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Problem page

How to edit and sign PDFs on desktop without an Acrobat subscription

You need to edit a few lines in a contract, merge some scans and sign a form, and the only tool you know is Acrobat. It asks you to sign in, pushes a trial, and then wants a monthly payment for features you use twice a month. Free online PDF sites look like an easy fix, but you would have to upload documents you would rather keep private. You just want a normal desktop app that opens your files, lets you work, and does not ask for anything in return.

2 min readWritten from github.comWelcome page from Tablif · 23 Oct 2026
The short answer

Paperwing is a free, open source desktop PDF app for Windows and macOS that copies Acrobat's layout, so the workspace feels familiar from the first minute. It has the same tabbed documents, an All tools panel, Edit, Convert and E-Sign tabs, a floating quick-action toolbar and the same keyboard shortcuts.

On this page
  1. Why the usual way fails
  2. How Paperwing helps
  3. Step by step
  4. Tips
  5. Questions

01Why the usual way fails

Most free PDF tools only do one job each, so you jump between a merge site, a compress site and a signing site. Online tools also mean uploading every file, which is a real problem for contracts, IDs or medical papers. Switching away from Acrobat feels costly too, because you already know where every button and shortcut is. Many desktop alternatives look completely different, so the time you save on the subscription is lost relearning the basics.

02How Paperwing helps

Paperwing is a free, open source desktop PDF app for Windows and macOS that copies Acrobat's layout, so the workspace feels familiar from the first minute. It has the same tabbed documents, an All tools panel, Edit, Convert and E-Sign tabs, a floating quick-action toolbar and the same keyboard shortcuts. More than 100 tools from BentoPDF cover editing, converting, organizing, signing and protecting files. Everything runs on your computer, with no account and no uploads, and every feature is free.

“If you've used Acrobat, you already know how to use Paperwing”
From github.com
“Every feature is free, and your files never leave your computer.”
From github.com

03Step by step

  1. Download Paperwing from its website or the repository's Releases page for Windows or macOS.
  2. Open your PDF and use the All tools sidebar to find the tool you need, or press Ctrl+Shift+P to search commands.
  3. Edit text and images, add comments or redact parts from the Edit tab.
  4. Fill and sign the document from the E-Sign tab, using a digital certificate if you have one.
  5. Compress, combine or protect the result, and save it back to your computer.

04Tips

  • Use the batch tools when you have many files. You can run Compress, Flatten, PDF to Word and other tools on a whole set at once instead of opening each file.
  • Pin the tools you use most. Pinned and recently used tools sit at the top of the tools panel, which keeps your daily work to one or two clicks.
  • If you work offline often, open each tool once while connected. A few tools fetch their engine the first time you use them, and after that they work offline.
  • Download only from the official site or the GitHub Releases page. That is the only place this desktop app is distributed, which keeps you away from copies with unwanted extras. It also means the built-in updater on the Windows installer tells you when a new version is ready.

05Questions

How much does Paperwing cost?

Nothing. It is free, forever, with no subscription.

Source: github.com
Does it work offline?

Yes. Everything runs locally, though a few tools fetch their engine once on first use.

Source: github.com
Will I lose work if the app closes suddenly?

It marks unsaved changes, asks before closing, restores your session and can recover documents a tool made but you had not saved yet.

Source: github.com
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Edit, sign, convert, organize, compress and protect PDFs in a familiar desktop workspace

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