How to edit a PDF on a Chromebook

Short answer: you already have a PDF editor. Double-click the PDF in the Files app and it opens in the Gallery app, where you can add text, highlight, draw, and rotate or reorder pages. Then choose Save.

What neither Gallery nor most free tools can do is rewrite the text that is already in the PDF. They add things on top of the page. For notes, images, combining PDFs or a library with recovery, an extension such as Quire PDF helps.

Updated 14 October 2026. ChromeOS steps follow Google’s Chromebook help; menus can change between ChromeOS versions.

What a Chromebook does on its own

Gallery app: PDFs open here by default. Google lists adding text, highlights and freehand drawing, filling forms, signing, and rotating and reordering pages.
Chrome’s PDF viewer: has a pen and highlighter too. Google’s Chromebook help says you can’t add text annotations to PDFs in the Chrome browser, so for typing on a page, use Gallery.
Not included: changing the PDF’s existing words, and secure redaction.

Edit a PDF with the Gallery app

Open the PDF from the Files app
Open the Launcher, then Files. Find the PDF and double-click it. It opens in Gallery unless you have changed the default.
Add text
Choose Text in the menu at the top, then click where the text should go and type.
Highlight or draw
Choose Annotate, then the pen, highlighter or eraser. A touchscreen or stylus works as well as a mouse.
Move or fix what you added
Use the Select tool to move, resize, rotate or delete drawings, signatures and text boxes. Undo and Redo are at the top.
Rotate or reorder pages
Open the side panel with the arrow at the top left. Use the Rotate button next to a page thumbnail, or drag a thumbnail up or down to move the page. Ctrl+↑ and Ctrl+↓ move it too.
Save
Choose Save at the top right. To save your edits as a new file instead, use the arrow beside Save. That is the safer choice if you might want the original back.

Google warns that drawing a box over text in Gallery or Chrome’s viewer hides it but doesn’t redact it: the text is still in the file. For anything sensitive, use a dedicated redaction tool.

If you would rather PDFs open in the Chrome browser, right-click a PDF in Files and choose Open file › Change default › View, as Google’s help describes. In Chrome’s viewer, choose Draw for the pen and highlighter; Google’s Chrome help says that on a Chromebook you then choose Save to keep your changes. The steps for Chrome on other computers are in how to annotate a PDF in Chrome.

Edit a PDF with Quire PDF

Quire PDF is our extension. It runs in Chrome, so it installs on a Chromebook like any other extension. We tested it in Chrome on a Mac, not on a Chromebook; if anything misbehaves, please report it. It needs Chrome 154 or later.

Open the PDF in Quire PDF
Click the Quire PDF icon in Chrome’s toolbar (pin it from the puzzle-piece Extensions menu if you don’t see it) and choose Open a PDF, or drop the file on the page. For a PDF on a website, right-click the link and choose Open PDF in Quire.
Pick a tool
Highlight marks selected text. Note adds a comment. Text places new text. Draw is freehand. Image inserts a picture.
Tidy up the pages if needed
Open Manage pages to reorder or remove pages, bring in pages from another PDF, or export only the pages you select.
Save a copy
Save a copy downloads the edited PDF. Your original file is never overwritten.

Quire PDF with a document open and the annotation toolbar: Note, Sign, Highlight, Text, Draw, Image — The Quire PDF toolbar: Note, Sign, Highlight, Text, Draw and Image, with Save a copy at the top right.

What Quire PDF adds to Gallery

Comments (notes) and pictures on the page.
A typed signature as well as a drawn one, both saved for reuse.
Combining PDFs and exporting only the pages you choose.
A local library of your documents and a recovery copy after each edit, so you can pick up unfinished work.
Edits always go to a new copy, never over the original.

What it doesn’t do

It adds to the page. It doesn’t change or replace the original text.
No OCR for scanned pages.
No secure redaction. As with Gallery, covering text doesn’t remove it from the file.
No certificate-based digital signing. A signature is a visual mark.
XFA forms and PDF scripts aren’t supported. Files over 100 MB can’t be opened.
Your library lives in your Chrome profile and isn’t synced or backed up. Keep the copy you save.

Other options

An Android PDF app, if your Chromebook can install apps from Google Play. Google notes that the Play Store is only available on some Chromebooks, and that work or school Chromebooks might not allow it.
A full PDF editor, if you need to change the words already in the document. Annotation tools, including Gallery and Quire PDF, can’t.

Questions

Can I change the existing text in a PDF on a Chromebook?

Not with the built-in tools. Gallery and Chrome’s viewer add text, highlights and drawings on top of the page, and Quire PDF works the same way. You can cover old text and type over it, but the original words are still in the file.

Why can’t I add text to a PDF in Chrome on my Chromebook?

Google’s Chromebook help says text annotations aren’t available in the Chrome browser. Open the PDF from the Files app so it opens in Gallery, and use its Text tool.

More guides

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