How to Add Text to a PDF — Fill Forms, Annotate, Stamp (Free)

You have a PDF and need to type on it — fill out a form, add a header, stamp it CONFIDENTIAL, or add notes. Adobe Acrobat costs $23/month. Here are free alternatives that do this in your browser, with no signup and no file upload.

What You Can Do (Pick Your Use Case)

Task	Best Tool	How
Type text anywhere on a PDF	Add Text to PDF	Drop PDF → type text → choose position → download
Fill out a PDF form	Fill PDF Form	Drop PDF → auto-detects fields → type values → download
Add CONFIDENTIAL / DRAFT stamp	Legal Stamp	Drop PDF → pick stamp → set color, angle, opacity
Add page numbers	Page Numbers	Drop PDF → choose position and format → apply to all pages
Add Bates numbers (legal)	Bates Numbering	Drop PDF → set prefix, start number → apply to all pages
Add a header or footer	Add Text to PDF	Drop PDF → type text → select "All Pages" → position top/bottom
Add a watermark	Watermark PDF	Drop PDF → type text → set opacity and rotation
Draw a signature	Sign PDF	Drop PDF → draw or type signature → place on page

Step-by-Step: Add Text to a PDF

1. Open the PDF text adder
2. Drop your PDF file — the first page loads in the preview
3. Type your text in the text input box (e.g., "CONFIDENTIAL", "John Smith", or any text)
4. Configure appearance:
   • Page: Select a specific page or "All Pages" for headers/footers/stamps
   • Position: Top-center, bottom-right, or any of 6 positions
   • Font size: Small (12px) for form entries, large (36px+) for stamps
   • Color: Black for form fills, red for stamps, blue for signature-style text
5. Download — your PDF with the added text

Filling Out PDF Forms (Two Scenarios)

Scenario 1: PDF Has Fillable Form Fields

If the PDF was created with form fields (you see highlighted boxes when you open it), use the PDF form filler. It auto-detects text fields, checkboxes, and dropdowns. Click on each field, type your value, download the filled form.

Scenario 2: PDF Is a Flat Document (No Fields)

Many PDFs — especially government forms, older documents, and scans — look like forms but have no fillable fields. You need to place text directly on the page:

1. Open the text adder
2. Navigate to the page with the field you need to fill
3. Type the text and position it where the blank line or box is
4. Repeat for each field on the page
5. Download the completed PDF

Adding Headers, Footers, and Stamps to Every Page

For text that needs to appear on every page (headers, footers, CONFIDENTIAL stamps):

• Use the text adder with "All Pages" selected
• Or use the legal stamp tool for pre-formatted stamps with rotation and opacity control
• Or use the watermark tool for diagonal watermark text

Complete PDF Editing Workflow

Most real-world tasks require multiple tools in sequence:

1. Merge multiple PDFs into one document
2. Reorder pages to get the right sequence
3. Add text — fill forms, add headers, stamp pages
4. Add page numbers for easy reference
5. Sign the document
6. Flatten to lock all edits and make the PDF non-editable
7. Compress to reduce file size before sharing

Adding Text to Scanned PDFs

Scanned PDFs are images. You can add text on top of the scan, but the existing scanned text cannot be edited. If you need the scanned text as editable text:

1. Run OCR on the scanned PDF to extract the text
2. Edit the extracted text as needed
3. Create a new PDF from the edited text

All PDF Text and Editing Tools

• Add Text to PDF — type text on any page, any position
• Fill PDF Form — auto-detect and fill form fields
• Sign PDF — draw or type your signature
• Legal Stamp — CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, APPROVED
• Watermark PDF — diagonal text watermarks
• Bates Numbering — legal document numbering
• Page Numbers — add page numbers to any PDF
• Flatten PDF — lock edits, make non-editable
• PDF OCR — extract text from scanned PDFs