3 Ways to Draw a Box, Rectangle, and Circle in a PDF

Drawing boxes/rectangles and other shapes is a practical way to frame important information or to create visual elements in your document.

On this page, you’ll learn the detailed steps to draw a box in PDF using Acrobat Pro and other free alternatives. Yes, you’ll also discover several free PDF drawing tools to draw shapes around PDF text without cost.

👉Directly download PDFgear, the best free PDF editor used to draw boxes in PDF in this guide.

How to Draw a Box in PDF Online Free

Generally, you need dedicated PDF editor software to draw on PDFs, however, with the help of the online PDF editor PDFgear, software installation is no longer required.

PDFgear is a free and full-featured online PDF editor service that allows you to edit, sign on, and mark up PDFs in a web browser. With it, you can draw boxes in PDF using different colors.

Additionally, if you’re using Chrome web browser, you may also want to learn how to draw on PDFs in Chrome.

Step 1. Use a web browser to navigate to PDFgear Online PDF Editor. Click the Upload PDF files button to upload the PDF you need to draw on.

Step 2. Click on the upper-right Add or Edit annotations button on the menu bar to access drawing options.

Step 3. Click on the Add Shapes button to the left, and select a preferred box shape from rectangle, circle, and polygon. For drawing irregularly-shaped boxes, use the Draw Ink tool instead.

Step 4. Select a drawn box and click the Change Color and Change Stroke Color buttons above to customize the fill color and the border color for the box shape respectively.

Step 5. When you’re done drawing, click the upper-right Download button to download and save the PDF with drawings.

How to Draw a Box in PDF for Free Without Limits

If you are looking for more advanced drawing features, you’ll need to move on to Acrobat Pro, but the subscription is certainly daunting.

That’s where the offline version of PDFgear comes to the rescue. The PDFgear is the best free alternative to Adobe Acrobat, allowing you to draw on PDFs, insert shapes into PDFs, edit PDF text, and annotate PDFs offline without cost.

PDFgear is entirely free to use, and there are no premium versions or watermarks. So try PDFgear right away!

Step 1. Download PDFgear, install it, and launch it on your computer.

Step 2. Click the Open File button to import the PDF you need to draw on. Then go to the Annotate toolbox and you’ll find free drawing options: Line, Rectangle Oval, and Ink.

Step 3. Choose the preferred shape and start drawing squares in PDF.

Step 4. On the upper menu bar, you can also customize the color and thickness of the drawing stroke. When you have drawn, click the upper right Save button to save the changes.

How to Draw a Box in PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader

Adobe Acrobat is an industry-leading tool for creating, editing, and sharing PDF documents.

Adobe Acrobat provides a comprehensive set of drawing tools to insert custom shapes, such as boxes, arrows, or lines, which helps create visually appealing and functional PDFs.

Luckily, free shape drawing is among the basic PDF editing features provided in Acrobat Reader, so there’s no need for the pricey Acrobat Pro.

Step 1. To get started, download Adobe Acrobat Reader, install it, and launch it on your computer.

Step 2. Click on the upper-right Menu button, click Open from the dropdown, and import your PDF document.

Step 3. From the PDF editing workplace, locate the editing toolbar to the right.

Step 4. Click the Free Drawing tool from the toolbar to draw different shapes including free drawings, lines, arrows, rectangles, circles, text callouts, polygons, clouds, and connected lines.

Step 4. Lastly, hit the upper-right save button to save and export the PDF with drawn boxes.

FAQs

How to add a fillable text box in PDF?

Adding fillable text boxes and creating a fillable PDF form differs quite from drawing boxes in PDF. For this, you need a dedicated PDF form creator. Check our guide on how to add fillable text boxes to PDF for more.

How do I save the PDF document with the box included?

In most PDF editor software, the same functionality allows you to save the drawn box in a PDF document as an editable element. Make sure not to print the PDF with boxes which will flatten the PDF.

Can I add text inside the box once it’s drawn?

Yes, you can manually insert text boxes into your drawn shapes to add text inside the box. However, it’s recommended to use fillable text boxes that align with the text better.

How do I resize or delete a drawn box?

In PDFgear and Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can use the selection tool to resize the drawn box or right-click on it to delete or duplicate it. You can also drag and drop the drawn shape to reposition it on the PDF.

Can I draw an irregularly shaped box in a PDF?

Most PDF editor software like Acrobat doesn’t allow you to draw a curved box in a PDF. However, by going to the “Cloud” tool on the “Comments” toolbar in Adobe, you get to edit the properties and ultimately highlight irregular shapes.

Conclusion

Congratulations, now you know how to draw a box in a PDF! With the tips and tricks outlined in this guide, you can add custom boxes of any size, shape, and color to your PDF documents with great ease.

Currently, PDFgear stands out as an excellent choice. Whether you prefer working online or offline, PDFgear offers a free solution to meet your needs.