the page (click again to place more; Esc when done). Dynamic stamp adds the date and time, plus your name if you type one. The name is only printed on the stamp and never stored.
“Remember in this browser” is off by default. If you turn it on, the signature is stored only on this device. You can delete it any time.
These are visual electronic signatures. Certificate-based digital signatures aren't supported yet (why).
Fillable fields are shown with a light blue background. Just click and type, tick boxes, or choose from dropdowns. When saving, choose Flatten form fields to make the answers permanent, or leave it off to keep the form editable.
No fillable fields? Use Add text to type on top of the form.
The saved PDF contains real form fields that anyone can fill in with any PDF app.
If several merged files contain forms, turn on Flatten form fields when saving.
In Organize, select the page to insert after, then click + Blank or + Insert file. In the editor, Tools → Insert blank page after current does the same.
1-3, 4, 5-9), or odd/even pages. Multiple files are downloaded together as a .zip.Open (or drop) one or more images: each becomes a page. Reorder them in Organize and save. Run OCR if you want the text in photos to be searchable.
Applying burns the content out of the page, so it can't be copied, searched or recovered. The redacted pages become images; run OCR afterwards to make their other text searchable again.
Click Save and fill in Password to open. Optionally set a separate permissions password and untick what others may not do (print, copy, edit, comment, fill forms). Files are encrypted with AES-256.
Keep the password safe: there's no “forgot password”, because we never see it.
Open the file and enter its password. Then save it without filling in the password fields, and the new copy is unprotected.
Tools → Document properties changes the title, author, subject and keywords. To remove all of it (including hidden XMP data), tick Remove metadata when saving.
Yes. Your files are processed entirely in your browser and never uploaded. There's no account, no analytics and no cookies. The browser itself is instructed to block connections to other sites. Read our promise for the full details and a 2-minute way to verify it yourself.
In the editor: Tools → Clear everything this site stored. Or go to Our promise → What your browser stores, which shows the stored items live and has a delete button. This removes your theme choice, any remembered signatures and the offline cache.
English is built in. Other languages download a one-time language pack from a public CDN, and you're asked first. Your document is never sent.
The page is probably a scan (a picture of text). Run OCR to make it searchable, and use Add text with a white background to type over areas you need to change.
In Save, pick a Compression option:
Tools → Watermark… (or Page numbers / Bates). Set the text, position, opacity and angle. Headers and footers accept {n}, {total}, {date} and {file}. They're applied to every page when you save, so you can change them until then.
Tools → Export as images / text / HTML / Markdown. Images include your annotations, and multi-page exports download as a .zip. Text exports include OCR text. Converting to Word or Excel isn't available (why).
Tools → Print or Ctrl/Cmd P. Your edits, annotations and filled form values are included.
New text uses Helvetica, Times or Courier matched to the original, because PDFs rarely contain the full original font. Characters outside Western European alphabets in new text currently appear as “?”. Existing text is not affected. More details.
Everything runs on your computer, so speed depends on its memory. Close other heavy tabs, split the document into parts, or use a lower zoom. OCR and rasterized compression are the heaviest operations.
Forms from different files can't always be combined. When saving a merged document, tick Flatten form fields to keep the filled-in values as regular content.
Open the editor once while online. After that it keeps working without internet, because your browser keeps a copy of the app's files (not your documents). Many browsers also let you install it as an app from the address bar.
The editor is a folder of static files with no backend or database. Build it with npm run build and serve the dist/ folder from any web server or intranet. Keep the included security headers (_headers) for the strict Content-Security-Policy.
You can also write to us directly at report@pdfeditor.dyadforge.com.
Want recognition? Tick Get credited and add a name and links (LinkedIn, Instagram, X, GitHub, website…). If your report helps, we'll list you on our Thanks page. Leave it unticked to stay anonymous.
Reports never include your document, its text or its file name. If one specific PDF causes the problem, only share it if it contains nothing private. We'll never ask you for it.
Nothing opened? Send it with your web mail: Gmail · Outlook.com, or copy the report and email it to report@pdfeditor.dyadforge.com.
We reviewed the popular free and paid PDF editors and what users say about them. The most common complaints were uploads to unknown servers, paywalls and daily limits, “redaction” that only draws a box, text editing that breaks fonts, and having to combine several tools. This editor is built to fix exactly those. See the comparison.
There is no catch. Every feature is free with no account, watermark or limits, and there is no paid version. It's supported by voluntary donations, which unlock nothing. In future there may also be a few ads, but never annoying ones and never tracking you. See our promise.