QuireHow to edit a PDF on Windows without Acrobat
Short answer: start with Microsoft Edge, which is already your PDF reader on Windows 10 and 11. It fills in forms, adds text, notes and highlights, and saves a copy. For moving, deleting or combining pages, add a free desktop app such as PDF24 Creator or PDFsam Basic. To change the PDF’s own words, Word can convert it into an editable document.
Updated 15 October 2026. Edge steps follow Microsoft’s Edge guide; Edge’s PDF reader changed in recent versions, so buttons may differ.
Edit a PDF with Microsoft Edge
- Open the PDF in Edge
Double-click the PDF. Microsoft says Edge is the default PDF reader on Windows 10 and 11.
- Fill in form fields
Select Edit in the toolbar at the top, then click the blank fields and type.
- Add text and notes
Select Add text and click where the text should go. Select Add notes to add text, images and shapes.
- Save a copy
Select Save, choose where to save the PDF and give it a name, or press Ctrl+Shift+S to save a copy.
Edge also has Read aloud (Ctrl+Shift+G) and rotates the view with F9. Microsoft’s pages describe drawing tools that you can use to sign, but no separate signature tool.
What Edge can’t do, and free tools that can
- Move, delete, extract or combine pages. PDF24 Creator is a free Windows app that does all of these offline; its makers say files are not uploaded. PDFsam Basic is free and open source, and merges, splits, extracts and rotates. See how to combine PDFs without uploading them.
- Change the words already in the PDF. Open Word, choose File › Open and pick the PDF. Word makes an editable copy and leaves the PDF unchanged. Microsoft says it works best for mostly-text documents and may not match the layout exactly. LibreOffice Draw, which is free, can also open and edit PDFs. See why you can’t edit the text in a PDF.
- XFA forms, the kind that show only a “Please wait…” message. Microsoft’s documentation for Edge’s earlier PDF reader lists XFA as unsupported, and we haven’t tested the current one; the free Adobe Acrobat Reader is the reliable choice. See what the “Please wait” message means.
Adobe’s own free Acrobat Reader adds comments, highlights and sticky notes and fills and signs forms. Adobe says editing a PDF’s text and images needs a paid Acrobat subscription.
Edit a PDF in Chrome with Quire PDF
If you use Chrome, Quire PDF is our free extension. It does most of the Edge list plus page tools, in one place:
- highlights, notes, text, drawings and pictures on the page;
- filling standard form fields, and a typed or drawn signature you can save and reuse;
- reordering and removing pages, adding another PDF, and exporting selected pages;
- a local library with a recovery copy after each edit.
Open the PDF with the Quire PDF toolbar icon, make your changes, and choose Save a copy (Ctrl+S). The original file is never overwritten. Like Edge, it adds to the page and doesn’t rewrite the original text. It has no OCR, no secure redaction and no certificate-based signing, and it doesn’t support XFA forms.
Questions
Does Edge overwrite my original PDF?
Microsoft’s pages describe saving a copy: you choose a location and a name. To be safe, give the edited file a new name.
Is there a free way to black out text for good?
Drawing a box over text hides it on screen but leaves the text in the file. Use a tool that offers real redaction, and check the result by trying to select or search the hidden text.