Free PDF Editor
How it saves
A save changes what you changed. Nothing else.
Most editors re-render the whole page when you save, and fonts, transparency or colour can drift. This one patches the page’s original content stream: deleted glyphs become plain advances, so the rest of the line stays put, and new text uses glyphs from the same embedded font.
- 27/27streams in the file kept byte for byte
- 12/12embedded fonts untouched, none substituted
- 1new content stream, for the edited page
BT/F7 14 Tf1 0 0 -1 348.25 303 Tm- <001A> Tj % "7"+ [-556.00116] TJ % its advance, no glyph 7.7839966 0 Td <0003> Tj % " " 3.8919983 0 Td- <0031> Tj % "N"+ [-721.9994] TJ … % the same for "ovember 2026"ET…+ BT+ /FXF1 14 Tf % FXF1 is 7 0 R, same as /F7+ 0.7500001 0 0 0.7500001 261.18753 614.67004 Tm+ [<00140017>] TJ % "14"+ ET …+ [<00310052005900480050004500480055>] TJ % "November"
/ToUnicode map.Features
The everyday PDF jobs, done properly.
Edit text in place
Double-click a line or paragraph and type. Change font, size, colour, bold or italic for a word or a whole block.
Find and replace
Search every page with match case and whole word, and replace one match or all of them.
Pages
Reorder, rotate, duplicate and delete. Insert pages from another PDF, extract to a new file, export as PNG or JPEG.
Redact for real
Mark words, images or any area, then apply: what’s under the marks is taken out of the file, not just covered. Hidden information can go too.
Scans
Scan into a new PDF or into the open one, from the scanner on your desk. On a Mac, recognize their text so it can be found, selected and copied.
Sign and fill in
Draw, type or import a signature. Fill text fields, checkboxes and drop-downs.
Page numbers and watermarks
Put page numbers, a header or footer, a watermark or an image on the pages you choose, in one step.
Arrange
Drag a box to select several items, align and space them evenly, lock what shouldn’t move, and rotate text, images and shapes.
Sharper images
Upscale a small image 2× with an AI model that runs on your computer, or halve a big one. Nothing is uploaded.
Mark up
Highlight, underline and strike out text, add sticky notes, or draw freehand.
Protect and print
Lock a file with an AES-256 password, print, follow bookmarks and links.
A window for each PDF
Open several documents side by side, each with its own undo, zoom and saving.
Engineering
Built to survive real-world PDFs.
182
hard test files
From the pdf.js test suite: broken cross-reference tables, Type3 and CID fonts, encrypted and rotated files. Each one is saved unchanged and compared byte for byte, then edited and checked again.
0
bytes of your files sent anywhere
Everything happens on your computer. The app asks GitHub Releases for latest.json, to see if there’s a new version; the free version asks this site for the current ad. A crash report goes only if you choose to send one.
Ed25519
signed updates
Updates are checked against a key built into the app, and on a Mac against its code signing too, before anything is replaced.
tests/corpus/pdfjs/
- 90ms_rksj_h_sample.pdf
- acroform_calculation_order.pdf
- alphatrans.pdf
- annotation-button-widget.pdf
- annotation-fileattachment.pdf
- annotation-ink-without-appearance.pdf
- annotation-line-without-appearance-empty-Rect.pdf
- annotation-polyline-polygon-without-appearance.pdf
- annotation-polyline-polygon.pdf
- annotation-square-circle-without-appearance.pdf
- annotation-squiggly-without-appearance.pdf
- annotation-stamp.pdf
- annotation-tx.pdf
- annotation-underline-without-appearance.pdf
- annotation_hidden_noview.pdf
- annotation_hidden_print.pdf
- ArabicCIDTrueType.pdf
- arial_unicode_ab_cidfont.pdf
- arial_unicode_en_cidfont.pdf
- asciihexdecode.pdf
- axial_shading_many_inputs.pdf
- bad-PageLabels.pdf
- bigboundingbox.pdf
- bitmap-refine-page-subrect.pdf
- bitmap-refine-page.pdf
- bitmap-symbol-textbottomlefttranspose.pdf
- bitmap-symbol-textbottomrighttranspose.pdf
- bitmap-symbol-texttopright.pdf
- bitmap-symbol-texttoprighttranspose.pdf
- bitmap-symbol-texttranspose.pdf
- bomb_giant.pdf
- bug1011159.pdf
- bug1020226.pdf
- bug1513120_reduced.pdf
- bug1671312_reduced.pdf
- bug1703683_page2_reduced.pdf
- bug1755507.pdf
- bug1782186.pdf
- bug1795263.pdf
- bug1947248_forms.pdf
- bug1947248_text.pdf
- bug859204.pdf
- bug878026.pdf
- bug946506.pdf
- bug_jpx.pdf
- ccitt_EndOfBlock_false.pdf
- cff_bluescale_small_zones.pdf
- chrome-text-selection-markedContent.pdf
- cid_cff.pdf
- cidfont_cmap_overflow.pdf
- clippath.pdf
- cmykjpeg.pdf
- ContentStreamCycleType3insideType3.pdf
- ContentStreamNoCycleType3insideType3.pdf
- coons-allflags-withfunction.pdf
- devicen-none-zero-domain.pdf
- devicen.pdf
- Embedded_font.pdf
- empty_protected.pdf
- encrypted-attachment.pdf
- extractPages_null_in_array.pdf
- file_pdfjs_form.pdf
- font_ascent_descent.pdf
- form_two_pages.pdf
- function_based_shading.pdf
- function_based_shading_cmyk.pdf
- glyph_accent.pdf
- hello_world_rotated.pdf
- IdentityToUnicodeMap_charCodeOf.pdf
- image-rotated-black-white-ratio.pdf
- images.pdf
- images_1bit_grayscale.pdf
- issue1055r.pdf
- issue10665_reduced.pdf
- issue11131_reduced.pdf
- issue11144_reduced.pdf
- issue11362.pdf
- issue11555.pdf
- issue1155r.pdf
- issue1293r.pdf
- issue13447.pdf
- issue14256.pdf
- issue14438.pdf
- issue14847.pdf
- issue15053.pdf
- issue15262.pdf
- issue15443.pdf
- issue15590.pdf
- issue15594_reduced.pdf
- issue17147.pdf
- issue17215.pdf
- issue18693.pdf
- issue18816.pdf
- issue18986.pdf
- issue19120.pdf
- issue19182.pdf
- issue19326.pdf
- issue20225.pdf
- issue20294_reduced.pdf
- issue20453.pdf
- issue2128r.pdf
- issue21436.pdf
- issue21570.pdf
- issue22011.pdf
- issue2948.pdf
- issue3521.pdf
- issue4379.pdf
- issue4436r.pdf
- issue4684.pdf
- issue5202.pdf
- issue5747.pdf
- issue6019.pdf
- issue6099.pdf
- issue6231_1.pdf
- issue6387.pdf
- issue7101.pdf
- issue8372.pdf
- issue8798r.pdf
- issue8823.pdf
- issue9713.pdf
- issue_cff_unsigned_bbox.pdf
- jbig2_file_header.pdf
- jbig2_symbol_offset.pdf
- jpx_smaskindata.pdf
- knockout_nested_group_alpha.pdf
- knockout_smask.pdf
- labelled_pages.pdf
- large_jpeg_downscale.pdf
- mesh_shading_empty.pdf
- mmtype1.pdf
- multimedia_annotations.pdf
- noembed-eucjp.pdf
- noembed-identity-2.pdf
- noembed-identity.pdf
- noembed-jis7.pdf
- noembed-sjis.pdf
- non-embedded-NuptialScript.pdf
- nonembedded_type1_tounicode.pdf
- operator-in-TJ-array.pdf
- Pages-tree-refs.pdf
- pattern_text_embedded_font.pdf
- PDFBOX-3148-2-fuzzed.pdf
- poppler-67295-0.pdf
- poppler-85140-0.pdf
- pr4922.pdf
- print_protection.pdf
- quadpoints.pdf
- radial_gradients.pdf
- rc_annotation.pdf
- recursiveCompositGlyf.pdf
- red_stamp.pdf
- resetform.pdf
- resetform_parent.pdf
- rotated.pdf
- rotated_freetexts.pdf
- rotated_ink.pdf
- rotation.pdf
- saslprep-r6.pdf
- shading_extend.pdf
- ShowText-ShadingPattern.pdf
- simpletype3font.pdf
- smask_alpha_bc.pdf
- smask_alpha_oob.pdf
- smask_alpha_oob_transfer.pdf
- smask_luminosity_oob_transfer.pdf
- smaskdim.pdf
- standard_fonts.pdf
- text_clip_cff_cid.pdf
- text_rise_eol_bug.pdf
- tiling-pattern-fold-order.pdf
- tiling-pattern-large-steps.pdf
- tiling_patterns_variations.pdf
- tracemonkey.pdf
- transparency_group.pdf
- transparent.pdf
- TrueType_without_cmap.pdf
- Type3WordSpacing.pdf
- vertical.pdf
- xfa_issue14315.pdf
- xobject-image.pdf
- xref_command_missing.pdf
- ZapfDingbats.pdf
Pricing
Free, with an ad. Ad-free for a few dollars, once.
Every feature is in the free version. It shows an ad between every third page of a document, on the grey around the pages and never in your file. Buying once takes the ads away for good, and pays for the work on the app.
Ad-free, 5 computers
$9.99 once, lifetime
- No ads, for good
- On 5 computers: a home, a small office
- Supports development
Paid through Stripe. Your code is shown when you’ve paid and emailed to you; enter it in the app with Help → Remove Ads…. Already bought? Your purchases and computers are at your account (sign in with the email you paid with): a new computer, deactivate the old one there.
4 / 5Questions
What people ask.
Is Free PDF Editor really free?
Yes: every feature is free, with no account, no trial and no watermark on what you save. The free version shows an ad between every third page of a document, on the grey around the pages, never in your file. $4.99 once takes the ads away for good on 2 computers, or $9.99 on 5.
Can it change the existing text in a PDF?
Yes. Double-click a line or paragraph and type. The new text is written in the font embedded in the PDF, at the same size and colour. If that font lacks a character you type (PDFs often embed only the letters they use), a similar installed font is used for it.
Will the rest of my PDF change when I save?
No. Only the parts you edited are rewritten; everything else in the file, including fonts, images and colours, is kept byte for byte.
Which systems does it run on?
macOS 11 or later (Apple silicon and Intel) and Linux x86_64 (AppImage), now; Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) soon: its build is waiting for Microsoft's approval.
Does it upload my files?
No. Everything happens on your computer and it works offline. The app asks GitHub for a new version now and then; the free version asks this site for the current ad every few hours; the ad-free version asks about once a week whether its computer still has its place (it sends the code, an anonymous id of the computer, its name, system and app version, as when it was activated); and a crash report (without your files or their names) is sent only if you choose to send it.
Can it fill in forms and sign PDFs?
Yes. It fills text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons and drop-downs, and you can draw, type or import a signature and place it on the page.
Can it edit scanned PDFs?
A scanned page is a picture, so there is no text in it to edit. On a Mac, Page → Recognize text makes its text searchable: it can then be found, selected and copied. You can add text, notes and a signature on top, and rotate, reorder or extract its pages.
Can it password-protect a PDF?
Yes, with AES-256. It can also change or remove the password of a PDF you can open.
Can I move my ad-free code to a new computer?
Yes. Deactivate the old computer in your account at getfreepdfeditor.com/account (sign in with the email you bought with), or on it with Help → Remove Ads… → Deactivate; then enter the code on the new one. A computer deactivated from your account shows ads again the next time it checks, within a week.
I lost my code. Where is it?
In your account: sign in at getfreepdfeditor.com/account with the email you bought with, and we'll email you a link. Every code bought with that email is there, with the computers it's on. Or write to hello@getfreepdfeditor.com.
How do I report a bug or suggest a feature?
Use Help → Report a Bug in the app, which fills in your version and system, or open an issue on GitHub. Issues are public, so please don't attach PDFs with private information.