More than 30 years after Adobe introduced it, the Portable Document Format (PDF) remains a staple for archiving and publishing. Its ubiquity means that commercial PDF software is popular, yet free options exist for basic editing tasks.

A selection of web-based tools can handle common operations such as editing text and images, annotating documents, merging multiple files into one, or splitting them into smaller documents. TinyWow offers a range of functions including editing text and adding highlights, iLovePDF excels in merging PDFs, whereas Smallpdf provides the means to split large documents into smaller ones.

While these tools are user-friendly and accessible, it’s crucial to use discretion with sensitive information. Cloud-based edits should be handled with caution due to potential security risks.