Annotate PDF
Drag and drop PDF here โข Add text, stamps, highlights, or page numbers
PDF Annotator Online
Annotate PDF files online for free. Add text, highlight boxes, stamps, and page numbers with fast browser-based processing.
How to use PDF Annotator Online
1. Upload your PDF file
Click Select PDF File or drag and drop your PDF into the upload area. The tool reads your file in the browser and shows basic file details such as file name, file size, and total pages.
2. Choose the annotation type
Select the type of annotation you want to add. You can add plain text notes, visible stamps, highlight boxes, or page numbers.
- Text: Add notes such as Reviewed, Draft, Checked, or custom comments.
- Stamp: Add labels such as Approved, Confidential, Internal Use, or Rejected.
- Highlight Box: Mark an important area on the page using a colored rectangle.
- Page Number: Add page numbering to selected pages after merging, splitting, or editing PDFs.
3. Select the pages where annotation should appear
Use the page range box to choose where the annotation should be applied. You can apply the annotation to one page, multiple pages, or a full range.
- Single page: 1
- Multiple pages: 1, 3, 5
- Page range: 1-5
- Mixed range: 1-3, 6, 8-10
You can also use Select all to apply the annotation to every page in the PDF.
4. Customize position, color, font size, and opacity
Choose where the annotation should appear on the page. You can place it at the top, center, bottom, or use custom X/Y positioning for more control.
- Change font size for text, stamp, and page numbers.
- Choose text color using the color picker.
- Adjust opacity to make annotations lighter or darker.
- Select background color for stamps and highlight boxes.
- Use custom position when you need more accurate placement.
5. Enter output file name
You can keep the default file name or enter your own output file name before downloading the annotated PDF.
6. Download the annotated PDF
Click Download Annotated PDF. The tool will apply your selected annotation settings and download the updated PDF file.
Add text to PDF
Insert notes, comments, and labels like Reviewed, Draft, Confidential, or Internal Use.
Highlight and mark PDF
Use highlight boxes to mark important sections in reports, contracts, or study materials.
Add stamps and page numbers
Add visible stamps like Approved or Confidential and apply page numbering across documents.
Annotate PDF for different use cases
Use this PDF annotator to mark contracts, review documents, add notes for collaboration, or highlight key sections in reports.
This tool is useful for students, office teams, auditors, legal workflows, and anyone who needs quick visible PDF markup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I annotate PDF without uploading it to a server?
This PDF annotator is designed to process files directly in your browser. That means the file does not need to be unnecessarily uploaded before you can add text, stamps, highlights, or page numbers.
What types of annotations can I add to a PDF?
You can add text notes, stamp labels, highlight boxes, and page numbers. These annotations are useful for review, approval, study, office work, and document marking.
Can I annotate only selected pages?
Yes. You can enter page ranges such as 1-3, 5, or 8-10. You can also select all pages if you want the same annotation on the complete PDF.
Can I add page numbers to a PDF?
Yes. Choose the Page Number option, select the page range, set the starting number, choose the position, and download the updated PDF.
Can I add a Confidential or Approved stamp?
Yes. Select Stamp mode and enter text such as Confidential, Approved, Draft, Reviewed, Internal Use, or any custom label you want.
Does this tool support exact freehand drawing?
No. This tool focuses on visible PDF annotations such as text, stamps, highlight boxes, and page numbers. It does not currently support freehand pen drawing or interactive PDF comments.
Is the PDF Annotator free?
Yes. SmartTools PDF Annotator is free to use online.
Important note
This tool adds visible annotations to your PDF. It does not support interactive comments like Adobe PDF editors. Always review the final output before sharing.
Related tools
Try other useful SmartTools that are related to this tool.
PDF Compressor
Compress PDF files online for free with browser-based processing, adjustable quality settings, grayscale mode, and smaller file output for email, uploads, forms, and sharing.
Open tool โPDF to Word Converter
Convert PDF to Word (DOCX) online for free. Extract text from PDF or use OCR for scanned PDFs with fast browser-based processing.
Open tool โPDF Converter
Convert PDF to JPG or PNG images and combine images into a PDF online for free. Fast browser-based conversion with no unnecessary upload.
Open tool โPDF Merge
Merge multiple PDF files into one document with page reordering, drag-and-drop sorting, and fast client-side processing.
Open tool โPDF Page Editor
Rotate, reorder, delete, and extract PDF pages with an easy visual page editor.
Open tool โPDF Split
Split PDF files by page range, extract selected pages, or create smaller PDF documents instantly.
Open tool โ