How to Edit, Sign and Fill a PDF Without Adobe Acrobat
Most PDF jobs are small: fix a date, sign the last page, fill in a form, hide an account number, drop a blank page. You do not need a paid Acrobat subscription for any of them. Each one can be done in a web browser on Windows, Mac, iPhone or Android, with nothing to install. This guide shows which free tool fits which job, and what to watch for so the result looks professional.
Edit the text in a PDF
Open the file in Edit PDF and choose Edit text. On a PDF that was exported from Word, Excel or an accounting package, you can click existing words and change them; the font, size and colour can be adjusted from the toolbar. Add text puts new words anywhere on the page, which is how you correct a figure or add a note.
A scanned page is different: it is a picture of text, so there is nothing to click. Run it through OCR PDF first to turn the picture into real text, then open the result in the editor.
Sign a PDF
Sign PDF lets you draw your signature with a mouse, trackpad or finger, type your name in a handwriting style, or upload a photo of your signature on white paper (the background is removed so only the ink lands on the page). Place it on the line, drag the corners to size it, and add initials or the date where the document asks for them.
Many countries accept this kind of e-signature for everyday agreements such as leases and offer letters. Some documents, such as court filings or property deeds, have stricter rules, so check what applies to yours.
Fill in a PDF form
Fill PDF Forms finds the fillable fields in a form and shows them as boxes you can type in, with checkboxes and drop-down lists working as you would expect. If the form is just lines on a page, which is common with scanned forms, use Text to type on the lines and the tick tool for boxes.
When the form is complete, Flatten PDF fixes the answers into the page so they cannot be changed after you send it.
Hide details and remove pages
To black out an account number, a home address or a name, use Redact PDF. Drag a box over what should be hidden, or search a word and redact every copy of it. On download, HuntPDF turns the redacted pages into images, so the covered text is really gone and cannot be copied out from under the black box.
To remove a blank scanner page, an internal cover note or a duplicate, open Delete PDF Pages, click the pages to remove and download the clean copy. Your original file is not changed.
What you still might want Acrobat for
Free browser tools cover the everyday jobs above. Acrobat remains useful for heavy, repeated work such as building complex fillable forms with calculations, certified digital signatures with an ID certificate, or preflight checks before professional printing. If those are not part of your week, the free tools are enough.