ToolboxHow to edit and sign a PDF in Chrome without uploading it
Open the PDF in Chrome, click the Toolbox icon and press Open in Toolbox (or drop the file into the Toolbox PDF editor). Fill in the form fields, add text with the Text tool, then press Sign to draw, type or upload your signature and click where it goes, and press Download. The file stays in your browser the whole time; it's uploaded only if you choose Save to cloud.
Signing needs Pro ($30/month or $300/year). Filling in, adding text and annotating are free, with up to 3 saved PDFs a day on the free plan.
Step by step
- Add Toolbox to Chrome. Install Toolbox from the Chrome Web Store, pin it to the toolbar, and sign in with Google or your email. The free plan needs no card.
- Open the PDF in Toolbox. Open the PDF in a Chrome tab, click the Toolbox icon, go to the PDF editor and press Open in Toolbox. For a file on your computer, choose or drop it in the side panel's PDF editor, or on the PDF editor page.
- Fill it in and add text. Click into the form fields to fill them in. Use Text (T) to type anywhere on a page, Whiteout (W) to cover something before typing over it, and the stamps for a check mark, a cross or today's date.
- Sign it. Press Sign (S). Draw your signature with a mouse, trackpad or finger, type your name in one of five styles, or upload a picture of it (Remove the white background cleans up a photo of paper). Press Use it, click on the page where it goes, and drag the corners to resize it.
- Download it. Press Download (Ctrl+S). Download with options… can also flatten the form fields, so what you filled in can't be changed.
The full version is on the web: PDF editor in Toolbox, edit, sign, organize and convert.
Good to know
- The PDF is handled in your browser: Toolbox fetches a web PDF straight from its site and keeps your edits in this browser. It goes to our servers only if you press Save to cloud, which comes with a subscription.
- Tick Save for next time to keep your signature in this browser for the next document.
- To open PDFs from websites in Toolbox by themselves, turn on Open PDFs from websites in Toolbox in the side panel. It's off by default, and any PDF can go back to Chrome's viewer from the File menu.
- For PDFs on your computer opened in Chrome (file://), turn on Allow access to file URLs for Toolbox in chrome://extensions.
- On the free plan, each download counts toward the 3 saved PDFs a day, which reset at midnight UTC. Printing and autosaving in the browser don't count.
- The same editor highlights, comments, reorders and rotates pages, merges, splits and compresses, and adds or removes a password; Pro adds conversions to Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Questions
Something else? Write to us.
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No, unless you choose Save to cloud. Opening, editing, signing and downloading all happen in your browser, and the file is kept there between visits.
Can I sign a PDF for free?
No: signatures are part of Pro. On the free plan you can fill in forms, type text, highlight, comment and draw, and download the result.
What kind of signature does it add?
A picture of your signature or initials, placed on the page like signing a printed copy. It doesn't add a certificate-based digital signature.
Can I fill in PDF forms?
Yes. Form fields in the PDF can be clicked and filled in with the Select tool, and Download with options… can flatten them when you're done.
Does it work on Mac, Windows and Chromebooks?
Toolbox runs in Google Chrome 116 or later on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. It isn't available for phones, where Chrome doesn't support extensions.