In selecting the best PDF editor for Mac, we used the following criteria in selecting the winner: Overall Design â Working with PDF files is hard enough as it is. The PDF editor you choose should provide a clean user interface with features that are easy to understand. Best PDF Editors for Mac #1. PDFelement 6 is all about giving businesses the efficiency they crave when it comes to the world of PDF documents. Talk of creating, converting, editing, annotating and sharing PDF documents with the utmost professionalism. PDF Expert is costlier than Good Reader, but there are good features like scanning capabilities that make PDF Expert a little more advanced than Good Reader. Price: $9.99 Download #3. Foxit PDF Reader & Converter. I rate Foxit very highly as it makes PDF editing plain sailing. You can view, annotate and also secure your PDF files. The app also lets you sign documents using digital. While Lion didn't wow the crowd with most of its features, it brought some amazing additions to Apple's PDF viewer/editor that puts it over the top and makes it our choice for the best.
- Best Pdf Reader App For Mac
- Best Pdf For Mac
- Best Pdf Reader For Mac
- Best Pdf Reader App For Android
There are plenty of ways to view and edit PDFs on a Mac, but Apple's built-in Preview application is phenomenal and often overlooked. While Lion didn't wow the crowd with most of its features, it brought some amazing additions to Apple's PDF viewer/editor that puts it over the top and makes it our choice for the best.
Note: There are a few ways you could define a PDF viewer/editor, as features can range from simple form-filling to complete PDF manipulation. For this post we're concentrating on the features the average person would use, meaning viewing, form completion, annotation, and so on.
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UPDATE: Wondershare is claiming we named their Product, PDF Editor, our top choice. We did not, and they are using a false award that claims our approval. Please do not buy their products as they are a dishonest company. We've left the original text (stricken out) about PDF Editor in the alternatives section so you can see how little of a recommendation we made.
Preview
Platform: Mac OS X
Price: Free
Download Page
Price: Free
Download Page
Features
- View and edit images in addition to PDF files
- Annotate, highlight, and mark up PDFs in several ways
- Digitally fill out forms
- Sign PDF documents with your webcam (read on for more info)
- Super-fast performance
- Super-fast search
- Insert new pages into PDFs
- View and edit PDF metadata
- Add and edit hyperlinks in a PDF file
Where It Excels
Preview is fast. Mac OS X isn't exactly known for its speed and efficiency, so Preview's ability to blow through PDF documents is pretty impressive. But among its many handy highlighting and annotating features, which are all solid, its ability to fill out forms is especially impressive. This may seem like a mundane thing, but when you get to the signature line it is hard to eschew at least a little reverence. Preview (in Lion) has a feature where you can sign a piece of paper, hold it up to your computer's webcam, and it'll turn it into a high-quality signature you can place in a form. It can also save multiple signatures so you don't have to continuously repeat this process. Preview is solid all-around, but it's those sorts of features that make it amazing.
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Where It Falls Short
As incredible as Preview's webcam signature feature is, it seems kind of strange that there is no ability to sign with your trackpad as well. After all, Apple Stores let you sign for purchases with your finger on an iPod touch. Additionally, Preview wasn't exactly perfect prior to Lion and Lion isn't exactly perfect on its own. It's hard to justify upgrading to OS X 10.7 if Preview is the only draw. If you're sticking with Snow Leopard, your version of Preview isn't bad but it's certainly not the best PDF editor/viewer you can find. Apple fixed a lot of quirks in Lion, which make it a pleasure to use, but if you're not running Lion you're pretty much out of luck.
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The Competition
PDFPen costs $60 but is pretty great. If you need more features than Preview can provide, it'll get the job done. PDFPen makes page rearrangement, editing, multi-document assembly, and more very easy. While it's on the expensive side, consider it a cheaper alternative to Adobe Acrobat ($200). We've never loved Acrobat and it likely provides more features than you're going to need.
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Skim is a great choice if your primary focus is annotation as that's what it was design to do. It has an impressively long list of features to make annotation easy.
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Got any other favorite PDF editor/viewer apps for Mac that you love? Share 'em in the comments.
Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories.
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In some circles, PDF files manipulation is an absolute necessity. Itâs 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. Thatâs not true, and hereâs a list of the best PDF editors you can find on Mac. Sun systems piv card reader driver for mac.
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1/ Mac OS Preview (Free, built-in Mac OS)
That seems like a âduhâ, but many people donât know that Preview can edit PDFs because they think itâs just a viewer. As a viewer, I think itâs 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 havenât 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 doesnât bother me much â overall, this is the âbestâ option for most people. Hereâs how it looks in action:
2/ PDFescape Online (free for small files, $2.99/mo otherwise)
This is not really a âMacâ app, but since PDFescape also works online, Mac users can go for it. Itâs an online web editor that lets people create and edit PDF files. If you donât mind uploading your file to the site, itâs possible to edit existing files too.
The user interface is extremely basic, but itâs 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 isnât 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 youâre that working on. MS Office users will appreciate the high-quality PDF to Word converter.
The PDFPen Pro version offers more options, many of which are mostly related to OCR, form-filling, and automatic field generation â 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 donât edit PDF files at a level for which I care, and I suspect that the overwhelming majority is just like me. However, itâs important to realize that thereâs a gap, which will always be present. If you always need to live on the bleeding edge of PDF â check the subscription model from Adobe (official site), it will guarantee that you can access the latest version.
5/ Skim (Free, annotations)
Best Pdf Reader App For Mac
Skim is a free (open-source ) PDF reader which lets you add/edit notes and has some cropping functions. Itâs not a true PDF âeditorâ, but it keeps coming back in conversations, so itâs probably a good thing to know that it exists, especially since itâs 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 âfreeâ in the top results. Itâs understandable why it did it, but itâs 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 âfreeâ appâ¦we do not like this approach.
Wondershare PDF Editor Pro is another one. Listed in the âFree PDF Editorâ in Googleâs search results, it is a paid app ($69 on Amazon).
The reviews are mixed, especially for the most recent version, but I didnât 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.
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 itâs 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 itâs out there.
Conclusion
Best Pdf For Mac
You may be disappointed by the lack of âgreatâ 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 Adobeâs offering, it seems smarter just going for the real thing.
Best Pdf Reader For Mac
Tts reader for mac. If the savings are substantial and if the replacement gets the job done, thereâs 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.
Best Pdf Reader App For Android
Filed in Apple. Read more about Apps and Pdf.
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