We all love agood PDF editor. But while there is an abundance of options for PC users, Macusers are left with one simple question:
Software To Edit Pdfs On Mac Computer
What’s the bestway to edit PDF while on Mac?
Mac users have ahard time looking for a free PDF editing solution. But with some creativity,there are ways to get around the problem.
Install Movavi Photo Editor on any Apple personal computer compatible with Mac OS versions 10.10–10.13, for example, OS X Lion, OS X Yosemite, OS X El Capitan, macOS Sierra. The app is so easy to learn that you don’t even have to know the basics about how to edit photos on Mac. You can get to work on your MacBook Pro or Mac mini right away.
Preview
We can’t move forward without mentioning Preview. This pre-installed program comes with every Mac and is the default PDF editor. It does the most basic things except edit text.
So if all there is to do is rearrange pages or insert annotations (Tools > Annotate), Preview might be enough.
Editinga PDF
To edit PDFdocuments, you will need to access the editing feature of Preview.
Click the Edit button in Preview.
Select one of the editing options from the toolbar such as add text or shapes.
Other Features
There’s a featurethat lets users rearrange the pages in any order they wish. This can be donethrough the sidebar. Those who don’t have the sidebar on by default can enableit from the View menu.
But what if youreally need to make edits to the text? What can you do? While not an idealsolution, you can create a white box to cover the unwanted copy. Then you cansimply add your text and place it on top of the box.
Inserting a Signature
Adding asignature is also possible if your Mac has iSight or a trackpad connected toit. The freehand drawing tool can also be used to insert shapes—or asignature—straight onto the PDF.
If you alreadyhave a signature saved on your computer, adding it to the PDF is even easier.
Click Sign in the Edit toolbar.
Select a signature from the drop-down list or add a new one.
Position the signature where it needs to be in the document.
ConvertingPDFs
Another possible solution is to convert PDF files into DOC versions. That way, the converted file can be edited in MS Word.
To do this, youmay need to look into using file converters. There are free programs availableonline that will get the job done. After you make your edits, you can save thedocument as a PDF, converting it back to its original file format.
If formatting isnot an issue, there are ways to convert PDFs to Word for free.
Convertusing Preview
Convertusing Google Docs
Once the uploading is finished, right-click the document and go to Open With > Google Docs.
Make the necessary edits. Once finished, go to File > Download As > PDF Document.
Third-partyprograms
Mac OS users whoneed something more powerful have to resort to third-party software. There aremany programs to choose from online. Some of them well-established whileothers, not so much.
If you’replanning to go this route, you need to perform extensive research to make sureyou’re not downloading and installing a dud.
Users also have to keep in mind that no third-party PDF editor is perfect. Running into issues like being unable to edit the existing text is still a possibility.
EditPDFs online
There are sitesthat offer online PDF editing. You simply upload the file and start makingchanges. When you download the document to your computer, it will be saved as aPDF.
If you’ve ever been given a pdf file that you want to edit, or a pdf form that you need to complete and return electronically, you’ll realise that it’s not obvious how to edit a pdf file in OS X. You can make simple changes to a pdf file using the free built-in Preview App that comes free with OS X. Here’s how.
Edit Pdf On Mac Free
If you double-click on any pdf file in OS X it will open in an application called Preview.  Preview has a hidden “Annotations Toolbar’ that will allow you to edit the pdf file.  You can’t change what’s already in the pdf document.  But you can do minor changed like adding your own text and graphics, so this method will allow you to complete a form or make minor additions.
For full pdf editing capabilities (for example adding paragraphs of text, moving pictures around on a page etc) you need to get some fully blown pdf editing software like Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Acrobat Professional. But these cost hundreds of dollars. The good news is that ‘Preview’, the built-in OS X pdf reader app, has some basic pdf editing abilities built-in.
Here’s how to use the Annotations Toolbar.
Go up to the View menu and select the menu item called ‘Show Annotations Toolbar. This will give you a toolbar along the bottom of your preview window to help you edit the pdf file.
Free Software To Edit Pdf Files For Mac
Note: In Yosemite and El Capitan the ‘Annotations Toolbar’Â has been Renamed to ‘Markup Toolbar’ Â so that it looks like this:
After you select  the ‘View: Show Annotations Toolbar’ menu you will see a toolbar across the bottom of the preview window that looks like this:
These buttons will allow you to edit the pdf file. The left three buttons make an arrow, a circle or a rectangle. The fourth button along allows you to add text to the pdf.
If you click on the text box button – the 4th button across, Â you can then go up to your document and add in a text box like this:
If you click on the text button you can add a text box to the pdf document like this.
This is a very easy way to fill in pdf files that are forms.
If you highlight the newly added text you can change the font by pressing Apple-T and the font window will appear.
You can’t delete what’s already in a document, but you can draw a rectangle over it to hide it and type something new over the top.
You can cover over existing text using a rectangle with a white border like this.
You’ll notice you can’t change the rectangle color from being black, but you can put a very fat white border around it so it looks like a white rectangle!
Please note, this is more of a hack than a proper way to edit. The original information that you have edited will still be there. It is just covered over. If someone deletes the box they will see the original document.
Edit Pdf Files Mac Free
This is what led the the recent scandal in Australian Politics when all the private phone numbers of Australian politicians were accidentally leaked. The deleted the phone numbers from public documents by changing the colour from black to white. But they didn’t realise someone could still get the numbers out of the documents.
If you want to totally change the images and text on an existing pdf file you will need an application like Adobe Illustrator that can actually edit the content of pdf files. But if you only want to make small changes, the built-in preview app will do the job!
Software To Edit Pdfs On Mac Download
If you’d like to sign a PDF document with your handwritten signature I have a separate article on how to do that.
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