Resources » Annotating PDFs (How To's and Tutorials) » How to Add a Textbox to a PDF

Step-by-Step Tutorial to Insert a Textbox in a PDF Online

Textboxes in digital documents are exactly what they sound like: transparent boxes that contain lines of text. Textboxes are fairly versatile in their use. They can act as annotations for marking up or putting comments on a document. You can also use text boxes to quickly add new information or text to a document that may have been missing. 

So how do you add a textbox to a PDF document? PDF.Live’s online editor allows you to add as many textboxes as you’d like entirely in your browser. In this guide, we’ll be showing you how to add textboxes to your PDFs. 

Add a Textbox to PDF Online

  1. First, head to the PDF.Live editor and upload your PDF.
screenshot showing pdf live editor for how to add a text box to a pdf

To convert your PDF to an editable PDF, you can either drag and drop your PDF into the editor or click on it in your file browser. Once you’ve uploaded it, select Edit PDF to get started. 

2. Navigate to the Comment tab and select Textbox

screenshot showing how to add a text box to a pdf with pdf live online editor

3. Click on the PDF where you’d like your textbox to be.

screenshot showing how someone added 'new deal' text box to a pdf online

Once you insert a textbox in the PDF, you can then type the text that will be contained within the box. You can also adjust the dimensions of the box by clicking and dragging its outer dimensions. Use the hand tool to adjust the position of the textbox in your document. 

4. Right-click the textbox to adjust its formatting settings.

If you want to change the color of the text or the border of the box, you can right-click the textbox and select Properties

From here, you can see various options for adjusting the appearance of the box, the font size and color, as well as the author settings in case you’re using textboxes to annotate or edit a document. 

Adjust your textboxes however you see fit to suit your document needs better! If you need to go back and edit the text contained within your textbox, select the hand tool and double-click the textbox to edit the text. You can only edit the text this way in textboxes that you’ve created. Editing the text in your PDF is a different process