PDF tools for freelancers — proposals, contracts, invoices and portfolios
Updated 16 August 2026
Freelance paperwork is a proposal, a contract, an invoice and a portfolio. UnboundPDF fills and signs contracts with Fill & Sign, flattens them so they stop changing, assembles proposals with Merge PDF, and watermarks portfolio proofs — all in your browser, with no client work uploaded.
Sign contracts, assemble proposals, send invoices and watermark portfolio proofs in your browser. Free UnboundPDF tools — nothing is uploaded.
UnboundPDF is a free suite of 43 PDF and image tools that run entirely in your browser — merge, split, compress, edit text, OCR in 126 languages, redact, sign, convert and archive to PDF/A. Your document is read and written by the page on your own device; there is no document-upload endpoint in the core tools, no account, no watermark and no daily cap. Every result can be checked — with the Network tab, or with the Document Passport the Workspace writes for a chain of steps.
- Open Fill & Sign and drop the contract the client sent you.
- Type into the fields, tick the boxes, then draw or upload your signature and place it.
- Save the PDF, then flatten it so the completed values can no longer be changed.
- Send it back — and keep a compressed copy with the proposal in one project file.
Your files are other people’s secrets: an unreleased brand, a rate card, a contract with a named client, an invoice with your bank details. Every tool linked here runs in your browser, so none of that is handed to a third-party processor on the way to the client.
Sign and send the contract
The contract arrives as a flat PDF and the client wants it back today. Fill & Sign places text and checkmarks as an overlay on top of the page, so it does not matter whether the file has real form fields — a scan of a signed template behaves the same as an interactive form. Add your signature once by drawing it with a trackpad or finger, typing your name in a script style, or uploading an image, then reuse that placement anywhere it is needed before you save. Be clear-eyed about what you produced: a visible, drawn signature on the page, not a cryptographic certificate signature, so it carries no certificate-based tamper-evidence. That is fine for most everyday engagements and wrong for anything where the client’s process demands a certificate — ask before you sign, not after. For a plain PDF with no fillable fields, signing a PDF in your browser is the lighter-weight route. When the terms are final, Flatten PDF bakes the completed field values into the page so they can no longer be edited, and the default mode keeps the text selectable rather than turning your contract into pictures. If you sign on the move, the iPhone route covers the same jobs on a handset.
The proposal as one file
A proposal that arrives as five attachments reads as five decisions. Merge PDF puts the cover letter, scope, timeline, rate card and case studies into one document in the order you drag them, and Organize PDF pulls out the pages meant for a different client before you merge — the last rate card is exactly the page you do not want travelling. How the local merge works, and how to check it, is set out in merging PDFs privately. Heavy on screenshots? Compress PDF on Balanced keeps the text selectable; measured on 13 Aug 2026, a 784 KB scan came out at 418 KB on Balanced and 238 KB on Maximum. Compressing for email covers attachment caps, and getting under 100 KB handles the portals that ask for something tighter.
Portfolio proofs a client can share but not reuse
Shoot or export the work, then build the deck with JPG to PDF: one image per page, in the order you set, with a fit-to-image, A4 or Letter page and the margin you want. JPG and PNG files are embedded as they are, so the proof looks like the work rather than a re-compressed copy of it — which does mean the file gets large, and a compression pass before sending is usually worth it. Stamp it first: Watermark PDF writes PROOF or your studio name across every page, diagonal or tiled, at an opacity you control, and because it is drawn into the page content it goes wherever the file goes. It deters casual reuse; it is not DRM, and a determined recipient can still crop around it. Quick recipe with no account: watermark a PDF without uploading it.
Invoices and the paper trail
Send the invoice, then keep the evidence. Edit Metadata sets a title your client’s accounts inbox can actually sort on and clears the author and keywords your design app left in the file. Where a document is genuinely confidential — a signed contract, a rate schedule — Protect PDF encrypts it with AES and confirms the output will not open without the password, which is unrecoverable if you lose it. At year end, PDF to Excel exports the detected rows of a statement or a platform payout report to CSV so your own bookkeeping is not retyped by hand; the accountants’ guide goes deeper on that job, including where the detection needs checking.
Scope
A drawn signature is a signature image, not a PKCS #7 certificate signature — say so to a client. Table detection in the CSV export reads text positions, so merged cells and styled layouts may need tidying in your spreadsheet. Compression reports the real figure: a 6.5 MB already-optimised paper gave up 3% on the 13 Aug 2026 run in Chrome. A watermark deters; it does not enforce. What makes a contract enforceable is a question for a lawyer in your jurisdiction.
Check it before you send client work
Open DevTools, watch the Network tab while you fill a throwaway form, and confirm that no request carries your document bytes; the PDF Privacy Lab walks through it with a test file. If you are growing past solo work, PDF tools for small business covers quotes and staff forms, and PDF tools for real estate covers listing packs and disclosures.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sign a client contract without printing it?
Yes. Fill & Sign types text and checkmarks onto the page as an overlay, so flat and scanned contracts work as well as interactive ones, and you add a signature by drawing, typing or uploading it. Save, then download the completed PDF.
Is that signature legally binding?
It places a visible signature on the document, which suits most everyday agreements, but it is not a cryptographic (PKCS #7) certificate signature and carries no certificate-based tamper-evidence. Ask the client first if their process requires a certificate-based one — and take legal advice for anything that matters.
How do I stop a client editing the figures in my quote?
Flatten PDF bakes interactive form field values into fixed page content so they can no longer be changed, and Protect PDF can encrypt the file with a password and control whether printing and copying are allowed.
Can I watermark portfolio proofs before sending them?
Yes. Watermark PDF stamps text such as PROOF or your studio name across every page — diagonal, horizontal or tiled — at an opacity you choose, drawn into the page content so it travels with the file.