Softonic

Edit PDF

Step 1 / 4 PDF editor

Use this browser-based PDF editor for quick overlay edits: add a short text label, highlight an area, draw a rectangle around a detail or cover a visible mistake with a white box. It exports a new PDF, so your original file stays unchanged.

How to edit a PDF

  1. 1

    Upload the PDF

    Drop the file on the page or choose it from your device. The tool accepts PDF files up to 200 MB.

  2. 2

    Choose the overlay

    Pick text, highlight, whiteout or rectangle, then set the page, color, position and size.

  3. 3

    Add the edit

    Place the overlay on the selected page. Add more edits if the document needs several visible corrections.

  4. 4

    Apply and download

    Generate a new edited PDF for download. The source PDF is not overwritten.

What the editor can do

Tool Best for
Text Add a short label, date, note or visual form value
Highlight Mark a rectangular area for review
Whiteout Cover a visible typo, old label or small area with a white box
Rectangle Draw an outline around a figure, table cell or important detail
Page and coordinates Target the page, X/Y position, width, height and text size
Export Save the overlays into a new PDF while keeping the original untouched

Important limits

This is an overlay editor, not a full PDF text editor. It cannot:

  • Rewrite existing paragraphs or make text reflow across lines.
  • Change the font, spelling or layout of text that is already part of the PDF.
  • Edit an OCR text layer or make a scanned document editable word by word.
  • Insert images, handwritten signatures, digital signatures or form-field data.
  • Rotate, delete or reorder pages.
  • Unlock encrypted or password-protected PDFs.

Use a whiteout box only for visual cleanup. It is not secure redaction because the original content may still exist inside the PDF file. For confidential data, use a dedicated redaction tool that permanently removes the underlying text or graphics.

Tips for cleaner edits

  • Work from a copy of the document when the PDF is important.
  • Use page numbers carefully in multi-page files, especially for invoices, forms and contracts.
  • For A4 or Letter forms, start with 10 to 14 pt text and adjust after checking the exported file.
  • Use whiteout before adding replacement text when you need to visually cover an old value.
  • Open the downloaded PDF and zoom in before sending it on.

Browser processing

The edit itself is applied in your browser with PDF libraries. To provide the hosted download result, the edited output file may be stored temporarily after you apply the changes. Avoid uploading documents that need certified redaction, qualified electronic signatures or strict document-management controls.

Frequently Asked Questions

The source PDF is opened and edited in your browser. After you apply the edits, the generated output may be stored temporarily so the results page can offer a download.

No. Whiteout draws a white rectangle over visible content. It does not guarantee that the original text or graphics are removed from the PDF file.

The upload control accepts PDFs up to 200 MB. Very large scans can still be slow or memory-heavy in the browser, so split them first if editing feels sluggish.

Not directly. Add new text on top or cover an area with whiteout first. For real text rewriting, convert the PDF to an editable format, make the changes, then export back to PDF.

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