Edit PDF
Edit PDFs in your browser.
Annotate, highlight, draw, sign, and add text to any PDF. Free, private, and runs entirely on your device — no uploads, no signup, no watermark.
Open the PDF editor
Launch the editor, drop your PDF, and start annotating. Everything runs locally in your browser.
Files never uploaded
Processed entirely in your browser.
No retention
Nothing stored — nothing to delete.
Private by design
No accounts required, no tracking of your files.
Why creators choose FormatLayer
Annotate without installing anything
Open any PDF in your browser and start editing — no desktop app, no plugin, no Acrobat license needed.
Private by design
Every edit happens locally. Your contracts, tax forms, and IDs never leave your device.
Premium, lossless export
FormatLayer's canonical export pipeline keeps your original quality intact and bakes annotations cleanly into the final PDF.
What you get with Edit PDF
- Add text boxes anywhere on any page
- Highlight, underline, and strike-through text
- Freehand drawing and shape annotations
- Drop in signatures and initials
- Whiteout sensitive content
- Full undo / redo history with keyboard shortcuts
- Smooth zoom, pan, and multi-page scrolling
- Works on desktop, tablet, and mobile
- Exports a canonical, lossless PDF
Why people use it
Mark up contracts, forms, and PDFs without installing software
Sign agreements in seconds and send them back the same day
Keep confidential documents on your own device
Edit on any operating system — Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
No subscriptions, no watermarks, no account required
How it works
- 1
Open the editor and drop your PDF
- 2
Pick a tool — text, highlight, draw, or signature
- 3
Add your edits anywhere on any page
- 4
Click Export to download the finished PDF
When to use Edit PDF
- Sign a contract and email it back the same day
- Fill out a scanned tax or immigration form
- Annotate a research paper or textbook chapter
- Redact confidential lines from a legal PDF
- Add notes and comments on a client proposal
Who uses Edit PDF?
From classrooms to legal desks, here's how different teams put Edit PDF to work every day.
Students
Annotate lecture notes, highlight key passages in research papers, and fill in study guides without printing.
Teachers
Mark up worksheets, add comments to student submissions, and sign permission slips directly on any device.
HR Teams
Complete onboarding forms, sign offer letters, and redact personal data before archiving employee files.
Legal Professionals
Add clauses, initial pages, whiteout confidential lines, and countersign contracts without printing a single sheet.
Accountants
Annotate ledgers, sign tax returns, and add explanatory notes to client-ready financial PDFs.
Freelancers
Sign SOWs, mark up client feedback on proposals, and return revisions the same day.
Government Offices
Fill scanned intake forms, apply signatures, and prepare documents for internal review without server uploads.
Pro tips
- Zoom in before placing text so alignment feels pixel-perfect
- Save a signature once and reuse it across sessions
- Use whiteout before adding replacement text on scanned forms
- Undo (⌘/Ctrl+Z) and Redo (⌘/Ctrl+Shift+Z) are your friends
- Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded, so it's safe for confidential, financial, and legal PDFs.
Best practices
- Keep an unedited backup of the original PDF
- Flatten annotations by re-exporting before sharing
- For sensitive redactions, cover with whiteout AND re-export to bake it in
Common mistakes to avoid
- Placing text before choosing font size — resize the tool first, then click
- Confusing highlight with whiteout — highlight is transparent, whiteout is opaque
- Forgetting to export — closing the tab discards edits