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Annotate PDF

Add text notes and comments to PDF documents

How to Use Annotate PDF

  1. Upload your PDF.
  2. Choose an annotation type — text note, underline or strikethrough.
  3. Click or drag on the rendered page to place it.
  4. Set the colour for each annotation.
  5. Apply and download the annotated document.

About Annotate PDF

What this page solves

Annotate PDF solves the privacy and friction problem of typical online tools — it never uploads, never asks for a signup, and runs in your browser.

Annotate PDF is a free, privacy-first PDF utility that lets you add text notes and comments to pdf documents entirely in your browser. Unlike most online PDF services, Annotate PDF never uploads your documents — every page is parsed, modified, and re-saved locally using pdf-lib and the browser's built-in capabilities. That makes it a safe choice for confidential files such as contracts, invoices, medical records, tax forms, or signed agreements that should never touch a third-party server. Because the processing is local, Annotate PDF is usable on locked-down corporate laptops and school networks where uploading work files to a third-party service is a policy violation. Annotate PDF preserves PDF metadata, bookmarks, internal links, and form fields where the operation allows — what comes out is the same document, modified only where you intended. Annotate PDF uses `pdf-lib` under the hood — the same library powering many open-source PDF tools — so the output PDFs open correctly in Acrobat, Preview, browser viewers, and printer drivers. Annotate PDF follows a clean four-step workflow (Upload → Edit → Process → Download) inspired by the best desktop PDF apps and is part of our broader PDF Tools collection. If you also need a complementary utility, try our PDF Merger. It is free with no signup, no watermark, and no page count limits beyond what your device can handle.

Common Use Cases

  • Process confidential business documents without uploading them
  • Prepare contracts, invoices, or signed agreements before sharing
  • Edit scanned documents and forms locally on your device
  • Combine PDF tools in a chain — output of one becomes the input of the next
  • Handle large or sensitive PDFs that exceed typical online upload limits
  • Preparing tender or RFP responses where multiple PDFs need to merge into one bundle
  • Handling a one-off task on a borrowed or public machine where installing software is not an option
  • Re-ordering scanned pages that came out of a document feeder in the wrong sequence

Related tools in PDF Tools

See all PDF Tools.

Frequently asked questions

Are these real PDF annotations?

No, and the distinction matters. Real PDF annotations are a separate interactive layer that viewers can show, hide, reply to and delete. These are drawn into the page content — permanent, visible everywhere, but not interactive and not listed in a comments panel.

Can the recipient remove my annotations?

Not easily. Being part of the page content, they would need to edit the PDF itself rather than just delete a comment. That is a feature if you want permanence and a limitation if you wanted a collaborative markup.

Can I annotate a scanned document?

Yes. Annotations are drawn on top regardless of whether the page has a text layer, since placement is by position rather than by selecting text.

Is this suitable for document review?

For marking up a document and sending it back, yes. For a genuine review cycle with threaded comments and replies, use Acrobat or a dedicated review platform — this produces flattened markup, not a conversation.

How to use Annotate PDF?

1) Open the tool. 2) Enter or upload your input. 3) Get your result instantly. Everything happens locally — nothing is uploaded.

When should I use Annotate PDF?

Use Annotate PDF whenever you need a fast, private, browser-based way to add text notes and comments to pdf documents.

Is Annotate PDF safe?

Yes. Annotate PDF runs 100% in your browser. Inputs are never uploaded, stored, or logged — safe for confidential content.

Will quality be affected by Annotate PDF?

No quality loss for text and vector content. Embedded images keep their original resolution unless you compress them.

What formats does Annotate PDF support?

Annotate PDF supports PDF (any version), with import/export to JPG, PNG and TXT in related tools

Is Annotate PDF free?

Yes — Annotate PDF is completely free, with no registration, no watermarks, and no usage limits.

Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

No. Annotate PDF processes PDFs entirely in your browser using pdf-lib. Your documents never leave your device.

Are there file-size or page limits?

There are no enforced limits. Performance depends on your device — files up to about 100 MB process smoothly on most modern browsers.

Will the output have a watermark?

Never. Annotate PDF produces clean PDFs with no added branding, watermarks, or metadata.

Can I use Annotate PDF for commercial or client work?

Yes. There is no licence restriction on the output and nothing is watermarked, so results can go straight into client deliverables, internal reports, or commercial products.