What is the best free PDF Editor for Mac? - PDF Editor for Mac

Sure thing! Preview on Mac can handle basic PDF tasks for free. For more advanced editing, like changing text or converting files, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC's free version is user-friendly.

What's more, this article lists the top 6 PDF editors for Mac and discusses their features, pros and cons.

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There are some PDF editors that can satisfy your needs. Pick one based on your frequency.

Here are some free PDF editors that work:

Preview: A built-in app on Mac that can perform some basic editing operations on PDFs.

PDFgear

https://www.pdfgear.com/pdfgear-for-mac/

Sejda(online service)

https://www.sejda.com/pdf-editor

PDFescape(online service)

https://www.pdfescape.com/online-pdf-editor/

Here are some editors that require a payment to achieve those needs and they worth it:

Adobe Acrobat

https://www.adobe.com/acrobat.html

Foxit

https://www.foxit.com/

PDFExpert

https://pdfexpert.com/

You can choose a PDF editor that suits your needs. Hope this can help you!

While many PDF editors require payment for advanced features and complex editing, but if you're in need of a free option, I searched on google and found this resource: Hope if this helps

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Okay, how did this post already garner 11 upvotes? These "editors" have been mentioned multiple times in this topic already. Of the 5 presented in Albertsmitho's post, it goes like this:

Preview - This is NOT an editor. Period! How many times does that have to be stated? It can drop in annotations, which is the electronic version of putting a Post-It note on top of a document. That's not editing. Everything underneath is unchanged. The only thing Preview does that can be called editing is it recently got the ability to rearrange pages, and move them between open documents.

PDFgear - Barely an editor. And I already mentioned this on page 1 of this topic. Simple text editing is the only editing it can do. Everything else is annotation markup or other simpler tasks that can be done with Preview.

LibreOffice Draw - At least this one is sort of an editor. But then just about any vector drawing app can edit a PDF. This includes Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Inkscape, etc. However, these are not easy to use as a PDF editor as it is very clumsy (or not even possible) to rearrange pages and other PDF editing features. These apps expect you to use them as a drawing app, not a multi-page document editor.

PDF Expert - This one actually is an excellent editor. Though despite what the page linked to says, there is no free version.

PDFescape - Also barely an editor. You can rearrange pages, change text and add all kinds of annotations. Which, to repeat, annotations are not editing. You can edit existing text. You can delete, but you cannot move any existing text boxes. You can drop in your images, but cannot modify, move or remove any already in the document.

Most of the editors you can find online and in the App Store are not editors at all. The only one that is an actual editor in the link provided by Jessica_212 is Adobe Acrobat Pro. The rest only do simple, non-editing functions. Like dropping in your signature, adding annotation shapes like arrows and boxes. And in one app, being able to drop in an extra text box onto the file. Which is just another annotation feature.

Genuine editing is being able to place text, change existing text, add or remove images, change object colors, etc.

These are few and far between. The only ones I've ever found are Adobe Acrobat Pro and Master PDF Editor. Acrobat Pro is great, but very expensive since it's never ending subscription software. Keep paying, or it stops working. Master PDF Editor is one time cost perpetual software. You get one year of free updates from the time you purchase it. But, it keeps working past the one year mark. You don't have to upgrade if you don't want to.

I just tried Cisdem's PDFMaster and was vastly underwhelmed. Virtually everything it does is nothing but annotations where you can drop shapes, text boxes and other objects on top of the PDF. This is not editing.

Moving pages around? You can do that in Preview. Redaction? It's nothing but another annotation. You drop a black box over something, but the actual content is still underneath. You can also do that in Preview.

The only true editing it does is text manipulation, and it's very clumsy.

In other words, not even close to Acrobat Pro, Master PDF Editor, Foxit PDF Editor, or PDF Expert.

That's exactly where I am. I used Adobe's software from version 4, through the CS suites, and on into the full CC subscription option while I had an in-home business. After shutting that down the end of 2021, my main goal was to eliminate all subscription software.

While I used the free Inkscape for a while, it's just too clunky and outdated. I finally went with Affinity Designer 2 to replace Illustrator. Very much worth the perpetual license cost.

Picked up the free version of VivaDesigner to replace InDesign as it's the only third party app that can import InDesign files, and export an InDesign Markup (.idml) file other InDesign users can open. But since I never did much with page layout in my business over 45 years (other than opening up client files for reference), it just sits on my computer taking up space.

Master PDF Editor replaced Acrobat Pro as it's one of only two perpetual license alternatives out there. Other titles mentioned in this topic do work very well, but they're subscription only, and that's on my do not ever buy list.

My only holdout is I continue to pay $10 a month for Photoshop CC. I know it too well to give it up for anything else. And while Affinity Photo is a nice app, it can't run third party filters I use with Photoshop all the time.

Is Master PDF Editor a bit clunky? Yes, but overall, it works well. You get one year of updates from the time of purchase. After that, you either pay for another year's worth at a reduced rate, or just continue using what you have. I haven't updated MPE for at least a couple of years now. And as long as it keeps working in whatever is the current version of macOS, there's no reason to upgrade until I have to.

I liked PDF Expert better when I tried the trial version. But $145 for a one-time cost version that doesn't get you even one bug fix, minor point update? Hmm, pretty darn stingy.

PDFgear seems to do the same things as Acrobat...I was surprised..you could edit text...

Did you try the default Preview for PDF editing?

The Preview app on macOS offers a variety of features for editing PDFs. One of its primary functions is the ability to annotate PDFs. Users can add text, shapes, and highlight parts of the document. This is particularly useful for marking up documents for review or adding notes. The app also allows users to merge and reorder PDF pages, which is handy for compiling documents or rearranging them for better flow.

Another notable feature of Preview is the ability to fill out and sign PDF forms. Users can easily enter text into form fields, and the signature feature lets them create a digital signature using the trackpad, a saved image, or the Mac's camera. This makes it easy to fill out and sign documents electronically.

However, while Preview offers a range of features for basic editing and annotation, it may not be sufficient for more advanced PDF editing needs. For tasks like editing existing text within a PDF, more complex formatting, or advanced multimedia integration, users might need to look at specialized PDF editing software.

How does one access from the Pages document, the Preview app on MacOS? When I go to export my Pages document to a PDF, it is Adobe Acrobat Reader that pops up and where it is saved under. I need access to a PDF program as well, however on a minimal level. Mostly for documents and text based work, with little to no imagery work.

I installed PDFgear on my Mac to edit text, annotate convert and cmpress PDF....It has a sleek interface, very easy to navigate and got pretty much all the necessary PDF-related functions that I need. It's currently cost-free and ad-free, which is a definite plus.

Simple text editing is the only editing it can do. Everything else is annotation markup or other simpler tasks that can be done with Preview.

PDFgear isn't even close to Acrobat Pro.

So let’s make sure you understand about PDF. PDF (Portable Document Format) is proprietary and owned by Adobe. They alone have control over it. So-called third party editors have reverse engineered the format and can only offer limited editing functions.

As far as I know there are no “free” PDF editors that provide full editing functions other than Acrobat Pro. Adobe is also very protective of its intellectual property as well.

Hi Kurt. The post linked below may be helpful.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255591328?sortBy=oldest_first

Preview is good for reviewing PDF files, but not so much with editing (refer on the current issue encountered when saving edited PDF files thru preview:

Why did Preview lock my PDF after I edite… - Apple Community