Add text to a PDF online

Add text to a PDF by dropping it here: choose Text on the toolbar, click where the words should go, type, and press Download. The text is embedded in the file with a real font, so it looks the same in Acrobat, Preview or Chrome, and nothing is uploaded.

How to add text to a PDF

1. Drop the file on this page or click Open a PDF.
2. Click Text on the toolbar.
3. Click on the page where the text should start and type. Click somewhere else to start another block.
4. To move between pages, use the thumbnails sidebar on the left.
5. Ctrl+Z undoes the last change; Eraser removes a text block when you click it.
6. Press Download. You get a new PDF with the text embedded.

Typing a date, a reference number, a name on a dotted line or a comment in the margin all work the same way: click, type, download.

Forms and typos: what the Text tool does and does not do

The Text tool places new text on top of the page. It does not change the text that is already there. That distinction answers most questions people have:

• Filling a form. Fillable fields are displayed but not editable as fields in this viewer. Click on each box with the Text tool and type into it instead; the result prints and displays like a filled form. Details in how to fill out a PDF form.
• Fixing a typo in the original. Cover the wrong word with Whiteout, then type the right one over it with Text. The old word remains in the file underneath, hidden visually. For rewriting a paragraph in place, see edit text in a PDF, which lists editors that can do that.
• Adding a note to a scan. Works on scanned pages too, since the tool does not need a text layer.

Cyrillic, Arabic and other scripts

Many lightweight PDF tools break on non-Latin text: you type Russian or Arabic, and the saved file shows boxes or question marks because the font that was embedded only has Latin letters. This viewer embeds Unicode text with fontkit when it saves, so the characters you typed are stored with a font that contains them. Open the downloaded file on another computer and the words are still readable.

That matters for bilingual contracts, translated forms, and names that are spelled in two alphabets.

Where people type on PDFs: forms, scans, drafts

Three situations account for nearly every "type on a PDF" request. The first is a form sent as a flat PDF: an application, a school permission slip, a vendor sheet. The blanks are just lines on the page, and the Text tool is exactly the right instrument: click on each line, type, move on. The second is a scanned document that needs a reference number, a received date or "copy" written across the top; the tool does not care that the page is a picture. The third is a draft under review, where a typed note in the margin is clearer than a handwritten one, and you can pair it with a highlight on the passage it refers to.

In all three cases the typed words travel with the file. No separate notes document, no screenshot of the page with text pasted on top, and no need for the recipient to have any particular program.

How the text appears in Acrobat, Preview and Chrome

Download writes the text into a new PDF via pdf-lib. Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview on macOS, Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Google Drive's preview and phone readers all show it at the position and size you set. The text is real text in the file, not a picture of text, so it stays sharp when zoomed and prints cleanly.

The original file on your disk is not touched; keep it if you may need the blank version again.

Alternatives for adding text to a PDF

• Preview on macOS: Markup toolbar, Text tool; also fills real form fields.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader: Fill & Sign adds text anywhere and fills form fields; the free reader is enough.
• Microsoft Edge: Add text is on the PDF toolbar; good for a quick line on Windows.
• Chrome: fills form fields in its viewer; freeform text placement is limited, so use the annotate tools or another app.
• Google Drive: the preview handles comments, not placed text; open in Google Docs converts the file instead.
• Xodo, PDF-XChange Editor: typewriter-style text tools with font, size and color choices.
• Smallpdf, iLovePDF: online text tools; the PDF is uploaded to their servers to use them.

Frequently asked questions