PDF Editor

What is this PDF Editor?

ToollyX's PDF Editor is a free, fully browser-based tool for editing PDF documents without uploading them to any server. It combines two open-source libraries — PDF.js (Mozilla) for rendering and pdf-lib for writing changes permanently into the PDF structure. Your file never leaves your device.

The editor supports seven distinct operations: adding new text, editing existing PDF text word-by-word, highlighting regions, drawing rectangles, placing hand-drawn signatures, inserting images, and selecting/moving/resizing any placed element. All elements can be nudged pixel-by-pixel using keyboard arrow keys for precise positioning.

Complete Tool Guide

↖ Select Tool

The default tool after uploading a PDF. Click any annotation to select it — an orange border appears around the selected element. Once selected:

• Drag to move the element anywhere on the page
• Arrow keys (↑ ↓ ← →) — nudge 1px per keypress for pixel-perfect placement
• Shift + Arrow keys — nudge 10px per keypress for faster repositioning
• Double-click a placed text annotation to edit its content inline
• 🗑 Delete button or Delete key — remove the selected element

T Add Text

Places new text at any position on the PDF. Set font, size (8–72px), and colour in the right panel before placing. Click anywhere on the PDF — a text input appears at that position. Type your text and press Enter to confirm, or Escape to cancel. After placing, switch to Select and double-click the text to edit its content, or adjust font/size/colour from the right panel.

✎ Edit PDF Text

Edits words already printed in the PDF. When active, blue outline boxes appear over every detected text item. Click any blue box — the right panel shows the original word, an edit field pre-filled with that word, a font selector (auto-matched to the nearest standard font), and a colour picker. Edit the text and click Replace Text (or press Enter). The original word is immediately hidden by a white patch and your replacement appears on top. Replaced words show an orange strikethrough. Use arrow keys to nudge the replacement into the exact position. Undo restores the original word.

▬ Highlight

Drag across any area of the PDF to draw a semi-transparent highlight rectangle. Choose from 6 preset colours (yellow, green, blue, pink, orange, purple) or pick any custom colour. Adjust opacity (10–80%) in the right panel. Select a placed highlight to change its colour or opacity after placing.

▭ Rectangle

Drag to draw a rectangle or border box on the PDF. Set stroke colour, stroke width (1–10px), and optional fill colour. Useful for framing important sections, creating visual callout boxes, or drawing attention to specific content areas.

✍️ Signature

Click Signature to open the drawing pad. Draw your signature with your mouse or trackpad. Click Use Signature to save it. Then click once on the PDF to place it — the tool automatically switches to Select so you can immediately drag it to position or drag the corner handles to resize. Redraw at any time using the Redraw button.

🖼 Add Image

Click anywhere on the PDF to open a file picker — select JPG, PNG, or WebP. The image is placed at the click position and the tool switches to Select automatically. Drag to reposition, drag corner handles to resize (aspect ratio maintained). Use arrow keys for fine-tuning position.

Keyboard Shortcuts Reference

• Arrow keys (↑ ↓ ← →) — move selected element 1px
• Shift + Arrow keys — move selected element 10px
• Enter — confirm text input
• Escape — cancel text input
• Delete / Backspace — delete selected element (when not in a text field)

How the Edit Existing Text Feature Works

PDF text is not stored as editable strings — it is rendered as positioned glyph sequences with embedded font data. True in-place editing requires access to the original embedded fonts, which browser security restrictions prevent. ToollyX's approach covers the original word with a white rectangle (drawn directly on the canvas in preview and in the PDF on download) and places a new text annotation at the same position and font size, using the nearest available standard font: sans-serif originals map to Helvetica, serif to Times Roman, monospace to Courier. Bold and italic variants are detected automatically from the font name. The content is always accurate — only the typeface may differ slightly from the original.

PDF Editor vs PDF Annotator

ToollyX's PDF Annotator is designed for reviewing and marking up documents with freehand drawing and highlights. The PDF Editor is for adding or modifying actual content — text, signatures, images, and editing existing words. Use the Annotator for review; use the Editor for content changes. After editing, use Compress PDF to reduce file size before sharing, or Merge PDF to combine edited pages with other documents.

Privacy — Your File Never Leaves Your Device

Unlike cloud-based PDF editors that upload your file for processing, ToollyX's PDF Editor processes everything locally using the HTML5 Canvas API, PDF.js, and pdf-lib. No network request is made during editing or download. When you close or refresh the tab, the PDF and all annotations are discarded from browser memory entirely. Safe for signed contracts, financial statements, tax forms, medical records, and any document you prefer not to transmit to external services.

✓Verified by ToollyX Team · Last updated June 2026