Edit PDF Online
Edit a PDF online by placing text and a drawn signature on any page, then download the changed PDF from your browser.
Written by Anil Gautam · Updated
What can you add to a PDF with this editor?
The editor has two tools. With Text selected, a click on a page drops a box reading 'Edit text' in 24-point, near-black Helvetica. Click the box to type, drag it to move it, and use the bar that appears above the pages to change the size from 10 to 96 points, pick a colour or delete the box. With Signature selected, a click opens a drawing pad for your mouse, trackpad or finger. Pressing Use this signature trims the blank space around your strokes and centres the ink on the point you clicked, 120 points (about 42 mm) wide. Dragging its corner handle resizes it without stretching.
Every click on an empty part of a page with the Text tool adds another box, and every box on the page is saved, including any that still read 'Edit text'. Delete the extras before you download. Each box holds one line, so an address needs one box per line. Replace PDF starts over with a new file and discards your boxes.
How do positions in the preview carry into the saved PDF?
The preview draws each page at 1.5 times its size in PDF points. On download, every position and size is divided by 1.5, and the text and signature images are drawn onto your original pages with pdf-lib. Existing page content stays as it was, and the new file is saved with -edited added to its name. Text size is in real points, so 10 to 12 matches typical body text and 24 or more reads like a heading.
On screen, a box hides any text past its right edge. The saved PDF prints the whole line, which can run off the page, so widen the box until all the text shows and compare the downloaded file with the preview before you send it.
Why does Download edited PDF show an error?
Saving can stop with an error for two reasons you can fix. One is a character outside Helvetica's Latin set: typing the rupee sign or Hindi text makes the save fail with a message that WinAnsi cannot encode it, so write Rs. instead of ₹. The other is protection. A PDF that needs a password to open shows a password-protected warning as soon as you add it, while one that opens freely but carries restrictions previews normally and then fails at download with a message saying the document is encrypted.
Your drawn signature is a picture of your handwriting with no certificate behind it, so it cannot stand in for a DSC where a portal asks for a digitally signed PDF. If you only need a small signature image for an online form, Signature Resize 10 to 20KB prepares one.