How to edit a PDF for free, on any computer or phone

What does editing a PDF actually mean?

Editing a PDF covers three different jobs, and most frustration comes from using a tool built for one of them on another.

If you only need to type on a PDF or mark it up, the free tools below are enough. If you need to rewrite whole paragraphs, skip ahead to the section on converting to Word.

• Changing the content: fixing a typo, replacing a date, deleting a sentence, swapping a picture. This needs a true PDF editor or a conversion to an editable format.
• Annotating: highlights, comments, arrows, drawings, a signature. Almost every PDF viewer can do this, including the free ones built into your computer and phone. The original text stays as it was underneath.
• Filling in: typing into the boxes of a form. If the form has real fields, any viewer handles it. If it is just a flat page with lines, you need a tool that can place text anywhere.

How to edit a PDF free in your browser

The quickest route on any computer or phone is Edit PDF. It runs in the browser, is free, does not ask you to sign up and leaves no watermark. Files up to 300 MB are accepted, they are processed in memory on DocGopher's own servers and deleted after 30 minutes.

Because text in a PDF is pinned in place, a long edit that pushes a paragraph onto an extra line will not reflow the rest of the page the way Word does. For a word or two, editing in place is fine. For a rewritten paragraph, convert to Word instead, as described below.

1. Open Edit PDF and drop your file onto the page, or tap to choose it from your phone or computer.
2. Click a word or line of existing text to change it. Type the correction and click away.
3. Use the Text tool to add a new line anywhere on the page, for example a missing date or a note in a margin.
4. Use White-out to cover a block you want gone, then type over it if needed. Use Highlight or Draw to mark up a passage, and Image to add a logo, photo or signature picture.
5. Download the finished PDF. Open it in your normal viewer to check the result before you send it.

How to type on a PDF

Typing on a PDF is the most common editing need: a form that was sent as a flat page, an application with blank lines, a letter that needs a date filled in.

In Edit PDF, choose the Text tool, click where the text should start and type. Drag the box to line it up with the printed line, and match the font size to the surrounding text so it looks intentional. On a Mac, Preview's Markup toolbar has the same Text box tool (the T icon). On Windows, Microsoft Edge opens PDFs and offers Add text in its toolbar. On an iPhone, open the PDF in Files, tap the Markup pen, then the plus button and Text.

If what you need is to remove a name, email or account number for good, do not just white it out. A white box hides the text on screen but the characters can still be in the file. Redact PDF deletes the text itself, which is what you want before sharing a document that contains personal data.

How to edit a PDF on a Mac for free with Preview

Every Mac ships with Preview, and it covers annotations and form filling well. What it cannot do is change text that is already printed on the page.

1. Double click the PDF to open it in Preview, then click the Markup toolbar button (the pen tip in a circle) or press Shift-Command-A.
2. To add text, click the Text tool (T), then drag the new box into place and type. Use the A icon to change font, size and color.
3. To cover a mistake, draw a rectangle with the Shapes tool, set its fill to white and its border to none, then place a text box on top.
4. To fill a form with real fields, just click into each field and type. To sign, click Sign and draw with the trackpad or hold a paper signature up to the camera.
5. Choose File, then Export, to save a copy. Keep the original in case you need to start over.

How to edit a PDF on Windows

Windows has two free options built in or already installed on most PCs: Microsoft Edge for markup, and Microsoft Word for real text edits.

Edge opens any PDF and has a toolbar with Highlight, Draw, Erase and Add text. It is enough for signing a form, circling an item or adding a line, and the result saves as a new PDF. It does not change existing text.

Word 2013 and later can open a PDF directly. Right click the file, choose Open with, pick Word, and accept the message about conversion. Word rebuilds the document as editable text, tables and pictures. The result is good for text-heavy documents such as letters and reports, and poor for brochures, forms and anything with columns or heavy design. After editing, choose File, then Save As, and pick PDF as the file type.

How to edit a PDF in Google Docs

Google Docs can open a PDF too, and it is free with any Google account.

Expect simplified formatting. Google Docs keeps the text, basic headings and simple tables, but fonts change, images may move and multi-column pages come out as one column. Docs also runs text recognition on scanned PDFs, a useful free option for a scanned letter.

1. Upload the PDF to Google Drive, either by dragging it into the Drive page in your browser or from the Drive app.
2. Right click the file, choose Open with, then Google Docs.
3. Docs converts the file into an editable document. Make your changes.
4. Choose File, then Download, then PDF Document to get a PDF back.

When converting to Word first is the better route

If you need to rewrite more than a sentence or two, add a paragraph, move a section or reformat the page, convert the PDF to a Word file first and edit there. A word processor reflows text, checks spelling and handles tables properly, which an in-place PDF editor cannot.

PDF to Word turns the PDF into a DOCX and keeps the layout and tables. Open the result in Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice or Word online, make your edits, then save or export as PDF. Word's own Save As PDF does this well, and so does Word to PDF if you are working on a phone or a computer without Word.

The conversion is not perfect on every document. Forms with many boxes, heavily designed brochures and documents that mix columns and pictures may need some tidying. For a letter, a contract, a report or a resume, it usually comes through clean.

Scanned PDFs need OCR before you can edit them

If the PDF came from a scanner or a phone photo, each page is a single picture. There is no text to click on, so no editor can change the words directly. The fix is optical character recognition, which reads the image and adds a real text layer.

Run the file through OCR first. The result looks the same but the text can be searched, copied and converted. To edit the words, send that file through PDF to Word and work in a word processor, or, for a small change, use the White-out and Text tools in Edit PDF to cover the old wording and type the new. Expect to check the recognized text for mistakes, especially on faint or skewed scans and handwriting.

Adobe Acrobat (paid), Google Docs (free, with the Drive method above) and many scanner apps also offer OCR.

Which method should you use?

A short decision list, from the smallest change to the largest.

• Fix a typo, change a date, add text or a signature: Edit PDF in the browser, Preview on a Mac, or Edge on Windows.
• Fill a form that has no real fields: the Text tool in Edit PDF or in Preview.
• Rewrite paragraphs or restructure the document: PDF to Word, edit in Word or Google Docs, export back to PDF.
• Remove sensitive information for good: Redact PDF, not white-out.
• Scanned document: OCR first, then one of the above.
• In every case, keep the original PDF untouched and work on a copy.