Online PDF viewer

Most browsers can open PDFs, but not always the way you need:

• On a shared or work computer where you cannot install a PDF app.
• On a Chromebook, tablet or phone where downloaded PDFs open in an awkward app or not at all.
• When a file opens in the wrong program by default and you just want to look at it.
• For a quick check of an attachment before you forward it, print it or sign it.

This viewer renders each page in your browser with the same engine many browsers use internally, so pages look as their author intended, including fonts, images and vector graphics.

On high-resolution screens the page is rendered at a higher pixel density, so small print stays sharp when you zoom. Large pages and high zoom levels take a moment longer to draw.

The PDF is opened only in your browser. It is not uploaded, stored or shared, and it disappears when you remove it or close the tab. That makes the viewer suitable for bank statements, medical results, contracts and anything else you would rather not send to a website.

Password-protected PDFs need the password to open. If you know it and want an unlocked copy, use Remove PDF password.

Viewing is often the first step. Once you have checked the document, you can:

• Sign PDF to add your signature.
• Fill PDF form if it has fillable fields.
• Compress PDF if it is too large to email.
• Split PDF to save only the pages you need.
• PDF to Word to edit the text.
• PDF to text to copy all the text at once.

• The file will not open. It may be damaged, for example from an interrupted download. Try Repair PDF.
• Pages look blank or slow to appear. Very large scanned pages take longer to render; wait a moment, or zoom out.
• Text is too small on a phone. Zoom in with + and scroll inside the viewer; the page keeps its sharpness.
• You need to search the text. Scanned PDFs contain only images. Make them searchable with OCR PDF.

PDF was designed so a document looks identical on any screen and printer. The file carries its fonts (or a precise description of them), the exact position of every character and image, and the page size. That is why a PDF of a form or a contract keeps its layout on a phone, a Mac and a Windows PC, unlike a word-processor file that can reflow when a font is missing.

The flip side is that PDFs are not meant for easy editing. A viewer like this one shows the page faithfully, and the separate tools linked above handle changes such as signing, filling, splitting and converting.