This adds marks — it never removes or hides anything.A highlight, a sticky note or a line of typed text all sit on top of the page; the original content underneath is completely untouched, still selectable and still there if you print or copy it. If what you actually need is to permanently cut something out of a document, this is the wrong tool — Redact PDF does that instead. Your file is only ever handled in memory here, never written to our disk.
By ShinobiTools Team · Last updated: August 2026
Marking up a contract for a colleague, leaving yourself a reminder on a form, or writing a quick note in the margin — upload the PDF, pick Highlight, Note or Text, and drag it onto the page. Nothing underneath ever changes; you're only ever adding, never removing.
Highlight draws a translucent layer over a passage of text — the text itself stays exactly where it was, selectable and searchable, the same as marking a printed page with a highlighter pen. Note pins a small sticky-note icon to a spot on the page; hover or click it in a PDF reader to read the text you typed. Text writes your typed words directly onto the page as visible content, readable in any viewer without needing annotation support at all.
These are opposite operations, and it matters which one you reach for. Annotating adds something on top of a page and leaves everything underneath intact — that is what this tool does. Redacting cuts content out of the file for good, so it can no longer be read, selected or recovered. If the goal is "mark this so someone notices it," you want this tool; if the goal is "make sure nobody can ever read this again," you want Redact PDF.
Your PDF is processed entirely in memory on our own machine and handed back in the response — it is never written to our disk for this tool, and nothing is kept afterwards.
Marked something up and need it gone for good, not just flagged? Redact PDF cuts it out of the file itself. Want to add a drawn, uploaded or typed signature to the same document? Sign PDF places it the same way — drag it onto the page.
Upload it, pick Highlight, Note or Text, then drag a box onto the page. Highlight works straight away; Note and Text ask you to type the text first. Press Annotate and download the result.
This tool only adds marks on top of the page — a highlight, a sticky note, a line of text. The original content underneath stays exactly as it was. Redact PDF does the opposite: it cuts content out of the file for good. Use this one to mark something up, use Redact to actually remove it.
Yes. Switch between the three tabs as often as you like before pressing Annotate — each placement remembers its own type.
Yes. A highlight is drawn as a translucent layer over the text; the text itself is untouched underneath, so selecting, copying and searching all keep working exactly as before.
Real annotations. Highlights and notes are standard PDF annotation objects that any PDF reader recognises and can show or hide; the typed text is placed as actual page content, visible in every viewer without needing annotation support at all.
25 pages per file. There is no account, no watermark and no daily cap.