Check, edit & sign PDFs

You can use the Gallery app on your Chromebook to view PDFs and edit them. You can:

• Fill out PDF forms.
• Add text annotations.
• Add highlights.
• Sign docs with free-hand annotations.

Open a PDF with the Gallery app

1. At the bottom left of your screen, select the Launcher .
2. Open Files .
3. On the left, choose where your PDF is saved.
4. To open your PDF, double-click on it.

View, edit & print PDFs

You can easily navigate or go to a specific page on your PDF with the use of the side panel. To open the side panel, at the top left, select the arrow .

View PDF info

1. At the top right of the PDF, click More .
2. Select Get info.

Fit to page

To automatically fit the page to the window:

1. At the top menu bar, clickto open the zoom controls.
2. Select Fit to width.

Zoom in or out on your page

1. At the top menu bar, clickto open the zoom controls.
2. Select Zoom in or Zoom out.

Tips:

• Hold Ctrl and + to zoom in or Ctrl and - to zoom out.
• Hold Ctrl while scrolling up or down with a mouse.
• If the computer has a touch screen or trackpad, use pinch gestures.

Print a page

At the top menu bar, select Print .

Rotate a page

You can rotate any page from the sidebar by opening it using the icon. You can then find the page you’d like to rotate and select the Rotate button located next to the page’s thumbnail.

Rename a PDF

Press Ctrl + Enter or click the filename at the top of the window. The filename will now become editable for renaming.

Edit a PDF

At the top right, select Save. To save new edits as a new file, press the arrow on the right side. To undo an edit, select Undo . To redo an edit, select Redo .

Make annotations

You can easily add text or drawings to your PDFs, or sign docs using free-hand annotations.

To add text anywhere in your PDF, in the menu at the top of your screen, select Text . To add drawings and sign docs, select Annotateand make your edits with the pen, highlighter, and eraser tools.

Create & save a signature

When you create a signature and save it to the Gallery app, you can:

• Insert your signature in any PDF
• Sign in multiple spots to save time
• Use either the same signature or choose from multiple signatures

Important: This feature is for convenience and doesn’t provide signature verification or security.

1. On your Chromebook, open a PDF.
2. To view or create your signature, in the tool bar at the top, select the signature button .
3. With a mouse, your finger, or a stylus, draw your signature.
4. To insert your signature into the PDF, select Place signature .
   • To delete a signature from your Chromebook, select Delete signature .
   • To create new signatures, select Draw another signature.
   • Your signature will be saved to be used in other docs when you open a new PDF and click on the signature tool.

Use the selection tool

If you want to move a signature or make adjustments to changes you made with the other edit tools, you can use the select tool . With the selection tool, you can rotate, resize, move, or delete signatures, drawings, or text boxes already added to the PDF.

1. In a PDF, choose the Select tool .
2. To select an item, click or tap it, or drag a rectangle that includes the items you want to select.
   • To resize the selection, drag a corner of the selection box.
   • To rotate the selection, at the top of the selection box, select and drag the rotation handle. The rotation handle is the dot connected above the selection box.
   • To move the selection, drag the selection box to a new location.

Tips:

• To edit or move text annotations, go to the “Add text” tool.
• If you have deselected a signature from a PDF, you have to select the signature from the selection tool to move, resize, or rotate it.

Keyboard shortcuts for accessibility

Make the selected element bigger	Shift +
Make the selected element smaller	Shift -
Move the selected element	Arrow keys
Rotate the selected element right	Shift + alt + right arrow
Rotate the selected element left	Shift + alt + left arrow
Delete the selected element	Delete or backspace key
Keep element where it is	Esc

 

View PDFs in the Chrome browser

PDFs open automatically with the Gallery app. You can change this setting to make your Chromebook always open PDFs in the Chrome browser.

Important: You can’t add text annotations to your PDFs in the Chrome browser.

1. At the bottom left of your screen, select the Launcher .
2. Open Files .
3. Right-click your selected PDF.
4. Select Open file Change default View.

Access & read PDFs with Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

Important:

• Turn on your screen reader. Learn how to use the built-in screen reader.
• This feature is turned on by default for screen reader users.
• This feature is currently available for ChromeOS only and works by using Chrome PDF Viewer.

With machine learning, Chrome allows screen readers to access and read inaccessible PDFs through Chrome PDF Viewer. If you have a PDF file, either from your local storage or from a web page, that has an image of written text or any inaccessible text content, you can convert it into a readable text.

1. On your Chromebook, select Files .
2. To open a PDF file, right-click on the document.
3. Select Open with Chrome PDF Viewer.
4. In the document, press Search + Down arrow.
   • If there is no accessible text in the first page, at the top left, you’ll find the “Press search + m and convert image to text in the context menu” status update.
5. To open the Context menu, press Search + m. 
   • Once OCR starts, at the top left, you’ll find the “This PDF is inaccessible. Extracting text, powered by Google AI.” status update.
6. Click Extract text from PDF.
   • When OCR is complete, at the top left, you’ll find a status update:
     • Successful OCR of image: Text extracted, powered by Google AI.
     • No text found in images: This PDF is inaccessible. No text extracted.

Tips:

• If the PDF file is from a web page, Chrome opens it in Chrome PDF Viewer.
• To navigate forward, press Search + Down/Right arrow and you’ll hear a disclaimer at the start and end of the extracted text.

Turn off OCR

To turn off this feature:

1. On your Chromebook, at the bottom right, select the time. Or press Alt + Shift + s.
2. Select Settings Accessibility.
3. Under "Text-to-Speech," turn off Extract text from PDF.

Related resources

• Use the built-in screen reader
• Turn on Chromebook accessibility features
• Convert PDF and photo files to text