Windows: PDF-XChange Editor. PDF-XChange Editor is one of the only free tools that allows true editing of text in PDF documents. However, you can only edit text. Editing any other content type (e.g. Lines, shapes, images, etc.) is a paid feature. Indeed, PDF-XChange Editor isn’t completely free. Best PDF Editor For Mac 1. Skim is a free PDF editor/reader for Mac and it is also called note-taker for Mac OS X. It is very helpful in reading PDFs due to its design. 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.

While all-in-one PDF suites that can do everything exist, they can cost quite a bit. For example, Nitro Pro is $160, PDF Studio is $90, and Adobe Acrobat Pro DC will set you back $15 per month. If you’d rather not pay a single cent, then we have some good and bad news for you.

The good news? Free PDF tools aboundThe 6 Best PDF Readers for Windows in 2019The 6 Best PDF Readers for Windows in 2019The best PDF readers don't cost any money. Read our roundup of feature-rich PDF viewers that out perform even Adobe Reader.Read More and many of them deliver acceptable results. The bad news? You’ll have to collect several different tools and assemble your own “PDF suite” a la carte (if you want the very best results).

In this article, you’ll find Windows and Mac recommendations for the best tool to use for the following specific PDF use-cases: viewing, annotating/editing, signing, merging, and splitting.

For Viewing PDFs

Windows: SumatraPDF

I switched to SumatraPDF years ago and have never looked back, and for one main reason: it’s the fastest and most lightweight PDF viewer I’ve ever used. Even on an ancient laptop that’s breathing its last breaths, SumatraPDF is blazing fast while providing accurate PDF rendering.

But it’s only a PDF viewer. It does not have capabilities for editing, signing, annotating, or otherwise changing PDF documents. In addition to PDF, SumatraPDF can view EPUB, MOBI, XPS, CBR, and several other formats.

Not happy with SumatraPDF? Check out these other lightweight PDF viewers for Windows4 Very Light Alternatives to Adobe Reader4 Very Light Alternatives to Adobe ReaderAre you still using Adobe Reader for PDF documents? It's time to move on to an alternative PDF reader that is lightweight, launches quickly, and yet keeps your documents save.Read More.

Mac: Skim

Preview is the PDF viewer of choice for most Mac users, and to be fair, Preview certainly can get the job done — and the fact that you don’t have to install anything to use it is a bonus. But if you want a faster PDF viewer with better usability, consider using Skim.

Skim was originally designed for viewing scientific papers in PDF form, but it has since evolved into a general purpose viewer. It’s extremely fast, lightweight, and easy to navigate (even for huge documents with many pages and images). Note that the site looks outdated, but the app is still being updated.

Don’t like Skim or Preview? Check out these alternative Mac apps for reading PDFs4 Best Free Mac Preview Alternatives for Reading PDFs4 Best Free Mac Preview Alternatives for Reading PDFsIf you're looking for a free Preview replacement for your PDF reading habit, here are the best free options out there.Read More.

For Annotating/Editing PDFs

Windows: PDF-XChange Editor

PDF-XChange Editor is one of the only free tools that allows true editing of text in PDF documents. However, you can only edit text. Editing any other content type (e.g. lines, shapes, images, etc.) is a paid feature.

Indeed, PDF-XChange Editor isn’t completely free. If you utilize any of the paid features, which are marked with an [x] icon in the menus, your PDF will be stamped with a non-revertable watermark as soon as you save! Removing the watermark requires a paid license, which costs $43.50.

Paid features include inserting or deleting pages, replacing pages, editing forms, headers and footers, anything involving bookmarks, and more. However, other notable free features include text box notes, highlighting, sticky notes, and drawing lines and shapes.

Mac: Preview

Pdf-xchange Editor

Unfortunately, we did not find any reputable free tools that can truly edit PDFs on Mac — only tools that can annotate and fill out documents. The best free tool we found is Mac’s default app, Preview.

Preview’s annotation options include highlighting, text box notes, drawn shapes, and embedded document notes (only viewable when the PDF is opened using Preview). It can also fill out most PDF forms, including text fields and checkboxes. But if it can’t, you can just use a text box note instead.

For Signing PDFs

Windows and Mac: Foxit Reader

Foxit Reader is a free PDF app that offers five ways to protect a PDF document:

1. PDF Sign: Hand-drawn signatures to verify authenticity.
2. DocuSign: Electronic signatures using DocuSign eSignatures.
3. Sign & Certify: Digital text signatures embedded on document pages.

In addition, Foxit Reader also offers a Validation feature (which checks if a PDF document adheres to ISO standards, thus ensuring it will be usable at any point in the future) and a Time Stamp feature (which uses a third-party service to verify that signatures were signed at a particular time).

Foxit Reader is seen as bloated by some, but we recommend keeping it around just for these signature and security features. Still don’t want to use it? Check out these other methods for signing PDF documents8 Ways To Sign A PDF From Windows, Mac & Mobile Platforms8 Ways To Sign A PDF From Windows, Mac & Mobile PlatformsWhen you get that contract via email, what do you do? You have to print the last page, sign it, scan it, and email it back — surely MakeUseOf, there must be a better way?Read More.

For Merging PDFs

Windows and Mac: PDFsam

Formerly known as PDF Split and Merge, PDFsam is the best way to merge multiple PDF documents into one. It’s open source and completely free for personal use, and it works on any platform that supports the Java Runtime Environment — that means Windows, Mac, Linux, and more.

You can select any number of input PDFs, and you can designate which pages you want to merge for each PDF. If the PDFs have bookmarks or outlines, you can decide to keep, merge, or discard them. You can also create a Table of Contents for the resulting PDF. It’s all quite easy.

Other nifty features include mixing PDFs (combining documents by alternating pages), rotating PDFs (applied to all pages), extracting PDFs (creating a new document using only certain pages from a source PDF), and splitting PDFs (but we recommend using the method below for this).

For Splitting PDFs

Windows and Mac: Web Browser

These days, you do NOT need a dedicated tool for splitting PDFs. Your web browser, as long as you’re using one of the mainstream ones, is equipped with a simple feature that can handle this for you with full flexibility.

On Windows 10, open any PDF in any web browser:

1. Print the PDF document (keyboard shortcut Ctrl + P).
2. Change the destination to Microsoft Print to PDF.
3. Select which pages you want to keep. Want to split a 10-page document in half? Go with 1-5 or 6-10, for example. Want only certain pages? You might go with 3,6,8. You can also combine them, like 1-3,6-8,10.
4. Click Print.

On Mac, open any PDF in any web browser:

1. Print the PDF document (keyboard shortcut Command + P).
2. Change Pages to Range and input which pages you want to split off.
3. In the lower-left corner, click the PDF menu and select Save as PDF.
4. Give a name to the resulting PDF and click Save.

Unfortunately, Mac’s print-to-PDF option isn’t as flexible as Windows 10, but it’s good enough for simple splitting. If you need more complex functionality, consider using PDFsam (mentioned above).

A Few More PDF Tips

We’ve covered several other PDF-related tips in the past, including how to extract images from PDFsHow to Extract Images From a PDF and Use Them AnywhereHow to Extract Images From a PDF and Use Them AnywherePDF files can be containers for embedded images. We show you how to extract images from a PDF file and save them to your desktop.Read More, all the cool things you can do with PDFs on Google Drive10 Tips to Do More With Your PDF Files on Google Drive10 Tips to Do More With Your PDF Files on Google DriveGoogle Drive is a full-featured office suite. Some of its key features include the PDF capabilities built into the cloud app.Read More, and ways to convert PDF documents (into images6 Ways to Convert a PDF to a JPG Image6 Ways to Convert a PDF to a JPG ImageRead More and into Word documentsHow to Convert PDF to Word for FreeHow to Convert PDF to Word for FreePDF to Word converters are a dime a dozen. We have compiled the 5 best ones you can get for free, for both on- and more secure offline use.Read More).

If you’re making PDFs of your own, be sure to keep these tips for reader-friendly PDFsMake Your PDF Files More Accessible & Reader Friendly with these TipsMake Your PDF Files More Accessible & Reader Friendly with these TipsAny good PDF needs to be accessible to communicate ideas — follow these tips to make sure your document hits the target.Read More in mind. Nothing worse than trying to read a poorly-formatted document!

What are your favorite PDF tools? Are there any we missed? Share them with us in the comments below!

Explore more about: PDF, PDF Editor, Preview App.

1. Why not mention Master PDF. It is free for personal use only on linux but it is a full pdf editing app. For windows it ads watermark on save.

2. I am looking for a PDF app that can delete pages from a scanned document. I clip articles out of old car magazines to digitize via scanner. I frequently end up with an 8 page clipping with 2 pages of ads in the middle. I would like to find a tool that can open the resulting PDF and remove the useless pages. Any suggestions?

   • Try the free PDF24. You can add, delete, rearrange pages either within the same file or combining different files. Also, very easy to use as pages are displayed graphically.

Aug 12,2019 • Filed to: Mac Tutorials

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

Here we’ve compiled the top 5 PDF editor Mac tools to easily work with your PDFs. We’ve found the best 5 free PDF editor for Mac to help you modify your files, including tool like PDFelement Pro for Mac.

Choose Your Best PDF Editor for Mac

Pdf Editor Free Download Mac

1. PDFelement Pro - Clean and Powerful PDF Editor

PDFelement Pro is one of the best programs for all solutions to edit PDF files on Mac. With this tool, you are able to edit, add, modify and delete texts, graphics and images in PDF format. You can also convert your PDF files to Word, Excel, EPUB, Images and more formats. You can annotate and mark all the screen content with a variety of markup and annotation tools. It allows you to fill out your existing PDF forms, create PDFs form and extract data from PDFs forms. The advanced OCR feature helps you to edit and convert scanned PDF and extract data from scanned PDF.

2. PDF Expert - Beautiful and Robust PDF editor

Free Pdf Editor For Mac

PDF Expert by Readdle is a start product in Mac App Store. It has been rewarded as 'Editors' Choice', 'App of the Year' and 'Top 1 Paid App'. It provides advanced reading experience on Mac. The cool thing is that you can compare two PDF files in the 'split view mode'. You can also mark up while reading. PDF Expert also provides tools to combine PDFs. Add, remove, extract, rotate, copy and reorder pages to make the best arrangment of your PDF files. Fill out PDF forms and sign electronically.

Foxit Free Pdf Reader

3. Adobe^® Acrobat^® DC Mac - Powerful but Expensive Choice

As the leading brand in the PDF industry, the PDF editor of Adobe^® Acrobat^® is no doubt with realiable quality.From the product interface we can see, it has a wide range of tool set. You can edit, comment, fill&sign, convert, combine and secure PDFs. With the help of Action Wizard, Pro users can customize an action and run it. So that you are able to deal with piles of PDFs with the same action. It is also integrated with Adobe Sign. If you have an Adobe suite already and enough budget, then Acrobat DC is a better choice.

4. Foxit PhantomPDF Mac - New Product by Old Brand

Foxit published PhantomPDF Mac in recent year. Been dedicated in Windows solution of PDF for years, it's Mac version deserves a trial. This PDF editor mac allows you to edit text, convert, annotate, compress, OCR and sign PDFs. You can also fill out forms and protect PDFs with password.

5. PDFpen Pro

PDFpen Pro is an all-purpose PDF editor for mac. You can edit, mark up, OCR and protect PDF and create PDF forms. Edit text and images, annotate PDFs with highlight, notes and hand-drawings. OCR scanned PDFs into editable text. There's also a redaction option that can black out your sensitive information.

Three Light-weighted PDF Editing Software for Mac

6. Preview - Mac Built-in Markup Tool

Preview is a light-weighted PDF annotation tool, which is built-in on Mac. You can add text, notes, shapes and highlight to note down your thoughts. You can also compress, convert and combine PDFs. It also allows you to organize pages like add, delete and move. To protect your PDF documents, you can add password. However, it has less features compared with professional pdf editors on Mac. It doesn't support batch process and OCR. The most important is that it can't edit existing text in a PDF. Therefore, it's only suitbale for those who only want to mark up PDF files. If you are looking for PDF editing software on Mac, it is not your choice.

7. Adobe Reader DC

Adobe Reader DC is a free PDF reader on Mac. As its name conveys, it only allows you to view, comment and sign PDFs. If you want to enjoy the editing feature, you need to upgrade to Adobe Acrobat DC.

Free Mac Pdf Editor Software

8. FineReader Pro for Mac

Best Free Pdf Reader Editor For Mac

FineReader Pro for Mac is OCR product from ABBYY, a leading comany in OCR area. The highlight of the program is converting scanned PDFs with great accuracy. If you often deal with scanned files, then FineReader Pro for Mac is your best choice. You can convert those documents into editable formats like docx, xlsx, pptx and more.

Two Minority Free PDF Editors Mac

Best Free Pdf Reader Reviews

9. PDF Editor Mac

PDF Editor Mac is free pdf editor mac from individual developer. Although it may not have beautiful interface and is not so intuitive, the program have the common features that's enough for light users. You can edit, rotate and annotate PDF documents.

10. Skim

This software is a free PDF annotation and reader for Mac that allows you to make a number of modifications. It lets you perform tasks such as highlighting, underlining, and adding sticky notes as for better viewing of PDFs.