Direct answer: You can strikethrough text in a PDF online for free with the Strikethrough PDF tool: open your PDF, drag across the words you want to mark, and a line is drawn through the middle of the text. The original wording stays intact and selectable beneath the line, so a reviewer can still read exactly what is being questioned, corrected, or proposed for removal.
That distinction matters. A strikethrough is an editorial mark, not a deletion. It says, in plain sight, that this passage is under review, superseded, or no longer wanted, while leaving the evidence visible for anyone who needs to check the change. In contracts, manuscripts, invoices, study notes, and draft reports, that visible trail is often more useful than silently cutting words out, because the reader can see what changed and why the change was suggested.
What strikethrough in a PDF actually means
When you strike through text in a printed document, you draw a horizontal line through the middle of the words. The words remain legible, but the line signals that they should be ignored, replaced, or removed in the next version. The same convention carries over to PDF markup, and it is widely understood by editors, teachers, lawyers, managers, and clients, even when they have never used a particular PDF editor before.
In a PDF, a strikethrough mark sits on top of the page content as an annotation-style mark. It does not rewrite the underlying text, change the font, or alter the layout of the surrounding paragraphs. That stability is important: a marked-up contract keeps its pagination, a marked essay keeps its line breaks, and a marked invoice keeps its figures in place. Reviewers can therefore discuss a specific sentence without worrying that the act of marking it has shifted everything else on the page.
How the line is placed on text pages and scanned pages
The tool adapts its placement to the kind of page you are working on. On a page that has a real text layer, the line snaps to the middle of each line of text as you drag across it. That snapping keeps the mark level and centred, even if your drag is slightly uneven, and it gives a tidy result that looks deliberate rather than hand-scribbled. You can mark a single word, a whole sentence, or several lines in one drag, and each line receives its own correctly centred line.
On a scanned page, there is no text layer for the tool to snap to, so the line sits at the centre of the box you drag. That behaviour is honest about what a scan is: a picture of a page, not a set of selectable characters. You still get a clean, straight mark through the words in the image, but you place it by eye, using the dragged box as your guide. If the scan is slightly tilted or the text is uneven, take a moment to check the line before downloading, and re-drag if the mark sits above or below the words you meant to cross out.
Colour choice is part of the same decision. Red is the classic editorial colour and stands out immediately in a review copy. Black is quieter and suits a formal document where a red mark might look alarming. Indigo offers a clear middle ground: visible at a glance, but less urgent than red. Pick one colour for a single review pass so that all of one reviewer's marks read as one voice, and reserve a second colour only if two reviewers need to be told apart.
Example: marks in a typical short review pass — hover or tap each bar for details.
Step by step: striking through text in your PDF
Start with a copy of the document, not the only original, whenever the file matters. Strikethrough marks are meant to be seen, so working on a review copy keeps your clean original safe while you experiment with wording, colours, and placement. Open the tool, load the PDF from your device, and wait for the pages to render before you begin marking, because a page that is still loading can make a drag land in the wrong place.
Once the page is ready, choose your colour, then drag across the text you want to mark. Work in short, deliberate drags rather than one long sweep across a whole paragraph, because short marks are easier to undo, move, or delete individually. After each mark, zoom in or glance closely to confirm that the line crosses the intended words and no others, especially where a sentence wraps onto a second line or where two columns sit close together.
- Open the free tool and load your PDF from your device.
- Choose red, black, or indigo for the strikethrough line.
- Drag across the words you want to mark, line by line.
- Check that the line sits through the middle of the intended text.
- Undo, nudge, or delete any mark that landed in the wrong place.
- Download the marked PDF and review it once more before sending it on.
Mark in short drags and check each one. A single long drag across a paragraph is harder to fix than three short, accurate marks, and a reviewer will trust a tidy page far more than a page covered in sweeping lines.
Keyboard shortcuts and fixing a mark
Small mistakes are part of any review, so the tool gives you quick ways to correct them without starting over. Undo steps back through your recent marks, redo restores a mark you undid by mistake, and the Delete key removes a selected mark entirely. Arrow keys nudge a selected mark in small steps, which is useful when a line is almost right but sits a fraction too high or too low for the words beneath it. Learning these few keys turns a fiddly job into a fast one, particularly on a long document with dozens of marks.
Use the keyboard together with the mouse, not instead of it. Drag to place, then use the keys to refine. If a mark covers the wrong word, delete it and drag again rather than trying to stretch it into place. If you change your mind about a whole passage, removing its marks one by one is safer than trying to cover them with new marks, because a clean page communicates more clearly than a page full of overlapping corrections.
| Action | Keyboard shortcut | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Undo a mark | Ctrl+Z | You dragged across the wrong words |
| Redo a mark | Ctrl+Shift+Z | You undid a mark by mistake |
| Remove a mark | Delete | A selected mark should not be there at all |
| Nudge a mark | Arrow keys | A line sits slightly high or low |
Strikethrough is not deletion: when to use a different tool
The most important limit to understand is that strikethrough does not remove text. The words remain in the file, selectable and searchable, beneath the visible line. That is exactly what you want for a review copy, a draft, or a teaching example, where the reader needs to see what was there. It is the wrong choice when the goal is to hide sensitive information, because anyone with the file can still select, copy, or read the crossed-out words, and the line itself does not erase them from the document data.
For genuine removal, use a redaction tool instead, which is designed to remove content properly rather than merely covering it. If you are deciding between marking and removing, ask one question: should the reader still be able to read these words? If the answer is yes, strikethrough is right. If the answer is no, do not rely on a line through the text. You can read more about related markup in our guide to highlighting text in a PDF, which covers the companion mark for drawing attention to words you want to keep, and you can browse further PDF guides on the Asad Webs blog index.
Strikethrough also pairs well with comments. A line shows what is questioned, while a short note can explain why. Keep notes brief and specific, naming the replacement wording or the reason for the query, rather than writing a long essay in the margin. A reviewer who sees a crossed-out sentence plus a one-line reason can act immediately, whereas a vague mark forces a round of follow-up questions before any change can be made.
Before you download: a quick review checklist
Before downloading, scroll through every marked page at a comfortable zoom and read the crossed-out passages as a reviewer would. Check for three common slips: a mark that starts one word too early or ends one word too late, a mark on a scanned page that drifts off the text line, and two marks of different colours that imply two reviewers when only one person was reviewing. Fixing these now takes seconds; explaining them after the file has been sent takes far longer.
After downloading, open the downloaded file and confirm that the marks appear exactly as they did in the editor, that the text beneath them is still selectable where the original had a text layer, and that no pages are missing. The downloaded copy is the one your reader will see, so it deserves the final check, not just the on-screen preview. If anything looks wrong, go back, correct the mark, and download again rather than sending a file you already doubt.
Finally, name the downloaded file clearly when you save or share it, for example by adding review or draft to the filename, so that nobody mistakes the marked copy for the final version. A clear filename, a consistent mark colour, and a short covering note explaining what the marks mean will make your review round faster, calmer, and much easier for the next person to act on.
Try it now with the free Strikethrough PDF tool, explore more guides on the Asad Webs blog, or contact Asad Webs if you need help preparing a document for review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is strikethrough the same as deleting text in a PDF?
No. Strikethrough draws a visible line through words while leaving the original text intact and selectable underneath. It is an editorial mark for review, not a deletion, so it should never be used to hide sensitive information.
Which colours can I use for the strikethrough line?
You can choose red, black, or indigo. Red stands out most clearly in a review copy, black suits formal documents, and indigo is a visible but less urgent alternative. Using one colour per reviewer keeps a review pass easy to follow.
Does the line snap to the text on every page?
On pages with a real text layer, the line snaps to the middle of each line of text. On scanned pages, which are images without a text layer, the line sits at the centre of the box you drag, so you should check its position by eye.
Can I undo or move a strikethrough mark?
Yes. Ctrl+Z undoes a mark, Ctrl+Shift+Z redoes it, Delete removes a selected mark, and the arrow keys nudge a selected mark in small steps. These shortcuts make it easy to correct a mark without starting the whole document again.
Will the crossed-out text still be readable after download?
Yes. The downloaded file shows the deletions visibly, with the line through the words, and the original text remains selectable beneath it on text-layer pages. That is the point of the mark: the reader can see both the original wording and the fact that it is questioned.
Is the tool free, and is my file uploaded anywhere?
The tool is free to use. Your PDF is processed in your browser, and the workflow described here does not depend on sending the file to a server for marking. As with any document tool, work on a review copy when the file is sensitive.
When should I use redaction instead of strikethrough?
Use redaction when the words must genuinely disappear and must not be readable, copyable, or recoverable by the recipient. Use strikethrough only when the reader is meant to see the original wording alongside the mark that questions it.
Be the first to share a useful question or thought.