# RetypePDF

> Free browser-based editor for the text inside an existing PDF. Documents are
> never uploaded: all processing happens locally in the visitor's browser.

RetypePDF rewrites the text-drawing instructions inside a PDF's content stream,
so edited words genuinely replace the originals instead of being covered by a
white rectangle. Output stays selectable, searchable vector text, with no
watermark added.

## What it does
- Edit a line of existing text in a PDF, keeping its position, font and size
- Find and replace across every page, matching inside lines
- Update a line that repeats on many pages in a single change
- Apply the same replacements to many documents at once, returned as a ZIP
- Save named, colour-tagged sets of replacements for reuse
- Remove personal data so it is genuinely gone, not hidden under a black box

## What it cannot do
- **Scanned documents.** A scan is an image; there is no text in the file to
  rewrite. OCR is needed first, and RetypePDF does not do OCR.
- **Reflow.** Replacement text keeps the original line's position, so text much
  longer than what it replaces runs past where the line ended.
- **Some embedded fonts.** PDFs embed only the glyphs a document already uses.
  Where a font cannot draw a character being typed the edit is refused and the
  missing characters named, rather than rendering blank boxes.
- **CID/Type0 multi-byte fonts** are detected and reported as not editable.

## What it costs
Nothing. 20 documents a day, 5 a day in a batch, and the first
batch run free at any size. Beyond that the visitor is asked for one sentence of
feedback, which unlocks the rest of the day. There is no paid tier, no account,
no card and no email address.

## Privacy
Editing runs entirely in the browser. The server receives only a count of
documents processed — never a file name, never document content. Problem reports
are opt-in per report, and sending the document itself is a separate choice that
is never implied.

## API
There is a free HTTP endpoint for find-and-replace, with no key and no account:

    POST https://retypepdf.com/api/v1/replace
    {"pdf": "<base64>", "replacements": [{"find": "old", "replace": "new"}]}

It returns the edited PDF, also base64, together with how many occurrences were
found and how many were actually rewritten — those two numbers differ when an
edit was refused rather than written badly. Limited to 60 requests an
hour per address, 10485760 bytes per document.

Send a User-Agent header naming your client. The edge protection in front of
this endpoint rejects a few default library signatures, Python's urllib among
them, and any identifying string avoids it.

Unlike the browser tool, this endpoint necessarily receives the document. It is
not stored: it is decoded, edited and discarded inside the request. Machine
description: https://retypepdf.com/openapi.json

## Driving the page directly
Software operating the site in a browser can wait on state instead of guessing
from text. document.body carries a data-state attribute, which moves through
loading, ready, downloaded and error for a single document, and batch-running
then batch-done for a batch run. Alongside it: data-editable-lines, data-pages,
data-edits, data-batch-total and data-batch-edited.

Every control has a stable id and an accessible name, and status messages sit in
ARIA live regions. There is no CAPTCHA and no sign-in.

## Articles
- [The PDF Bug That Only Existed in the Browser](https://retypepdf.com/blog/the-bug-that-only-existed-in-the-browser/): Every test passed in Node. Every real user hit "Could not decompress stream". The cause: Node's zlib forgives trailing bytes, the browser's DecompressionStream does not.
- [Why Edited PDF Text Shows Empty Boxes](https://retypepdf.com/blog/why-edited-pdf-text-shows-empty-boxes/): You edit a word in a PDF. It renders as blank squares. Copy-paste gives the right letters. The font subset is missing the glyphs, and the fix is to refuse the edit.
- [How Text Replacement in a PDF Actually Works](https://retypepdf.com/blog/how-pdf-text-replacement-works/): A PDF page is a program that draws text. Replacing a word means finding the right drawing instruction, re-encoding your text in the font's own encoding, and knowing when to refuse.

## Pages
- [Change Text in a PDF — Free and In Your Browser](https://retypepdf.com/change-text-in-pdf/): Change any line of text in a PDF for free. Click a line, retype it, download. The old text is removed, not covered with a white box. Nothing is uploaded.
- [Edit an Invoice PDF — Fix a Name, Address or Reference](https://retypepdf.com/edit-invoice-pdf/): Fix a name, address, or reference on an invoice PDF in your browser. Invoices are machine-generated, which makes them among the most reliably editable PDFs.
- [Replace Text in a PDF — Free Find and Replace, No Upload](https://retypepdf.com/find-and-replace-pdf/): Replace text in a PDF free, in your browser. Find and replace across every page, matching inside lines, with nothing uploaded and nothing to install.
- [Batch Edit PDFs — Same Find and Replace Across Many Files](https://retypepdf.com/batch-edit-pdf/): Apply the same find-and-replace to dozens of PDFs at once, in your browser. Results come back as a ZIP with a per-file report.
- [Edit a PDF Without a Watermark — Free, Nothing Added](https://retypepdf.com/edit-pdf-without-watermark/): Edit PDF text and download it with no watermark, no branding and no trial stamp. Free for 20 documents a day.
- [Edit a PDF Without Signing Up — No Account, No Email](https://retypepdf.com/edit-pdf-without-signup/): Edit text in a PDF with no sign-up and no account. Twenty documents a day free; an email is only needed if you want more.
- [Edit a PDF Locally — Safe, Private, Nothing Uploaded](https://retypepdf.com/edit-pdf-offline/): Edit a PDF locally in your browser — safe for confidential documents because nothing is uploaded. Contracts, payslips and client files never leave your device.
- [Why You Cannot Edit a Scanned PDF (And What To Do)](https://retypepdf.com/edit-scanned-pdf/): Scanned PDFs contain images, not text, so there is nothing to edit. How to tell the difference and what your options are.
- [Remove Personal Information From a PDF — Properly](https://retypepdf.com/remove-personal-information-from-pdf/): Remove names, addresses and account numbers from a PDF so the text is truly deleted, not hidden behind a black box that can be copied out underneath.
- [PDF Text Edit Shows Empty Boxes — Why, and the Fix](https://retypepdf.com/pdf-text-edit-shows-boxes/): Empty squares after editing a PDF mean the embedded font is subsetted and has no glyph for the character you typed. What causes it and how to avoid it.
- [Edit a PDF on iPhone or Android — In the Browser](https://retypepdf.com/edit-pdf-on-phone/): Edit text in a PDF on iPhone or Android without installing an app. Works in the mobile browser, and the file never leaves your phone.
- [Change a Date or Reference Number on a PDF](https://retypepdf.com/change-date-on-pdf/): Change a date, order number or reference in a PDF. Numbers reuse glyphs the document already has, which makes them among the most reliable edits.
- [A Free Alternative to Acrobat for Editing PDF Text](https://retypepdf.com/free-alternative-to-acrobat/): Free alternative to Adobe Acrobat for editing text in a PDF. No subscription, no install, nothing uploaded. Honest about what Acrobat still does better.
- [Free PDF Editor — Edit PDF Text Free, No Account, No Watermark](https://retypepdf.com/free-pdf-editor/): Free PDF editor that edits the real text in your document. Edit PDF free with no account, no watermark and no upload — everything runs in your browser.
- [Edit a PDF Online Without Downloading Software](https://retypepdf.com/edit-pdf-online-without-downloading/): Edit PDF text online with no software to download and no upload either. The editor runs in the browser tab, so the document never leaves your computer.
- [A Smallpdf Alternative for Editing Text — Free, Nothing Uploaded](https://retypepdf.com/smallpdf-alternative/): A free Smallpdf alternative for editing PDF text, with no upload, no account and no task limit. Honest about the many things Smallpdf does that this does not.
- [An iLovePDF Alternative for Editing Text — Free, No Upload](https://retypepdf.com/ilovepdf-alternative/): A free iLovePDF alternative for editing the text inside a PDF, with nothing uploaded and no account. Clear about what iLovePDF still does better.
- [Is It Safe to Edit a PDF Online? What Actually Happens to Your File](https://retypepdf.com/is-it-safe-to-edit-a-pdf-online/): Is it safe to edit a PDF online? It depends on whether the tool uploads your file. What happens when it does, what to check before trusting one, and when it does not matter.

## French
- [Modifier le Texte d’un PDF — Gratuit, Sans Inscription](https://retypepdf.com/fr/modifier-texte-pdf/): Modifiez le texte d’un PDF gratuitement dans votre navigateur. Le texte est réellement réécrit, pas masqué par un rectangle blanc. Aucun fichier n’est envoyé.
- [Modifier une Facture PDF — Corriger un Nom ou une Adresse](https://retypepdf.com/fr/modifier-facture-pdf/): Corrigez un nom, une adresse ou une référence sur une facture PDF, directement dans le navigateur. Les factures sont générées par logiciel, donc parmi les PDF les plus fiables à modifier.
- [Modifier un PDF Gratuitement, Sans Inscription ni Filigrane](https://retypepdf.com/fr/modifier-pdf-gratuit-sans-inscription/): Modifiez un PDF gratuitement, sans créer de compte et sans filigrane sur le résultat. 20 documents par jour, aucune information demandée pour commencer.
- [Modifier un PDF Sans l’Envoyer sur Internet](https://retypepdf.com/fr/modifier-pdf-sans-envoyer-fichier/): Modifiez un PDF sans l’envoyer nulle part. Tout le traitement a lieu dans votre navigateur : les documents confidentiels ne quittent pas votre appareil.
- [Rechercher et Remplacer du Texte dans un PDF](https://retypepdf.com/fr/rechercher-remplacer-pdf/): Recherchez et remplacez du texte dans tout un PDF, gratuitement. Fonctionne à l’intérieur des lignes, sur toutes les pages, sans envoyer votre fichier.
- [Supprimer des Données Personnelles d’un PDF — Réellement](https://retypepdf.com/fr/supprimer-donnees-personnelles-pdf/): Supprimez noms, adresses et numéros de compte d’un PDF pour que le texte soit réellement effacé, et non caché derrière un rectangle noir qu’il suffit de copier.
- [Modifier Plusieurs PDF d’un Coup — Remplacement par Lot](https://retypepdf.com/fr/modifier-plusieurs-pdf/): Appliquez le même rechercher-remplacer à des dizaines de PDF en une fois, dans votre navigateur. Les résultats reviennent en ZIP avec un rapport par fichier.
- [Éditeur PDF Gratuit — Modifier un PDF Gratuitement, Sans Filigrane](https://retypepdf.com/fr/editeur-pdf-gratuit/): Éditeur PDF gratuit qui modifie le vrai texte du document. Sans compte, sans filigrane et sans envoi de fichier — tout s’exécute dans votre navigateur.
- [Modifier un PDF en Ligne Sans Logiciel à Installer](https://retypepdf.com/fr/modifier-pdf-en-ligne-sans-logiciel/): Modifiez le texte d’un PDF en ligne sans logiciel à installer et sans envoyer le fichier. L’éditeur s’exécute dans l’onglet, le document ne quitte pas votre ordinateur.
- [Modifier un PDF en Ligne, Est-ce Sûr ? Ce qui Arrive à Votre Fichier](https://retypepdf.com/fr/modifier-un-pdf-en-ligne-est-ce-sur/): Modifier un PDF en ligne est-il sûr ? Cela dépend de si l’outil envoie votre fichier. Ce qui se passe alors, quoi vérifier avant de faire confiance, et quand cela n’importe pas.