How to Add Text to a PDF (Overlay Editing, Explained Honestly)

Quick answer: DocsAll's PDF Edit tool adds text by stamping new content on top of a page — overlay, not modification of existing text. Perfect for annotations, headers, and dates; for changing existing text, see the alternatives guide. Open PDF Edit & Annotate — everything runs locally in your browser, and files never leave your device.

Steps

1. Upload the PDF to the PDF Edit & Annotate tool.
2. Choose "Add text" and type your content (Chinese and English supported).
3. Set the page number and coordinates — X/Y in points, measured from the bottom-left corner.
4. Adjust font size, color, and opacity; preview and download.

Important notes

• Chinese text is rendered to a PNG and stamped as an image — it looks right but is not selectable or searchable; ASCII text is written as real text.
• Added content sits above the original page — the existing text layer is untouched.
• The coordinate origin is the bottom-left (Y grows upward), the opposite of screen coordinates — a common first-use mistake.

Common questions

Why can't I select the Chinese text I added? It is embedded as an image by design of the current implementation.

How do I add text to every page? Leave the page field empty to apply to all pages.