Design your docs professionally using the best PDF editors for Mac, iPad, and iPad! Mark up your text, add comments, sign documents and don’t forget to safeguard them using a password to prevent unauthorized access. Head over to explore the finest PDF editors and let us know which one is primed for your specific taste:
PDF editing is a very needed feature but not every app out there provides that functionality. Not only that, the ones that enable PDF editing are very costly. For instance, take the case of PDFPen – that costs you $74.95 for the full version. Adobe’s propriety can cause a huge dent in your pocket: about $200 for the editors.
Haihaisoft PDF Reader is a super-lightweight reader for those who don’t want any bells or whistles. In a sense, it’s the complete opposite of Acrobat Reader. It doesn’t try to make your life easy, and it doesn’t even have a Preferences panel. PDF reader for Mac free download: Download Skim >> Best PDF Reader with Powerful Features to Manage PDFs. Cisdem PDFManagerUltimate is a powerful PDF reader for Mac which will give you a complete PDF solution. With this application, reading PDF file is no longer a difficult task.
Although PDF editors are costly, not everyone wants to edit PDF documents per se. More or less, it’s only to annotate, highlight or certain other research-oriented purposes. Much of this can be achieved through a variety of software that’s less costly or free such as PDFelement for iOS. It’s completely free to use. We’ll take a look at the options available for Mac users.
Best PDF Editors for Mac
#1. PDFelement
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. This software features all the tools you can use completely edit your PDF documents, from the simple tasks like editing text and images to even cooler stuff like signing your documents digitally. You can also convert to PDF or from PDF using virtually any document file type be it to Word, Excel, PowerPoint. Moreover, you can transform the scanned document to editable PDF using a top draw Optical Character Recognition (OCR) feature.
Form handling has also been made super simple with this tool keeping in mind that you can create, edit, fill, sign and protect your PDF forms without breaking a sweat. You can even extract data from your PDF interactive PDF forms and export in CSV formats. It gets even better! You can speed up the process of converting, data extraction, Bates numbering and watermarking by batch processing your PDF files. Read full review.
- Download PDFelement 6 for iOS (Free)
- Download PDFelement 6 for Mac ($59.99)
- Download PDFelement 6 Pro for Mac ($99.99)
#2. Preview
Mac’s built-in solution, Preview, has become quite powerful over the years. One of the most impressive additions is the ability to annotate, highlight, adding images in a PDF file. Preview is as good as any other PDF editor out there, but it is not a full-fledged editor: you can’t edit the entire PDF file as such. You can only take to a certain level of editing where you either add or highlight sections of the PDF file. Preview can also help you combine files.
#3. Skim
Skim is a popular, open-source and free PDF reader that doubles up as a research tool with it set of features. It’s pretty much the same as Preview on Mac, but it works well for those quick annotations, comments, and highlights.
You can also customize Skim to suit your needs better. The app makes navigation super easy with the table of contents or thumbnails and visual history. That’s not all, it is integrated with BibDesk and several other third-party apps and has the support for extensive AppleScript as well.
Price: Free
Download
#4. JotForm PDF Editor (Online)
If you don’t like to download apps on your Mac, this online PDF Editor from JotForm is perfect. Whether it about creating a form for registration or issuing invoices to your clients; JotForm PDF Editor has got your back. You can create a regular form and share it with the recipient. The responses are saved automatically in presentable and customizable PDF files.
It also offers 100+ PDF templates across multiple categories to get you started quickly. Some of the template’s categories are invoice, registration, job application, lease agreement, event planning, and many more. If you are comfortable using the online editor, this one is the best. And yes, it is free.
Price: Free
Try Online
#5. PDF Reader – Document Expert
Take control of your PDFs with more flexibility and manage them just the way you want! PDF Reader is pretty simple yet effective enough to let you carry out your tasks with the needed efficiency.
You can create quick shortcuts to import your files and folders easily. Using TAG, you will be able to organize your PDFs ideally. Access all the needed information like bookmark, outline, thumbnails, and annotation without breaking any sweat. Keep an eye on your entire library and also check out the last import history. And yes, you can also sync your data with iCloud to access them from across your devices.
Price: Free
Download
Best PDF Editors for iPhone/iPad
Now that we’ve talked about PDF editors for the Mac, it’s also a good thing to take a look at some popular options available to do the same on iOS devices. There aren’t many popular apps or services for this, but if you’re ready to shell out some money, there are apps to help you annotate and read PDF docs on iOS devices.
#1. Good Reader
Right on top of the list is Good Reader. Sells at $4.99 and brings pretty good PDF reading and editing capability. The app has got a separate version for the iPad.
Price: $4.99
Download
#2. PDF Expert
Good Reader is good enough, but you can’t fill/edit forms within the PDF file using Good Reader. 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 certificates. It comes with the ConnectPDF feature that allows you to collaborate with your friends.
Shield your PDF files with password and Microsoft Rights Management Services. Another notable feature of Foxit is the support for 12 languages like English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, etc.
Price: Free
Download
#4. MaxiPDF
For editing and designing PDF files, you can’t go wrong with a neat PDF editor like MaxiPDF. You can easily create, modify, delete text and images. It allows you to add and save comments as well.
You can upgrade to the premium ($0.99/monthly) version of the app to use it without ads. Besides, MaxiPDF supports several languages including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish and Turkish.
Price: Free
Download
#5. Adobe Acrobat Reader
If you want to have an all-in-one PDF editing experience, pick out Adobe Acrobat Reader. There is so much to like about this app, and the first among many is the—wide range of superior editing tools. That means you have the required freedom to create eye-catching files.
Take the full advantage of sticky notes and drawing tools to make comments on PDFs. Get the most out of annotating tools to highlight and mark up the text. With the full support for Apple Pencil, it ensures you have greater precision while creating praiseworthy docs.
Price: Free
Download
That’s all, folks!
What’s your pick?
I think you have found an able PDF editor for your device. Which one is it? Feel free to let us know you pick in the comments.
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I love the Preview app that comes installed on all Mac systems. It’s pretty much the catch-all app for viewing and making basic edits to images or documents, and it comes with a bunch of nifty features10 Tips You Need to Know About Mac Preview10 Tips You Need to Know About Mac PreviewRead More that are useful. But even though Preview supports PDF documents, it could be better.
This seems to be the case for many of the default Mac appsA Complete Guide to Default Mac Apps and What They DoA Complete Guide to Default Mac Apps and What They DoYour Mac comes with a lot of apps for all sorts of tasks, but you may still be confused by what they do or whether you actually need some of themRead More, at least in my experience. They’re great 90 percent of the time, but eventually you run into quirks, limitations, or hindrances that may prod you into wondering if any good alternatives exist out there.
So I did some searching and testing and found a handful of free Preview alternatives that felt better to use for PDF reading — and I’m confident that you’ll like at least one of the options in this post.
Adobe Reader For Macbook Pro
1. Skim
This is my preferred PDF reader of choice by a long shot. It has all of the core features that you’d expect, including some basic customizations and settings to tweak, and it’s extremely lightweight and fast. It’s all the good of Preview without any of the weird quirks that put me off.
Skim is actually designed with academic and scientific papers in mind, so its greatest feature is the ability to annotate documents. You can add and edit notes as well as highlight text, which doesn’t sound like much, but the key is the easy-to-use interface that never gets in the way.
Other notable features include support for AppleScript and Apple Remote Control, creating document “snapshots” for reference and revision control, viewing pages in presentation mode with transitions, and more.
2. Foxit Reader
Foxit Reader is arguably the most popular PDF reader currently available, even beating out SumatraPDF (which is my preferred reader of choice on Windows). When you load it up for the first time, you’ll understand why users love it so much. It’s pretty, it works, and it’s fast.
I’m listing it as second in this post, but it’s a very close second. In fact, depending on what you need from your PDF reading app, Foxit Reader may indeed be the better alternative for you. It comes with a tabbed interface, which is especially useful when you’re dealing with dozens of documents at the same time.
If Skim didn’t exist, I’d be using Foxit Reader. There’s absolutely no contest. It may not offer much in terms of customizability, but the PDF-reading experience is top notch. Highly recommended.
3. Acrobat Reader DC
Everyone has used Acrobat Reader at one point or another. Like Flash, it’s maintained by Adobe, and like Flash, it has a reputation for being bloated, messy, and full of security vulnerabilities.Why Flash Needs to Die (And How You Can Get Rid of It)Why Flash Needs to Die (And How You Can Get Rid of It)The Internet's relationship with Flash has been rocky for a while. Once, it was a universal standard on the web. Now, it looks like it may be headed to the chopping block. What changed?Read More But things have changed and Acrobat Reader actually isn’t so bad these days, particularly on a Mac.
As with Foxit, Acrobat has a tab-based interface that makes it great for keeping multiple documents open. But Acrobat’s biggest feature is the Document Cloud (which is why it now has “DC” in its name). With it, you can store your files securely on Adobe’s servers and access them from anywhere using any Acrobat Reader app, including the mobile variants.
Upgrading to the Pro version ($15 per month) also grants extra features like being able to search the text in scanned documents, exporting PDFs to various Office formats9 Rare Office File Formats You Have to Know9 Rare Office File Formats You Have to KnowHave you ever come across strange file formats in your office suite? We'll give you a quick primer on rare, yet useful office file types and what you can use them for.Read More, filling and signing forms on mobile, and more.
4. Haihaisoft PDF Reader [No Longer Available]
Haihaisoft PDF Reader is a super-lightweight reader for those who don’t want any bells or whistles. In a sense, it’s the complete opposite of Acrobat Reader. It doesn’t try to make your life easy, and it doesn’t even have a Preferences panel. It simply loads and displays PDF documents (including ones protected by DRM-X).
And you know what? For most people that’s perfectly fine, and if that sounds like the kind of app you want, don’t let anyone convince you to switch to Foxit or Acrobat. Haihaisoft PDF Reader is for minimalists and for those who have aging hardware who favour lightweight software for performance reasons.
Haihaisoft PDF Reader also prioritizes security and privacy. It never connects to the internet, not even to check for updates. You have to manually run the version check from the menu.
Paid PDF Solutions for Mac
If you need an app that not only reads but also creates and edits PDF documents, you’ll need to fork over a good chunk of cash to get one that’s actually worth using. Free PDF editors do exist, but they tend to fall short in usability and quality. PDF editing is complex and you don’t want to skimp here.
iSkysoft PDF Editor costs $50 for the standard version (editing, annotating, watermarking, creation, insertions, forms, and format conversions) and $100 for the professional version (OCR for scanned documents, file compression, more conversion options, and password protection for documents). Both versions come with a free trial.
PDF Studio is more expensive, costing $90 for the standard version (creation, scanning, annotating, forms, password protection, watermarking, bookmarks, and table of contents) and $130 for the professional version (OCR for scanned documents, text editing, content redaction, digital signatures, splitting and merging, batch processing, and optimizations). Both versions come with a free trial.
For serious PDF work, you can’t go wrong with either of these.
Which Preview Alternative Do You Prefer?
There’s one more app that deserves an honorable mention: Okular. It’s actually one of the best free and open source PDF readers out there5 Easy & Effective Ways to Edit PDF Documents on Linux5 Easy & Effective Ways to Edit PDF Documents on LinuxHow can you modify PDFs on a Linux system? Well, you might pay for commercial-grade software and support, or opt for a free alternative. Let's take a look at what's out there.Read More but suffers from a huge problem: it’s difficult to install and set up. You need to install KDE (using Homebrew most likelyHow to Install Mac Apps in Terminal Using HomebrewHow to Install Mac Apps in Terminal Using HomebrewDid you know you can install Mac software in the Terminal? Here's how to use Homebrew to install Mac apps easily.Read More) and then compile Okular from source. This is advanced stuff, so non-techy folks beware.
And considering the availablity of both Skim and Foxit Reader, I wouldn’t bother wasting any effort with Okular. Skim and Foxit Reader are easy to use, free, and beloved by many. Give them a try if you haven’t already.
What do you use for reading PDFs on Mac? Is Preview good enough or have you settled on an alternative? Share your thoughts with us in a comment below.
Explore more about: macOS Sierra, PDF, Reading.
Pdf Reader On Mac
Hi,
I myself like you use Skim.
However, incompatibility between Mac Sierra OS and PDFKit forced me to go back to El Capitan. In Mac Sierra OS I was not able to make new annotations and editing existing ones was quite difficult. The issue does not seem to be resolved yet.
I'm waiting for that glitch to be fixed to go back to Mac Sierra.
If someone else has to add something on this issue, I'd appreciate.