◇ Free tool

Make a PDF editable

Open a PDF, put text, ticks and a signature exactly where they belong, and download it. No account, no upload, no watermark — the file is edited inside your browser and never leaves your device.

“Editable PDF” means two different things

People search for this with two completely different jobs in mind, and mixing them up is why so many tools disappoint. The first is filling in a document: a contract, a form, an application — you need your name, a date and a tick in the right places. The second is preparing a form for someone else: you place empty fields, send the file, and the other person types into it.

This page does both, and they map to the two download buttons. There is also a third job — rewriting the text that is already inside the PDF — and that one is honestly hard: a PDF stores positioned glyphs, not paragraphs, so “editing” it means rebuilding the layout. If you have the original document, changing it there and exporting again will always give a better result.

Fill in a PDF

  1. Drop your PDF onto the page — it opens straight away, with no upload.
  2. Pick the Text tool and click where an answer belongs. A box appears; type into it.
  3. Use Checkbox for ticks and Signature for your name in a script face.
  4. Drag any field to line it up with the printed line underneath.
  5. Press “Download PDF” — your text becomes part of the page and looks the same in every viewer.

Prepare a fillable form for someone else

  1. Open the PDF and place a field everywhere someone else will have to write.
  2. Leave the fields empty — you are preparing the form, not filling it.
  3. Press “Download as form”.
  4. The file now carries real AcroForm fields: whoever opens it in Acrobat, Chrome or Preview can type into it and save.

What this tool will not do

  • Scanned pages. A scan is an image; without OCR there is no text to edit. You can still place your own fields on top — enough for signing.
  • Password-protected files. Remove the password in your viewer first.
  • Reflowing existing paragraphs. See above — go back to the source document if you have it.

Frequently asked

Is it free, and do I need an account?

The tool is free and needs no account: open a PDF, edit it and download the result. An Ettex account only matters if you want to keep documents, reuse templates or send them for signature.

Does my file get uploaded anywhere?

No. The PDF is opened and rebuilt inside your browser — it never leaves your device, which also means there is no upload wait and no file sitting on somebody’s server afterwards.

Will the result open in Acrobat?

Yes. “Download PDF” writes your text into the page itself, so it looks identical everywhere. “Download as form” produces real AcroForm fields, which Acrobat, Chrome and Preview show as a fillable form.

Can I edit the text that is already in the PDF?

Not here — this tool adds a layer on top: text boxes, ticks and signatures where you place them. Rewriting existing paragraphs means reconstructing the original layout, which is a different job and usually best done from the source document.

Why does nothing happen with my scanned document?

A scan is an image of text, not text. Without OCR there are no characters to work with — you can still place your own fields on top, which is what most people need for signing a scanned contract.

Is a password-protected PDF supported?

Not yet. Remove the password in your PDF viewer first, then open the file here.

Doing this every month?

Ettex PDF keeps your templates, fills them in and sends them for signature — with the documents stored on your device, not ours.

See Ettex PDF