Edit text and images
Change any line, swap an image or fix a number, right in the page.
NewVersion 1.2.4 is out
The desktop PDF editoryou already know.
A free, open-source desktop app for Windows and macOS. Edit, sign, convert, organize, compress and protect PDFs in a familiar workspace, offline, with no account and no subscription.
- Free, all of itNo trial, no paywalled buttons, no bill
- A real desktop appInstalls on Windows and macOS, works offline
- Open sourceAGPL-3.0, built on BentoPDF
- No accountYour files never leave your computer
Features
A complete PDF workspace.Every tool included.
Edit, sign, convert, organize, compress and protect, with more than 100 tools from BentoPDF. No feature sits behind a paywall, because there isn’t one.
Sign here
Fill and sign
Forms, signatures, digital certificates and timestamps.
PDF
Convert, both ways
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images, ebooks, email and 30+ formats to PDF. Back out to Word, Excel, images, Markdown and JSON.
Organize pages
Combine, split, reorder, rotate, insert and extract.
Scan and OCR
Turn scans into searchable, selectable text. English works offline.
Compress
Make large PDFs smaller, one file or a whole batch.
Redact for real
Redacted text and graphics are deleted from the page. Sanitize strips the metadata too.
Protect
Passwords, permissions, flattening and signature checks.
Compare
See what changed between two versions of a document.
The toolbox
117 tools.All of them free.
Every tool BentoPDF has, grouped the way Acrobat groups them, searchable from one sidebar.
- Edit21
- Create a PDF33
- Export a PDF16
- Organize & manage28
- Optimize & repair10
- Protect9
See every tool by name
Edit
- PDF Editor
- Edit PDF Text
- Edit Bookmarks
- Table of Contents
- Page Numbers
- Add Page Labels
- Bates Numbering
- Add Watermark
- Header & Footer
- Invert Colors
- Scanner Effect
- Adjust Colors
- Background Color
- Change Text Color
- Sign PDF
- Add Stamps
- Remove Annotations
- Crop PDF
- PDF Form Filler
- Create PDF Form
- Remove Blank Pages
Create a PDF
- Images to PDF
- JPG to PDF
- PNG to PDF
- WebP to PDF
- SVG to PDF
- BMP to PDF
- HEIC to PDF
- TIFF to PDF
- Text to PDF
- Markdown to PDF
- JSON to PDF
- ODT to PDF
- CSV to PDF
- RTF to PDF
- Word to PDF
- Excel to PDF
- PowerPoint to PDF
- XPS to PDF
- MOBI to PDF
- EPUB to PDF
- FB2 to PDF
- CBZ to PDF
- WPD to PDF
- WPS to PDF
- XML to PDF
- Pages to PDF
- ODG to PDF
- ODS to PDF
- ODP to PDF
- PUB to PDF
- VSD to PDF
- PSD to PDF
- Email to PDF
Export a PDF
- PDF to JPG
- PDF to PNG
- PDF to WebP
- PDF to BMP
- PDF to TIFF
- PDF to CBZ
- PDF to SVG
- PDF to CSV
- PDF to Excel
- PDF to Greyscale
- PDF to JSON
- PDF to Word
- Extract Images
- PDF to Markdown
- Prepare PDF for AI
- PDF to Text
Organize & manage
- OCR PDF
- Merge PDF
- Alternate & Mix Pages
- Duplex Collate
- Organize & Duplicate
- PDF Overlay
- Add Attachments
- Extract Attachments
- Edit Attachments
- PDF Multi Tool
- PDF OCG
- Extract Tables
- Split PDF
- Divide Pages
- Extract Pages
- Delete Pages
- Add Blank Page
- Reverse Pages
- Rotate PDF
- Rotate by Custom Degrees
- N-Up PDF
- PDF Booklet
- Combine to Single Page
- View Metadata
- Edit Metadata
- PDFs to ZIP
- Compare PDFs
- Posterize PDF
Optimize & repair
- Compress PDF
- PDF to PDF/A
- Fix Page Size
- Linearize PDF
- Page Dimensions
- Remove Restrictions
- Repair PDF
- Rasterize PDF
- Deskew PDF
- Font to Outline
Protect
- Protect PDF
- Sanitize PDF
- Unlock PDF
- Flatten PDF
- Remove Metadata
- Change Permissions
- Digital Signature
- Validate Signature
- Timestamp PDF
A quick tour
Familiar from the first click.Lighter on every one after.
A Home that knows your files. Recent and starred files with a preview of their first page, and the tools you reach for most, one click away.
Every tool, one search away. The All tools sidebar groups every tool the way Acrobat does. Type a few letters and it finds the one you mean.
Tools open beside your document. No separate tool pages. Each tool works on the open document, and the result opens in a new tab.
Edit text and images in the page. Fix a typo, swap a logo or move a paragraph, right where it sits on the page.
Edit, Convert and E-Sign tabs. The same tabs and floating quick-action toolbar you know, with a right rail for comments, bookmarks, thumbnails and find.
Your shortcuts still work. Paperwing mirrors Acrobat’s keyboard shortcuts, including the single-key tool accelerators, on by default.
Switching is easy
Already know Acrobat?Then you know Paperwing.
The same tabbed workspace, the same All tools panel and Edit, Convert and E-Sign tabs, and the same keyboard shortcuts. What’s missing is the sign-in prompt, the trial pop-up and the monthly bill.
Single-key tools, on by default
VSelect
HHand
SComment
UHighlight
DDraw
XText box
- OpenCtrlO
- FindCtrlF
- ThumbnailsF4
- Full screenCtrlL
- Read modeCtrlH
- Search toolsShiftCtrlP
- Print, with a previewCtrlP
- Reopen tabShiftCtrlT
| Feature | Paperwing | Acrobat Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, forever | Subscription |
| Account required | No | Yes |
| Works offline | Yes1 | Partly |
| Upsell and AI pop-ups | None | Frequent |
| Open source | Yes, AGPL-3.0 | No |
| Portable, no install (Windows) | Yes | No |
1 A few tools fetch their engine once on first use. See Privacy.
Paperwing vs Acrobat in detail
Paperwing is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Adobe.
Private by design
Your files stayon your computer.
Every tool runs on your machine, in open-source engines compiled to WebAssembly. Paperwing has no accounts, no analytics and no telemetry, and it works with the Wi-Fi off.
Processed on your computer
Every tool runs locally, in open-source engines compiled to WebAssembly. Nothing is uploaded.
No analytics, no telemetry
Paperwing doesn’t count what you open, what you click or how long you stay.
No account, ever
There is nothing to sign in to. Open the app and work.
Redaction that removes
Redacted text and graphics are deleted from the page, not covered with a box.
The only times Paperwing goes online
Listed in full, so you never have to wonder.
- 01Update check
Asks GitHub Releases for a new version. Downloads nothing until you choose. You can turn it off.
- 02Office converters, once
Word, Excel and PowerPoint to PDF fetch the LibreOffice engine (about 75 MB) the first time, checked against a SHA-256 hash.
- 03OCR in other languages
English works offline. Other languages download their data, a few MB each, on first use.
- 04Timestamps
Contact the timestamp server you pick, sending only a hash of the document.
Paperwing is a desktop app. Send yourself this page and download it on your Windows PC or Mac.
Send it to my computerDownload
Get Paperwing.It’s free.
Version 1.2.4, released Nov 1, 2026. For Windows and macOS, with no account and nothing to sign up for.
- Windows
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
- macOS
- macOS 12 Monterey or later
Installer
RecommendedStart-menu entry, opens your PDFs, and updates itself when you say so.
Portable
Nothing to install. Run it from any folder or a USB stick; settings stay beside it.
The first time you open it
- Run the installer, or unzip the portable version and run Paperwing.exe.
- If Windows protected your PC appears, click More info, then Run anyway. Paperwing isn’t code-signed yet, and Windows shows this for any unsigned app.
Apple Silicon
Your MacFor Macs with an M1, M2, M3 or M4 chip, and later.
Intel
Your MacFor Macs with an Intel processor.
The first time you open it
- Open the DMG and drag Paperwing into Applications.
- Right-click Paperwing in Applications, choose Open, then Open again. You only do this once.
If macOS says the app “is damaged and can’t be opened”, run this once in Terminal, then open it again:
xattr -cr /Applications/Paperwing.appNot sure which Mac you have? Apple menu, then About This Mac: “Chip: Apple” means Apple Silicon.
No Linux download yet
Paperwing is built with Electron, so it builds for Linux from source. A packaged version will come if enough people want one.
SHA256SUMS.txtOpen source under AGPL-3.0Official downloads: this site and GitHub only
Is Paperwing really free?
Yes. Every feature is free, with no trial, no account and no paid tier. Paperwing is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence, and the code is on GitHub.
Is Paperwing the same as PaperWingPDF?
No. Paperwing is a desktop app for Windows and macOS, open source on GitHub, made by Rohan Vijaykumar. PaperWingPDF (paperwingpdf.com) is a separate set of browser-based PDF tools by a different developer, and the two projects aren’t connected.
Where can I download Paperwing safely?
Only from paperwingapp.com or the Releases page of github.com/rohanvijaykumar/paperwing. Both link to the same files, published by the project, with SHA-256 checksums you can check.
Which file should I download?
On Windows, the installer is the one most people want: it adds a Start-menu entry, can open your PDFs and updates itself. The portable zip runs without installing, from any folder or a USB stick. On a Mac, pick Apple Silicon for M1, M2, M3 or M4 Macs and Intel for older ones. The download button picks for you.
Why does Windows or macOS warn me when I open it?
Paperwing isn’t code-signed yet, and both systems warn about any unsigned app. On Windows, click More info, then Run anyway. On a Mac, right-click Paperwing in Applications and choose Open. You only do this once. The full source is public, and you can build it yourself.
Does it work offline?
Yes. The exceptions are one-time downloads: the Office conversion engine, and OCR in languages other than English. Everything else, including the PDF engines, comes with the app.
Does redaction actually remove the content?
Yes. When you apply a redaction, the text and graphics under the marked area are deleted from the page itself, not just covered. To strip metadata such as the author and title too, use the Sanitize tool.
Do I need LibreOffice for Word, Excel and PowerPoint?
No. The first time you convert an Office file, Paperwing downloads the engine once (about 75 MB) from the project’s GitHub Releases and verifies it against a SHA-256 hash. You don’t install anything yourself.
How do updates work?
Paperwing checks GitHub Releases every time it starts and every two hours while it’s open, and tells you when there’s a new version. Nothing downloads until you choose Update. You can turn the check off in Preferences.
Is there a Linux version?
Not as a download yet. Paperwing is built with Electron, so it can be built for Linux from source. If you’d like a packaged Linux build, say so on GitHub.
Is Paperwing affiliated with Adobe?
No. Paperwing is an independent project, built on the open-source BentoPDF. It mirrors Acrobat’s layout and shortcuts so it feels familiar, and isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by Adobe.
Open your next PDF
in Paperwing.
Free for Windows and macOS. No account, no subscription, nothing to sign up for.