How to Edit a PDF for Free (No Sign-Up, No Upload)

You don't need Acrobat Pro to edit a PDF. For the everyday jobs — rearranging pages, adding text or page numbers, merging files, pulling out text — free browser tools handle it in seconds, and because they run entirely on your device, your document is never uploaded. Here's how to do each common PDF edit free.

Reorder, delete, or extract pages

Most "editing" is really page management. Use Split PDF to pull out or remove specific pages (like 1-3, 5), and Merge PDF to combine files or reorder by re-merging in the sequence you want.

Add page numbers, watermarks, or rotation

• Add Page Numbers to a report or manuscript.
• Watermark PDF to stamp DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL on every page.
• Rotate PDF to fix pages scanned sideways.

Edit the text

True in-place text editing is where free web tools stop short — the PDF format wasn't built for it. The practical workaround: Extract Text from PDF to pull the content out, edit it anywhere, and rebuild. Most PDFs with form fields can be filled right in your browser's built-in viewer.

Shrink or convert the result

Finished editing? Compress PDF to get under email limits (see how to compress without losing quality), or turn pages into images with PDF to JPG. Building a PDF from images? Use Images to PDF.

Bottom line

For 95% of PDF edits — pages, numbers, watermarks, merging, text extraction — free in-browser tools do the job with no upload and no watermark. Reach for paid software only for heavy in-place text editing. Start on the PDF Tools page.