Adding a text box
- Open the PDF and pick Add text from the ribbon, or press
T. - Click where the text should start. A box appears with the cursor already in it.
- Type, then set font, size, colour and alignment in the panel on the right.
- Switch to Select to drag the box into position, or use the corner grip to resize it.
Common uses
Filling in a form that has no form fields
Plenty of PDFs look like forms but carry no interactive fields, so a normal PDF reader gives you nowhere to type. A text box placed over each blank line does the job, and the result prints exactly as it appears.
Signing and dating a document
Use Draw to sign with a mouse, trackpad or finger on a touchscreen, then add a text box for the date and place. Or insert a photograph of your signature with the image tool and scale it down.
Adding a note, stamp or reference number
Set a large size and a light colour for a diagonal note, or a small one in a corner for a file reference. Duplicate keeps the styling if the same stamp is needed on several pages.
Writing in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali or another non-Latin script? The fonts built into the PDF format
only cover Latin characters. Load any .ttf or .otf file in the Embedded font panel and
it is subset into your saved PDF, so the text displays correctly on any device that opens it.
Keeping text where you put it
Positions are stored in PDF points relative to the page, not in screen pixels, so a box stays exactly where you placed it at any zoom level and on any printer. The status bar shows live coordinates while you drag, which helps when several stamps need to line up across pages.
Questions
Can I add text to a scanned PDF?
Yes. Adding a text box works on any page, including scans, because the box is drawn on top rather than woven into existing text.
Can I choose any font?
The standard PDF fonts — Helvetica, Times and Courier, in regular, bold and italic — are always available. Load your own .ttf or .otf for anything else, including brand typefaces and non-Latin scripts.
Will the text be selectable in the saved file?
Yes. Added text is real text, so it can be selected, copied and searched, and it stays sharp at any zoom. If you would rather it were not selectable, use the Flatten option when saving.
Can I add the same text to every page?
Place it once, then use Duplicate and drag the copy onto the next page. Styling carries across, so only the position needs adjusting.
Start editing
The editor opens instantly and runs on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account to create.