Last Updated on November 26, 2023 by Rick Darlinton
Are you looking for a best PDF editor for Mac to meet your personal or professional needs? Due to their simplicity and security, PDF documents are now universally used to store and exchange all kinds of information. Though, there are times when we just wish to edit an existing PDF document on our Mac. Since the editing solution is not presently available in a PDF reader, we need to look for a PDF editor instead. In this post, I will make you familiar with the best PDF editor for Mac that you can use presently.
Related:
How to edit PDF documents for free online
Best Desktop PDF Editor for Mac
Adobe Acrobat Pro
Adobe understands the importance of a PDF editor and has come up with its own application for Mac. Probably one of the best PDF editors for Mac, it has a sleek interface that is packed with tons of features.
- You can edit text, tables, graphics, and all kinds of data in a PDF file.
- Additional features to create new PDF documents and even fillable forms.
- You can import documents of different formats and even convert PDF into other formats.
- There are additional features to protect, sign, annotate, and share PDF documents.
Pros
- An array of PDF editing tools
- Inclusion of digital IDs and signatures
- Can be linked to Adobe’s cloud for collaboration
Cons
- A bit expensive
PDFelement Pro for Mac
PDFelement pro for mac is one of the best PDF editors for Mac that is already used for personal and professional requirements. You can edit, mark, protect, share, convert, create, and do so much more with PDF files.
- The tool has a user-friendly interface with options to create new PDF files or import documents of other formats.
- With a single click, you can edit PDF’s text and other elements of a file.
- There are additional features to comment and annotate PDF documents.
- You can also convert PDF to other formats like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or images.
Pros
- Extremely easy to use
- Features to protect and sign PDF files
Cons
- No free lifetime upgrade
PDF Expert
As the name suggests, this is an expert tool to edit a pdf document on mac of all kinds. There are various editing features in the tool that you can access to customize your PDF files.
- It can edit texts, tables, images, links, etc. in a PDF document.
- You can fill out PDF forms, add digital signatures, and export annotations as well.
- Can also split or merge PDF documents with a single click
- Additional features to optimize and convert PDF files
Pros
- Mobile app also available
- Easy to use
Cons
- Limited collaborative features for professional use
PdFpen
Smile Software has come up with two PDF editor versions for Mac – PDFpen and PDFpen Pro. The standard version is pretty neat and will meet almost every PDF-related requirement of yours.
- You can easily edit the existing text or tabular content of a PDF file.
- Seamless solutions to merge, delete, and split pages of PDF documents.
- Extended compatibility to import/export documents with different formats
- You can also protect your documents by including your digital signature.
Pros
- Inbuilt OCR to read images
- Annotation features to mark pages with comments
Cons
- Can’t create interactive forms (feature reserved for the Pro version)
Phantom PDF by Foxit
Phantom PDF is one of the best PDF editors for Mac that has been developed by Foxit. The tool offers tons of content editing and integration features as well.
- You can edit almost any element in a PDF document easily.
- Create new PDF files/forms and export them into different formats
- It has an intelligent tool to reduce PDF size drastically
- Scan images using its OCR reader and convert them to a PDF file
Pros
- Free trial version
- Annotation and protection features
Cons
- No support for indexing of large-sized PDF files
Power PDF Advanced by Kofax
Already trusted by over 2 million users, this is one of the best PDF editor for Mac that you can try. There are dedicated versions for individual and business use of the application.
- Import files from Word or Excel directly to a PDF or export a PDF into different formats
- Seamless solutions to edit all kinds of content in a PDF doc
- Fill forms, combine files, split them, and do so much more
- Real-time collaborative feature to work with your team
Pros
- Can create and import digital signatures
- Integration with popular cloud-based platforms
Cons
- Does not have its own cloud
- A bit expensive
FineReader Pro
Lastly, you can also try FineReader Pro by ABBYY on your Mac to edit and optimize your PDF documents. It is known for its inbuilt OCR feature that has excellent text recognition capability.
- Apart from text, you can also edit images in a PDF file as well.
- Can directly scan an image and convert it to a PDF document
- You can also export your PDF documents to tons of other formats
- Optimize PDF files and share them with others pretty easily
Pros
- Tons of features in one place
- Batch processing is also supported
Cons
- Can be complicated to use at first
Master PDF Editor for Mac
Lastly, if you are looking for a desktop application for Mac, then you can simply download the Master PDF Editor. From optimizing your documents to editing your files, it will let you do it all in one place.
- It provides complete editing features to work on PDF text, pages, images, and so on.
- You can split your files, merge them, optimize their size, or just convert them into different formats.
- Apart from encrypting your PDF files, you can also include your digital signatures to protect them.
Pros
- It can directly convert XPS documents into PDF
- Can directly export PDF into formats like PNG, JPEG, TIFF, and BMP
Cons
- The free version of Master PDF editor has limited features
Best free pdf editor for mac
Preview
If you don’t want to try any third-party application, then you can edit pdf in preview which is a popular free pdf editor for mac Using this native Mac application, you can perform some operations on PDF, but it won’t help you edit its text.
- Users can rearrange the pages of a PDF document and even merge the pages of different files together.
- You can also delete any page from a PDF document or split a file into another document.
- There are different tools to markup and annotate the document. For instance, you can add comments, a shape, a textbox, and so on.
Pros
- Freely available (inbuilt app in Mac)
- Easy to use
Cons
- You can’t edit texts, images, or any other content of a PDF file
- Limited features
Adobe Reader DC
As a free PDF editor, Adobe Reader DC is one of the most used PDF reader applications with lots of features such as viewing, printing, signing and commenting PDF documents for free. But if you want to unlock the limited features such as editing or exporting PDF files to word or excel document, you need to subscribe to Acrobat Pro DC.
- View, sign, print and comment PDFs
- Collect , annotate and share PDFs
- It is connected to Adobe Document Cloud with access to store files in Dropbox or Google Drive
Pros:
- Easy to use
- It is free
Cons
- Do not support creating or exporting PDFs
- Converting PDF to word/excel documents is not allowed
PDFCandy
PDFCandy is a free pdf editing software for mac that you can use on your Mac or any other platform. It offers simple yet effective solutions to work on all kinds of PDF documents for free.
- There are dedicated operations listed on its home that you can choose to implement on your PDF documents.
- Some of its prominent offerings are to compress, optimize, merge, convert, split, edit, and resize PDF files.
- You can convert files from other formats like PNG, RTF, HTML, TXT, XML, etc. to PDF and even export your PDF to other formats.
Pros
- Free video editor
- Several formats are supported
Cons
- Can’t upload files via URL
- No desktop applications for Mac
Smallpdf
Just like PDFCandy, Smallpdf can also be used for free to edit your PDF files. Apart from its web-based application, it provides iOS and Android solutions as well.
- You can convert files from other formats to PDF and even export PDF to other formats like Excel, PPT, DOC, etc.
- If you want, you can also edit the PDF documents and optimize the file.
- Furthermore, it lets us protect our PDF files and sign them electronically.
Pros
- Seamless options to merge and split documents
- Extensive editing features
Cons
- Only a 14-day trial version is available
PDF-XChange Editor
If you are looking for a lightweight free pdf editor for mac to edit and protect your PDF files, then you can also try PDF-XChange Editor. While the features are not as extensive as other tools, it will meet your basic needs.
- The application has an inbuilt OCR reader that would scan the document and let you extract the textual content.
- There are also options to edit the existing texts, pictures, tables, etc. in the PDF file.
- You can directly export your PDF documents into other formats like Excel or Word.
Pros
- Lightweight and easy to use
- A digital signature feature is included
Cons
- Limited free features
- Some features will leave a watermark
Inkscape
Ideally, Inkscape is a designing application that lets us edit vectors, but you can also use it to edit PDF files. There are also a few add-ons features that would help you manage your PDF files.
- It has a resourceful text tool that can help you add and edit texts in a PDF file.
- Inkscape has an inbuilt OCR reader that would let you scan any PDF document easily.
- You can also set restrictions on your PDF files and even export them into different formats.
Pros
- Numerous editing and designing features
- LaTeX integration supported
Cons
- PDF features are not that extensive
- A bit complicated to use
Skim
Skim is an open-source freely available PDF reader for Mac that also has features to edit and optimize PDF documents. A lot of Mac users already prefer Skim as their default PDF application.
- You can use it to read PDF files, add bookmarks, comments, notes, and use other annotation features.
- Users can also create snapshots of PDF files by clipping any segment of it.
- It also lets us underline certain text and export PDF files into other formats.
Pros
- Integration with LaTeX and SyncTeX
- Freely available
Cons
- PDF editing features are limited
Best Online PDF Editor for Mac
Sejda PDF Editor
This is one of the most popular and resourceful online PDF editors that can be accessed on any platform. Although it offers a free trial version, you can pay $7.50 per month to use its premium services.
- Just go to the Sejda website, upload your PDF document, and access the online editor on any platform of your choice.
- It will let you edit the existing details on your PDF documents and you can also insert different elements in your file.
- Users can protect their PDF files with digital signatures, optimize them, and even convert them into different formats.
Pros
- It has an inbuilt OCR reader
- Users can import files from other formats and convert them to PDF
Cons
- Only a free trial version is available
- The free version only supports 3 actions per hour
PDFbuddy is a lightweight online PDF editor for Mac that will meet your basic requirements. It is mostly used by individuals who would like to edit PDF files without installing any application.
- PDFbuddy can be accessed on any browser and users simply need to load their PDF files to get started.
- You can edit the existing elements of the PDF file or add texts and pictures in the document as well.
- There is an embedded feature to encrypt the PDF files and protect them with digital signatures.
Pros
- Extremely user friendly
- Most of its features are free
Cons
- With the free version, you can only edit 3 PDFs in a month
Soda PDF Editor
Developed by Lulu Software, Soda PDF is one of the most popular online PDF editors and has been around for a while. To access most of its features, you are needed to pay $6.75 a month.
- You can create PDF forms and import documents from other formats. It can also export PDF into formats like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
- It offers a seamless PDF editor to insert new elements to your files or edit the existing things (like texts or images).
- You can create or import digital signatures to protect your PDF files online.
Pros
- Features a sophisticated OCR feature
- Annotation options are also included
Cons
- Not available for free
PDFPro
PDFPro is another trusted application that you can use to create and edit PDF documents on your Mac online. To access its premium versions, you can pay $7.99 a month.
- Using PDFPro, you can seamlessly edit your PDF files and even create PDF forms on the go.
- You can erase or highlight texts, add comments, delete anything, and do so much more.
- Other features include optimizing, splitting, merging, rotating, and converting PDF files.
Pros
- Security features to protect PDF files
- Easy to use
Cons
- You can only work on 3 PDF files for free in a month
PDFescape
If you use Mac, you can choose PDFescape free online PDF editor tool which can let you view, edit and annotate,PDF files. Additionally, it can also be used to fill out PDF forms, create new PDF forms, share PDF documents online and protect PDF documents. The PDFescape software works with a number of web browsers such as Chrome , Firefox 3+ ,Edge , IE 6+ , and more.
Pros:
- The online PDF editor is free to use
Cons:
- With limited features
- The web-based tool only support file within 10M
I hope that after reading this post, you would be able to pick the best PDF editor for Mac to suit your requirements. I have listed both free and paid tools for individuals and businesses alike in this post. Since most of them offer a free trial version, you can give them a go and be a judge of these tools on your own!