When it comes to editing a PDF file on Mac, you have two choices — upload the PDF to an online conversion service, or use a Mac PDF editor app.
PDF Editor 5.7.1 for Mac is available as a free download on our software library. The most popular versions of PDF Editor for Mac are 1.2 and 1.1. Our antivirus check shows that this Mac download is malware free. The program lies within Productivity Tools, more precisely Office Tools. Master PDF Editor is PDF editing software for Mac that comes with loads of features allowing you to convert PDF to numerous other file types and edit just about any aspect of the PDF document. Pros: It can be used to edit both text and images.
While online PDF conversion services have their own advantages and are usually free (though some may have certain restrictions), we assume you’ve already tried out. So, we are not going to talk much about them.
Instead, we want to show you the best PDF editor app for Macs. After all, you are a business person who handles PDF documents on a regular basis. Desktop software is more convenient to use, and more likely to improve your business productivity.
Here we round up some of the most powerful Mac PDF editors currently in the market. The recommendations below are for Mac users only, if you are on a PC, see our review of best PDF editor for Windows 10.
Online PDF Editor vs. Desktop PDF Editing App
There is no absolute answer as to which editor is better, but here’s our take:
If you are in a hurry, and you only have several non-confidential PDFs to edit, go for online PDF editing services like PDFescape. Simply open a web browser, upload your PDF file and start editing.
Note: we suggest you not to upload any private or confidential documents due to security concerns. Because your PDF files are going to be uploaded elsewhere in the cloud you can’t control or access.
If your documents are important, and you only have minor editing tasks such as: add signature, comment, merge/split pages, etc.; We recommend Preview — a free built-in app in macOS that allows you to edit images and PDF files. We’ll cover this app more below.
How about Adobe Acrobat for Mac? It’s great, but our main concern is its price — $300 direct purchase (or $15 per month if you go for subscription), it’s definitely on the pricer side. Plus, you can get almost all similar features from other Mac PDF editors we recommend below while paying much less.
Best PDF Editor for Mac: What to Look for?
The following factors are merely what we think you should consider in order to narrow down the list to come up with your favorite tools. They are, however, by no means the industry standards.
Security: all downloadable software must be free of virus and malware. Though Macs are widely considered to be more secure than Windows PCs, recent news reveals that macOS isn’t safe anymore due to crapware and malware threats. We make sure the PDF editor app we recommend are clean and safe.
PDF Editing Features: the Mac PDF editor you choose should be able to do basic editing tasks like annotation, add/delete pages, form filling, highlighting, and so on. Advanced editing features include: add a password, create links, export PDFs to other document formats, etc. Bottom line: the best Mac PDF editing software should offer more features than what Preview does.
OCR Support: this is important because if a PDF editor doesn’t support OCR (Optical Character Recognition), you can’t use it to handle scanned PDF files which are essentially images. OCR is able to extract all the content in a scanned PDF file and export objects into editable texts or graphs. The software that integrates OCR technology will save you lots of headaches when it comes to editing scanned PDF documents.
Ease of Use: this is the main factor that makes desktop software superior to most online PDF conversion tools. If you’ve used some online PDF editors, you probably feel the navigation and operation are not that smooth. You need a lot of back and forth to make the change to a desirable level. A great PDF editor app should make it hassle-free and enjoyable during the editing process.
macOS Compatibility: The software you choose should also be able to run on the latest macOS Catalina and be compatible with some older macOS versions that are widely used by Mac users. If it can’t, it would be a waste of your time to download and install it on your Mac on to find it doesn’t work. Besides a PDF editor app that keeps updating tends to be more trustworthy and reliable.
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Help/Support: We value those developers that provide helpful tutorials and guides to facilitate the customer experience. Also, it’s ideal that users can reach out to them via email, phone, live chat, etc. for any inquiries or technical questions.
Best PDF Editor for Mac in 2019: Our Picks
1. Preview (Built-in App on Mac)
The Preview app built in your Mac lets you add text to PDFs, highlight it, sign documents, leave comments, and more. You can choose where in the document you’d like to post a note and move it later if you change your mind. Some of the more interesting features include novel ways to sign documents. If you have a trackpad, you can even sign documents with your finger. If you have a camera on your device, you can sign a piece of paper. Hold it up and snap a photo, thereby adding the signature to the document. Editing images with Preview is simple and intuitive, as is the ability to share and export your completed files.
2. Adobe Acrobat Pro for Mac
Adobe Acrobat Pro helps you create professional, polished documents that are easy to send and view. With features to protect your files, you’ll never have to worry about other people making modifications or copying sensitive information. With a built-in e-signature feature, you can send, track, manage, and store signed documents. Adobe Acrobat Pro is also known for its ability to convert different kinds of documents into PDFs including Word, Excel, and Paper materials. Calculations, checkboxes, signature fields, can all be converted. This software also includes tools to help you prepare for high-end print production.
3. PDF Expert
PDF Expert makes editing simple by automatically detecting the opacity, font, and size of the original text. You can modify the text, images, or links without difficulty. Some of the other notable features of this software include the ability to collaborate with clients and team members by adding notes and protecting information through passwords. Compatible with any Apple device, iPhone, iPad, and Mac, you can use PDF Expert to transfer files between devices seamlessly. Similar to other editors, you can also use PDF Expert to create applications, tax forms, and sign them with an electronic signature in a few clicks.
4. PDFpen
PDFpen allows you to draw, scribble, and highlight PDF text with underscoring and strikethrough. You can use editable text blocks to correct text, and move, copy, and resize images to your liking. The advanced version PDFpen Pro uses OCR technology to turn pictures of scanned text into words you can easily modify and proofread for errors. If your PDF requires more dramatic changes, you can use PDFpen to export to Word for easy sharing and editing. When it comes to signing your PDF with a secure and trusted signature, you have a few options. You can scribble your signature with a mouse or trackpad. You can also scan an image of your signed signature and drag and drop it into place. Lastly, this software gives you complete control over the way the pages of your PDF are formatted. You can delete pages, reorder them, or merge documents as you require.
5. PDFelement for Mac
Known for its intuitive interface, PDFelement offers simple navigation with professional-level results. Using bookmarks, you can quickly locate points of interest and link to them. The included OCR technology can turn paper documents into searchable, selectable, and editable PDFs in over 25 different languages. With paragraph and single-line editing tools, you can maintain the document style by reflowing text. PDFelement also supports form creation, password encryption, annotations, and permissions-based restrictions.
6. ABBYY FineReader for Mac
FineReader can read pages from a PDF on your hard disk or from a scanner, and with its OCR engine, it can then extract text, arrange tables, and preserve layout so you can make the necessary edits. FineReader’s text recognition accuracy is one of the highest in the industry, according to their internal testing, at a rate of 99.8%. Text sizes, font sizes, headers, footers, footnotes, tables of contents, and footnotes, all can be recreated through this software’s adaptive document recognition technology. You can create searchable PDFs, modify images with the image editor, and create ebooks for reading while on the go.
7. PhantomPDF Mac
PhantomPDF is ConnectedPDF Powered, meaning that it offers cloud-based services, such as the ability to grant and revoke document access, collaboration features, and tracking to see who has opened your document. With this editor, you can adjust text flow across multiple pages, columns, or paragraphs. Move text boxes, change their size, and toggle how the text is justified until it fits your requirements. You can create PDFs in virtually any file format, merge PDFs, or split them into different documents.
8. Able2Extract Professional (Mac)
As a cross-platform tool on Windows and Mac, Able2Extract Professional is a creator, converter, and editor, with multiple uses. You can convert data to and from editable Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Publisher, PowerPoint, Open Office, Autocad, and all image formats. You can create secure PDFs, sign and edit PDFs. It comes with a wide range of formatting options, with prefixes and suffixes, numbering sequences, date-time stamps. Able2Extract also comes with a number of collaboration features that allow annotations and notes. You might consider this software if you want an editor that handles many different tasks in a simple, intuitive fashion.
9. Power PDF Standard for Mac
Power PDF Standard touts itself as a more efficient choice for Mac users than other standard “freemium” PDF editors available. This app has been designed to help maximize productivity when converting, editing, creating, or sharing documents across any platform. You can collaborate with powerful markup and commenting tools. You can send documents securely with features such as password security and text redaction. You can also compile and create PDF files from almost any file type. Power PDF Standard helps you control every aspect of your workflow.
10. PDF Studio for Mac
PDF Studio for Mac was built to be a reliable alternative to Adobe Acrobat with all of the expected features offered at a lower price. As the application only occupies a small amount of space on your hard drive (300MB), you get all the features you need with no bloatware. Some of the features in the standard edition include precision measuring tools, secure documents, and the ability to fill in and save PDF forms. Create watermarks, headers, and footers, all supporting PDF 2.0 standards. The Professional Edition includes OCR text recognition, an interactive form designer, the ability to compare and optimize PDFs, and a way to split and merge documents.
Andreas is an Apple and Microsoft fanboy who works with his Mac and lives with a PC at home. While he is not reading technology journals, you’ll probably find him playing online games with friends or hiking in the wild.
In some circles, PDF files manipulation is an absolute necessity. It’s very easy to find a free PDF Viewer such as the official Adobe PDF Viewer, but many people think that to edit PDF files, they must purchase the Adobe paid app. That’s not true, and here’s a list of the best PDF editors you can find on Mac.
Advertising1/ Mac OS Preview (Free, built-in Mac OS)
That seems like a “duh”, but many people don’t know that Preview can edit PDFs because they think it’s just a viewer. As a viewer, I think it’s great and fast, but it offers nearly most of the most common features people need:
- Select and Add Text
- Add shapes
- Add notes
- Add Signature (including via Webcam scan)
- Fill forms
- Insert pages
- Edit metadata
- Add web links
In addition to the fact that Preview is built-in, it is also faster than the Adobe app. I haven’t tried the older versions, but the current one (from the publication date) works well for the most basic tasks.
Some people have pointed out that it would be great to be able to sign using the touchpad, and I agree, but I have a signature file around, so it doesn’t bother me much — overall, this is the “best” option for most people. Here’s how it looks in action:
2/ PDFescape Online (free for small files, $2.99/mo otherwise)
This is not really a “Mac” app, but since PDFescape also works online, Mac users can go for it. It’s an online web editor that lets people create and edit PDF files. If you don’t mind uploading your file to the site, it’s possible to edit existing files too.
The user interface is extremely basic, but it’s one of the cheapest ways to edit PDF files (<10MB), so you can try it for free (ad-supported) if Preview does not do it for you. If you have to pay, the starter cost of $2.99/mo is a low barrier to try out and see if it does what you need: essentially, it would let you upload larger PDF files.
3/ PDFPen ($75, trial available)
PDFPen isn’t free, but it costs less than the Adobe Acrobat PDF editing software. The app can create/edit PDF files and even has an optical character recognition (OCR) function.
PDFPen is one of the closest apps to the official Adobe one regarding functionality, and in recent years, its creators have made it very proficient for a group who care about digitally signed documents. This means that you can verify the authenticity of a PDF, which came to you, and others in your team will be able to verify yours.
PDFPen also supports file attachments and annotations in PDF files and is smart enough to extract them for a quick skimming. It is also possible to add record audio annotations into a PDF you’re that working on. MS Office users will appreciate the high-quality PDF to Word converter.
Best Free Pdf Editor For Mac
The PDFPen Pro version offers more options, many of which are mostly related to OCR, form-filling, and automatic field generation – compare the two (official link).
4/ Adobe Acrobat Pro ($13/mo+, trial available)
Of course, the most complete and guaranteed 100% compatible with the latest functionalities remains the official Adobe Acrobat PDF Editor. Although many competitors can get close, no-one can claim to be 100% equal to the original. It makes sense because Adobe drives the functionalities, but also the form factor and specifications, so clones will always be one step behind.
I can say that I don’t edit PDF files at a level for which I care, and I suspect that the overwhelming majority is just like me. However, it’s important to realize that there’s a gap, which will always be present. If you always need to live on the bleeding edge of PDF – check the subscription model from Adobe (official site), it will guarantee that you can access the latest version.
5/ Skim (Free, annotations)
Skim is a free (open-source ) PDF reader which lets you add/edit notes and has some cropping functions. It’s not a true PDF “editor”, but it keeps coming back in conversations, so it’s probably a good thing to know that it exists, especially since it’s free.
Beware of freemium offerings presented as free
As I was checking for free PDF editors for Mac, I was a bit disappointed that Google listed many paid apps as “free” in the top results. It’s understandable why it did it, but it’s quite frustrating.
For example, iSkysoft PDF Editor is a paid app, but you can access a trial version, but by the time users get to it, they are already furious for landing on a page about a supposedly “free” app…we do not like this approach.
Wondershare PDF Editor Pro is another one. Listed in the “Free PDF Editor” in Google’s search results, it is a paid app ($69 on Amazon).
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The reviews are mixed, especially for the most recent version, but I didn’t like that the company did not make it clear enough that it was a paid app, and that it was trying too hard to get people to download, possibly waste time, and discover that they have to pay.
Best Mac Pdf Editor
That said, some folks are really happy with the OCR feature, while many left lower scores on their review. If you want to take a chance, at least you know that it’s out there.
That said, some folks are happy with the OCR feature, while many left lower scores on their review. If you want to take a chance, at least you know that it’s out there.
Conclusion
You may be disappointed by the lack of “great” free PDF editors for Mac. However, PDF editors are complicated pieces of software, and they replace an expensive option from Adobe. If the price is too close to Adobe’s offering, it seems smarter just going for the real thing.
If the savings are substantial and if the replacement gets the job done, there’s no harm in saving a few bucks. If you need to edit PDF files as a one-time task, you may want to check for subscription models from Adobe and others. It may end up being cheaper.
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