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PDF annotator

Highlight, underline and comment on any PDF. Free, with no account or uploads.

Drop a PDF to annotate

Highlight, underline and strike out words, place notes and answer comments, then download the result. You can also paste a file with ⌘V or Ctrl+V.

  • PDF

Stays on your device · up to 300 MB

Off, nothing is kept: closing the tab loses changes that were not downloaded. On, the file and your changes are kept in this browser until you close the file or throw the draft away. Nothing is sent anywhere.

What you can do

  • Mark the words themselvesHighlight, underline, strike out or squiggle by dragging across text. On a scan, a highlighter pen marks anything.
  • Notes and repliesPlace a note, type what you think, and answer the comments a file already has. Every comment is in one list, page by page.
  • Real comments, or part of the pageDownload with comments that any PDF program shows as comments, with the marks drawn into the page, or with every comment left out.
  • Nothing is uploadedThe file is opened and marked on your device. Its text, links, bookmarks and form fields stay as they were.

This is the PDF editor, opened for marking up. Its other tools (text, pictures, shapes, stamps, signing) are behind “All tools”.

A little help along the way

Follow the steps below. Every tool and option is explained underneath.

  1. Open a PDFDrop a PDF, choose it from your device or paste it. A locked file asks for its password. The file opens over the page with the highlighter in hand, and any comments it already has are counted in the bar.
  2. Mark the wordsDrag across the words to highlight them, or press a single word. Underline, strike out and squiggle work the same way. Pick the colour in the second row before or after.
  3. Mark a scanA scanned page is a picture, with no words to take hold of. Take the highlighter pen and draw over what matters; choose how thick it is.
  4. Add a noteTake the note tool and press where the note belongs. The list of comments opens with the note ready to be typed. Drag a note's icon to move it.
  5. Read and answerThe list shows every comment page by page, with the words each mark lies on. Type under a comment to say something about it, reply to it, or delete it. Pressing a comment takes the pages to it.
  6. DownloadPress Download. Choose whether the comments stay comments, become part of the page, or are left out. The file is checked before it is handed to you.
Every option explained
Highlight, underline, strike out, squiggle
These lie on the words themselves, so they follow the text line by line and stay sharp at any zoom. They are the PDF's own kinds of mark, so other PDF programs show them too, and those with a list of comments list them there. Keys: H, U, S and W.
Highlighter pen
A wide see-through stroke, for scans and for anything that is not text: a figure, a signature, a part of a drawing. Three thicknesses. Key: P.
Notes and replies
A note is a small icon on the page with words in the list. Anyone who opens the file can read it and reply. Replies are kept under the comment they answer, with who wrote them and when. Key: N.
Your name
Typed once at the top of the list, it signs the comments you make from then on. It is kept on this device only and can be left empty: comments are then not signed.
Comments a file already has
They are listed with yours and can be read, answered and deleted. Marks on words, notes and pen strokes can be given another colour. Other kinds, such as a stamp or a call-out made in another program, keep the look they came with.
Keep as comments, part of the page, or leave out
Kept, comments stay separate from the page: they can be hidden, answered and removed in any program. As part of the page, marks are drawn into it for good, which is right for a final copy; a note keeps its icon, and its words are no longer shown. Left out, the download has no comments at all.
Find in comments
Type a word to see only the comments that hold it, in what they say, the words they mark, their replies or their author.
Undo, and leaving
Every mark, note, reply and deletion can be undone with Ctrl or ⌘ Z. The file lives in this tab only; closing it with changes that were not downloaded asks first.
Read the step-by-step guide