In this article, I will introduce you the best PDF annotator for Mac - PDFelement for Mac and the way to annotate PDF on Mac. Free Download If you just want to make some simple annotations on PDF document, then you also can use Preview program the default PDF annotator on Mac to do so. ISkysoft PDF Editor 6 Professional for Mac is a professional PDF editor which can also play the role of best Mac PDF reader and editor. This best PDF App for Mac OS High Sierra (macOS 10.14) provides you full functions for PDF editing when you need for better reading PDF on Mac (macOS 10.14 Mojave, 10.13 High Sierra, 10.12 Sierra and 10.11 El.
Aug 27,2019 • Filed to: PDFelement for Mac How-Tos • Proven solutions
Need a PDF annotator for Mac? If you need to add comments or markup your PDF files, it's necessary to find the right PDF annotation software to use. PDF has become the standard document format for sharing information, whether in the business or academic realm. Whether it's contracts, projects, financial sheets, receipts, or reports you're creating, chances are you'll be sending it to others in PDF format. Even textbooks are now usually in PDF format. To work more efficiently, a PDF annotation tool is essential. Wondering how to annotate a PDF on Mac? In this article, we'll introduce the best PDF annotator for Mac - PDFelement.
How to Annotate PDF on Mac
Step 1. Add Comments to PDF
To add comments to your PDF, click on the 'Markup' tab and select the 'Sticky Note' tool. Then click on the PDF page to add a sticky note comment to it. Double-click on the yellow comment area to start entering content.
Step 2. Highlight/Strikethrough/Underline PDF
Click on the 'Highlight' button in the 'Markup' tab. Then choose the text you want to highlight. Yellow is the default highlight color. You can change it if you'd like.
If you want to strikethrough or underline text in your PDF, you can click the 'Strikethrough' or the 'Underline' button.
Step 3. Add Stamp and Signature to PDF
Go to the 'Markup' tab and choose the 'Stamp' button. A pup-up window will appear. You can choose whichever stamp you'd like.
To add a signature, once again go to the 'Markup' tab and choose the 'Signature' icon. You should click on the 'Plus' icon in the pop-up window. From there you can choose a signature you've already created or you can free-hand draw a new signature.
If you want to make simple annotations to your PDF document, then you also can use Preview, which is the default PDF program on Mac. It is a free program, though it is meant more as a PDF reader than a PDF editor or annotator. If you need to do more than simple annotations in your PDF, you'll likely need a professional PDF annotator for Mac (including Yosemite, EI Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, and 10.14 Mojave).
PDFelement is a user-friendly PDF tool, which allows you to annotate PDF files intuitively. All the annotation tools are displayed easily on the tool bar for you to select. Additionally, you can personalize the tool bar by dragging and dropping your most commonly used tools onto it. It is a simple, professional, yet affordable PDF annotator. Test out the trial version to see whether it is the right tool for you.
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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
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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Wondershare PDF Editor ($50) is another pricey option, but it has the ability to convert PDFs to Microsoft Word documents. We're not sure how well this works, but you might want to give it a try if that's something you need. Wondershare placed a false claim on their PDF Editor software that we considered it the best. They even created a fake Lifehacker approval image to act as if we provided them with an official award. We listed it as an alternative here, but as Wondershare has opted to falsely market their product with a seal of approval from us that we never provided, we ask that you do not buy from them.
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.
Best Pdf Reader For Annotating For Mac
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