Read, edit, sign, redact, merge and split PDFs online. Free, no signup, nothing uploaded.
pdforever exists because I needed to sign one form and every "free" PDF editor I tried wanted an account, watermarked the download, or quietly shipped my paperwork off to a server somewhere. This one doesn't. It runs entirely in your browser: open a PDF and read it, with its links and bookmarks working, then switch to the editor when you need to type into it, sign it, or shuffle its pages. Your file never leaves your machine.
What you can do
Read it first
A PDF opens in the reader: links in the document work, the bookmarks are a click away, text can be selected and copied, and on a phone you pinch to zoom. Editor and Organiser are one click up top when you need them.
Edit the existing text
Click a line and retype it. The replacement is drawn in a matching font, using the document's own where it can. Handy for fixing a date or a typo without rebuilding the whole document in Word.
Merge, split, reorder
Drop in several PDFs and shuffle their pages like cards: combine files, pull out just the pages you need, rotate the sideways ones. Still nothing uploaded.
Signatures that stick
Draw or upload your signature once and it's saved for next time. In your browser, mind, not on my server. I don't have a server.
Ticks, dates, shapes
Tick the boxes, cross things out, circle the important bit, drop in today's date.
Private by architecture
Not private as in "we promise". Private as in there's nowhere for your file to go. The whole editor is a static page.
Redaction that redacts
Black out a line and the text underneath is removed from the exported file. Not a black sticker over a secret, which is what some surprisingly expensive tools ship.
Download means download
No watermark, no "upgrade to Pro", no three-documents-a-day meter.
Out to Word
Download any PDF as a .docx you can carry on editing, with your changes in it. The conversion happens in your browser like everything else, which is rarer than it should be for a PDF to Word tool.
Awkward PDFs still work
Files locked against editing get exported as a clean flattened copy instead of an error message.
Scans become text
A scanned page is a picture of words, so there's nothing to click. Recognise text reads it on your own machine, and then the lines edit and redact like any others and the download is searchable. The only thing fetched is the language data, once.
Frequently asked questions
Is pdforever really free?
Properly free. No trial, no watermark, no features held hostage. It costs me very little to run, so it stays free. If it saved you a trip to the printer there's a Ko-fi link in the corner, but that's optional and always will be.
Do my files get uploaded anywhere?
No. The editor is a static page that does all its work in your browser. Your PDF is opened and saved on your own machine. There is no server for it to be uploaded to, which is also why this site will never have a data breach worth writing about.
Can I just read a PDF with it?
Yes, and that's where a file lands when you open it: the reader. Links inside the document work, including contents pages and cross-references, the bookmarks sit in a side panel, and you can select text to copy it. Hit Editor at the top when you want to change something, or Organiser to merge, split or reorder pages.
Can I edit the text that is already in a PDF?
Yes, click any line and retype it. The replacement is drawn in a face that matches the original, using the document's own embedded font when it still has the letters you need, and the old text is removed from the file rather than painted over. On most documents the fix is hard to spot.
Can I merge or split PDFs?
Yes. Hit Organise (or just drop several PDFs in at once) and every page shows up as a thumbnail: drag them into order, combine files, extract a selection into its own PDF, rotate or remove pages. One thing to know: fillable form fields get baked in as part of a merge, so fill forms out before you combine them.
Can I convert a PDF to Word?
Yes: the arrow next to Download, then Word document (on a phone it's behind the three dots). It's good at what most PDFs are, which is text: paragraphs come back as paragraphs, headings as headings, and lined-up rows as tables, with any edits you made included and redacted lines left out. Layouts are best effort. A PDF only records where each line sits, so two columns, sidebars and anything designed come back approximately, and fonts are swapped for the nearest standard face. A scanned page with no text on it to read comes through as a picture of the page.
Can I sign a PDF with it?
Yes. Draw your signature with a mouse or finger, or upload a photo of one. It's the digital version of print-sign-scan, minus the printer. If you need a certified e-signature with an audit trail, this isn't that and doesn't pretend to be.
Can I redact a PDF with it?
Yes, properly: the black box removes the text underneath from the exported file rather than covering it, and scanned pages come out with the pixels painted over. It does not touch metadata like the document title, so give a sensitive file a quick once-over before it goes anywhere important.
Does it work with password-protected PDFs?
Usually. If the file opens at all you can edit it, and it exports as a flattened copy even when the original is locked against changes.
Can it read the text in a scanned PDF?
Yes. Open the scan and hit Recognise text, and the words are read off the page right there in your browser. The page is never uploaded; what gets downloaded is the language data, a few megabytes the first time, which your browser keeps after that. Recognised lines can be edited and redacted like any other text, and the download carries an invisible text layer so you can search it. It's only as good as the scan: a clean, straight page comes out close to perfect, a crumpled phone photo less so, so check names and numbers before you rely on them.
pdforever is built and looked after by one person. If it did the job, you can buy me a coffee.