Filevolo

How to Add Text or Cover Something in a PDF

Type on top of a PDF, white out a mistake or highlight a line in your browser, and why a white box is not the same as deleting.

Published by Filevolo · Report a correction

You have a PDF and something on it is wrong: a date, a name, an amount, or there is a blank line that needs filling. A PDF is not a text document, so you cannot just click into a paragraph and retype it. What you can do is work on top of the page, the way you would with a pen and correction fluid on a printout.

Write on the page

Open Edit PDF, drop in the file, choose Add text and click where the text should start. Type, then drag the small handle on its left to move it, and pick a size, a color and bold in the bar above the page. Accented letters work, including Hungarian, Polish and Czech ones, as well as Cyrillic and Greek.

Change something that is already there

Draw a White-out box over the old text, then add your new text on top of it. Drag the box's corner to fit it, and use Undo if you miss. Highlight works the same way and keeps the text underneath readable. You can also add a Picture, such as a logo or a scanned initial, and resize it from its corner.

White-out is not deletion

A white box only hides what is under it. The original text is still in the file, and anyone who selects the area or copies the page can read it. That is fine for fixing a typo, but not for hiding an ID number, an account number or a salary. For those, use Redact PDF, which flattens the page so nothing underneath can be recovered.

When you need more

If the whole document needs rewording, convert it with PDF to Word and edit it there. If the PDF has fillable fields, use Fill PDF Form. To add your signature, use Sign PDF. A page that is stored sideways needs to be straightened with Rotate PDF first.

Tools for this