Annotate PDF

Highlight, draw, and comment on a PDF in your browser.

or drop PDF here

Runs in your browser — your file never leaves your device.

Mark up a PDF — highlight, draw, box something and leave comments — in your browser, without uploading the file. Annotate PDF opens the page in an editor with four tools: Highlight drags a translucent band over text, Draw is a freehand pen, Box outlines a region, and Comment places a typed note. Everything is written into the saved PDF, so the marks travel with the document and appear in any reader.

How to use Annotate PDF

Click "Select PDF file" and choose the PDF to mark up.
Pick a tool from the toolbar. Highlight is the default; drag over the passage you want to flag.
Use Draw for a circle or an arrow, Box to ring a figure or a table cell, and Comment to leave a typed note at a point.
Click "Save PDF" and download the annotated copy. The original file on your disk is untouched.

Who it is for

Annotate PDF is for marking a document up rather than changing it: reviewing a contract clause by clause, circling an error on a proof, leaving a comment for someone else to action, or highlighting the parts of a report you will quote later. It is the tool for a document that is going back to someone with your notes on it.

How it works

Four tools cover the usual markup: Highlight drags a translucent band, Draw is a freehand pen, Box rings a region, and Comment places a typed note.
Marks are written into the page content rather than saved as a removable annotation layer, so they appear in every reader and print.
Nothing is committed until you save, and the original on your disk is never modified.

What it cannot do

The marks are part of the page once saved, so they cannot be toggled off later the way a true annotation layer can. Correct a mistake here and save again.
A scan has no selectable text, so highlighting over it covers pixels rather than words.
For signing, Sign PDF is the better tool: it trims the signature to the ink and places it at a controlled position.
There is no comment threading or reply, so collaboration is one-way.

Frequently asked questions

Are the annotations editable afterwards?

The marks are written into the page content, so they show everywhere and cannot be switched off like an annotation layer. That makes them reliable for a shared copy, and it also means a mistake needs to be fixed here and saved again rather than removed later in another program.

Will the highlights print?

Yes. They are drawn onto the page, so they print and appear in every viewer, not only in the program that made them.

Does it work on a scanned PDF?

Yes. The tools draw over whatever is on the page, so a scan behaves the same as a text document. What you cannot do on a scan is select the text underneath — for that, run OCR PDF first.

Can I sign with this?

You can draw a signature with the pen, but Sign PDF is the better tool: it trims the signature to the ink, sizes it, and places it at a documented position with a chosen margin. Use this one for marking up, that one for signing.

Is my file uploaded?

No. The document is opened, marked and saved in your browser, which is the point — a contract with your comments on it never reaches a server.