Platen PDF
The PDF editor that doesn't ask for a card.
Platen PDF edits the text already inside your PDF — not a box on top of it. It signs, converts, merges, redacts and reads scanned pages, and it does all of it on your own computer. Free, for everyone.
Free software under the GNU AGPL v3 — read the source code.
Version 1.0.0 Size 140 MB For Windows 10 & 11, 64-bit Price $0.00
What it does
The features people actually pay for
Built for the documents most offices really have: contracts, letters and reports that started life in Word and were saved as a PDF.
Edit the text that's there
Click a paragraph and retype it. Platen PDF matches the font, rebuilds the line and reflows the paragraph so nothing runs off the page.
Sign it once, reuse it
Save a signature image per person, drop it on the page, resize it, then flatten the file so the signature can't be edited again.
Convert to Word and back
Export to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images or plain text — with real spreadsheet numbers you can sum, not text that looks like numbers.
Read scanned pages
Text recognition is built into the download. Nothing extra to install, no separate engine, no setup — scans become searchable in one click.
Pages, merged and split
Combine files, pull pages out, rotate, crop, insert, duplicate and reorder — with several documents open at once in tabs.
Redact and protect
True redaction removes the words from the file rather than drawing a black box over them. Passwords and permissions when you need them.
Why offline matters
Your documents never leave your computer
Most free PDF tools are websites. You upload a contract to a stranger's server, and you take their word for what happens to it next. Platen PDF is an application: it opens the file on your own disk and writes it back there.
Honest comparison
What you give up, and what you don't
Platen PDF does most of what a paid subscription does. It does not do everything, and pretending otherwise would waste your time.
| Capability | Platen PDF | Typical paid suite |
|---|---|---|
| Edit existing text in the page | Yes | Yes |
| Convert to Word, Excel, PowerPoint | Yes | Yes |
| OCR for scanned pages | Built in | Yes |
| Signature images, then flatten | Yes | Yes |
| Redaction, forms, merge, compare | Yes | Yes |
| Files stay on your PC | Always | Often cloud |
| Digital certificate signing and validation | No | Yes |
| Cloud storage and shared review | No | Yes |
| Cost | Free | Subscription |
Also worth knowing: opening Word, Excel or PowerPoint files needs Microsoft Office or LibreOffice on the PC. Exporting to those formats works without either. OCR currently recognises English.
Keep it free for everyone
Platen PDF is free because people chip in
There's no company here and no investors — one developer, and a program given away rather than sold. Donations pay for the domain, the bandwidth that carries a 140 MB download, and the code signing certificate that stops Windows warning people about an unknown publisher.
If Platen PDF saved you a subscription this month, consider passing a little of that along. If money's tight, use it anyway — that's the point.
Installing
Three steps, no administrator password
1. Extract the zip
Right-click the download and choose Extract All. Run it from the extracted folder, not from inside the zip.
2. Run Install Platen PDF
It installs into your own user profile, so it never asks for an administrator password or an IT ticket.
3. Click through the warning
Windows will say the publisher is unknown. Choose More info, then Run anyway — see the FAQ for why that appears.
Removing it is one click too: an uninstaller is placed next to the program and undoes everything the installer did.
Questions
Frequently asked
Is Platen PDF really free?
Yes. There is no trial, no watermark, no page limit, no account and no upsell. Donations are voluntary and change nothing about what you get.
Why does Windows warn me about an unknown publisher?
Because the download is not code-signed. A signing certificate costs several hundred dollars a year from a certificate authority, and paying for one is exactly what donations are for. Until then, choose More info and then Run anyway. The warning is about the absence of a paid certificate, not about anything found in the file.
Do my files get uploaded anywhere?
No. Platen PDF is a desktop application and every operation — editing, conversion, OCR, signing — happens on your own PC. The program makes no network connections of its own, and it keeps working with the internet disconnected.
Can it edit text that is already in a PDF?
Yes, and that is the feature it was built around. Click a paragraph and retype it; Platen PDF matches the existing font, redraws the line and rewraps the paragraph. It works best on PDFs exported from Word, which is what most office documents are. Rotated and vertical text is refused rather than mangled.
Does OCR need anything extra installed?
No. The recognition engine and its models are inside the download. Nothing to install separately and no configuration. It currently recognises English.
Which versions of Windows does it run on?
64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11. It needs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime, which both already include; if it is missing, the program says so and links to the free Microsoft installer. There is no macOS, Linux or ARM build.
Can I make it my default PDF application?
Yes. The installer adds Platen PDF to the Open with list, and File > Set as default PDF app takes you to the Windows screen where you confirm it. Windows deliberately does not let any program make itself the default without you choosing it.
Is it open source?
Yes. Platen PDF is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3, and the complete source is at github.com/david81te/Platen-PDF. You are free to read it, build it yourself, modify it and pass it on, provided anything you pass on stays under the same licence.
Can I use it at work?
Yes. It installs per-user with no administrator rights, writes nothing outside your user profile, and needs no network access — which is usually what a locked-down machine cares about.