How to edit a PDF online, add text and images for free
Most "edit a PDF" tools online actually do one narrow thing: sign it, stamp a watermark across it, or fill in a form's existing fields. None of those help if what you actually need is to drop a note in the margin, label a diagram, or slap your logo onto a specific page, then drag it into place and resize it, the way you'd nudge a text box around in Google Slides. That's what PDF Editor is for, and it runs entirely in your browser.
What "editing a PDF" actually means here
Worth being upfront about this: PDF Editor adds new text and images on top of a page, it doesn't rewrite or reflow text that's already there. That's not a corner we cut, it's a limit built into the PDF format itself. A PDF stores each page as a fixed set of drawing instructions (draw this letter at this exact position, in this exact font) rather than an editable document model the way a Word file is. Reconstructing "the paragraph" behind those instructions well enough to retype it, matching the original font and spacing, is a much bigger job than repositioning a box, and it's why even paid, professional PDF editors mostly fake it by painting over the old words and dropping new ones in roughly the same spot. If you need to genuinely change a sentence that's already printed on the page, going back to whatever created the PDF (Word, Google Docs, a scan you can re-do) is the only reliable option. If you need to add something new, that's exactly what this tool does.
Step by step
- Open PDF Editor and add your file, every page renders below, one after another.
- Click the page you want to add something to.
- Click "Add Text" for a text box, or "Add Image" to place a PNG or JPEG.
- Drag the box to where it belongs, drag a corner dot to resize it. Text boxes scale their font size as you resize; images keep their proportions.
- Click a selected text box again to type into it, and use the toolbar for font, size, colour, bold and italic.
- Repeat on any other pages, then click "Save & Download."
A few practical tips
- Pressing Enter starts a new line in the saved PDF. The box's width is just there so you can see what you're typing, it doesn't automatically wrap your text onto extra lines the way a word processor would, so a long sentence in a narrow box will still come out as one line in the file.
- The font list is short on purpose. Helvetica, Times and Courier are three of the handful of fonts every PDF reader already knows how to display without the file needing to bundle a font of its own, which keeps the download small and side-steps font-licensing headaches. It won't match a brand's exact typeface, but it covers the vast majority of "add a label or a note" needs.
- Reach for a different tool if you only need one specific thing. A plain signature is faster with Sign PDF. The exact same text repeated across every page (a page number, "DRAFT," a date) is what Add Page Numbers and Watermark PDF are built for. A logo stamped on a specific range of pages is what Add Stamps does. PDF Editor is the one for everything else, free-form placement of text and images wherever you need them.
Ready to add something to a PDF?
Open PDF EditorFrequently asked questions
Can this edit text that's already in my PDF?
No. A PDF stores each page as a fixed set of drawing instructions, not an editable document the way a word processor file is, so no PDF tool (free or paid) can truly reflow or retype existing text without rebuilding the page. PDF Editor adds new text and images on top of the existing page instead, it doesn't touch what's already there.
Is the text I add actually selectable and searchable, or is it an image?
It's real text, drawn with a standard font and embedded directly in the PDF, the same way a word processor would. You can select it, copy it, and search for it afterwards, it isn't a picture of text.
What image formats can I add?
PNG and JPEG. Both get embedded into the PDF at full quality, not re-compressed.