Free PDF editor for mac is a real work, but when taking performance and security into consideration, they may disappoint you. If you need some of the additional features that come with the product and/or have a business operation that handles a lot of PDF documents, paid PDF Editor for Mac is the best choice. The best free PDF editor for Mac, Windows & Linux 1) PDF-XChange Editor| Windows and Mac For 10 years, PDF-XChange has been making the lives of PC users easier by letting them open PDFs for free.
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The PDF format is a great way to read, especially eBooks. When they were first conceptualized, it was intended to be a document that users couldn’t edit. This is one reason why you see so many open source PDF editor projects being abandoned (like PDFEdit which was updated last in 2012). After all, if you wanted an editable document, there is always Microsoft Word or Google Docs, right?
The fact that Adobe has little documentation available on the topic doesn’t help either. A lot of people are under the impression that PDF is a proprietary format by Adobe, which is not true. It was until 2008 when it was released as open-standard.
When it comes to editing PDF files, Adobe’s Acrobat Pro DC is the industry standard, but it’s quite expensive as well ($15 per month). But fret now, there are still free and open source PDF Editors available for Windows and Mac. Let’s see what they are.
Open Source PDF Editors for Windows
1. Using Word to Convert and Edit
While MS Word is not open source, it’s still is a worthy option, if it’s already installed on your Windows computer. We tend to give far less credit to Microsoft Word then it deserves. You can use Word to convert PDF to Word, edit it and convert it back to PDF on the fly.
Here is how it works, launch Word on your PC. Click the File button and click Open.
Locate the PDF file on your system that you want to edit and open. If you can only see Word files and not PDF files, click on All Files from the drop-down menu on the lower left. By default, Word is set to look for its own kind.
Word will work its magic and open the file in .docx format. If you don’t know what that is, you don’t need to. Just edit the document and when you are done, click the file button again.
This time, you will click Save As as and choose file type as PDF.
The process is fairly simple and doable. You may see a popup during the process asking you to confirm your choice. Click OK in that case. If you don’t have MS Word installed, you can also use Google Docs online, the process is pretty much same.
The problem with Word is that it is inconsistent when it comes to converting from PDF to Word. This is why I went looking for other options.
Also Read:5 Best PDF Editor Apps For Android
2. Inkscape
Inkscape is another open source PDF editors but it picks up things where LibreOffice lefts. Inkscape primarily uses vector graphics to open and edit PDF files. This means better performance, more features, and more options to edit images embedded within the files.
Inkscape is available in portable version. Portable versions are directly executable files that you can use to open and use the software without having to install them on your PC.
How to use Inkscape to Edit PDF?
To get started, import your PDF with Inkscape, making sure the “Import text as text” option is selected. After you import it, double-click on the text line, and you can start editing it. Once you have made desired changes simply save the file as pdf. And that’s it.
The UI is more user-friendly compared to LibreOffice, more control over images and graphics, and completely free and light-weight. Where it falls short is speed. The tool is slow which can irk some people.
Download Inkscape (Free)
3. Apache OpenOffice Draw
Apache OpenOffice Draw is similar to Inkscape in that it is a drawing tool that you can use to edit PDF files. It is a graphics editor so you can easily edit images and vector in your PDF.
OpenOffice made the list because it is more stable and comes with additional features. The UI is a lot better. It has a built-in spell checker and offers more editing options.
How to use Apache OpenOffice Draw
After you have installed using the link below, you will have to install the import extension. Now, launch the software, click on Tools-Extension Manager-Add. This should open a popup. Find the extension file on your Windows and double-click to install it.
From here, the steps are same. Click on File and find the PDF file you want to edit to open it.
Download OpenOffice Draw (Free)
Tools Lightworks Console Experience editing Lightworks in the way it was designed, with a dedicated console, designed to provide a more tactile approach to editing. Free video editor for mac 10.6.8. MediaInfo (Windows / Linux / Mac) Video and audio file analyzer VLC media player (Windows / Linux / Mac OSX) A free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework QuickTime 7 Player (Windows / Mac) Multimedia player and framework Microsoft DirectX (Windows) A collection of APIs for multimedia FFmpeg 3.4.2 Lightworks uses code of licensed under the.
Open Source PDF Editors for Mac
1. Formulate Pro
Formulate Pro will allow you to view, edit, and redact PDF files. It comes with cloud support so that you can store your documents online and access them anywhere, anytime.
Edit Pdf Mac
You can add text (there is an option to change the font as well to match the original copy) sign PDF files, and protect it with passwords as well as permissions. This is a good feature if the file contains sensitive information. It comes with a converter so you can convert files back and forth.
You can add or edit images as well, and there is support for OCR technology. Although the software hasn’t been updated since 2009, it worked fine in our testing.
Download Formulate Pro (Free)
2. LibreOffice Draw
LibreOffice has long been the favorite open source office suite. It is robust, free, and the community is awesome. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux platform.People who are used to Microsoft suite of apps may not appreciate the UI which is less than stellar, but you don’t get everything in life.
LibreOffice Draw will allow you to edit PDF files easily. You can import, export, add or remove pages, text, and images, and even digitally sign your PDF file. The process remains the same. Click Open and choose the PDF file. I am using it on my Linux powered laptop, but you can also use it on Windows.
What you don’t get is cloud option. Once again, though LibreOffice was working fine for me, some of our users came back frustrated by file types. You see, I mentioned that Adobe has some proprietary add-ons which make it difficult to edit all PDF files.
Download LibreOffice Draw (Free)
3. Scribus
Scribus is an open source page layout and PDF editor that is available for not only Mac, but also Windows and Linux platform. You can use it to create and design interactive PDF files. There is a lot of choice when it comes to color management.
Think of it as Adobe InDesign. A really handy tool for desktop publishing. This is what sets it apart from other document management tools available on the Internet. U,nlike some other PDF editors, Scribus developer team remains active.
The UI is fairly easy to understand and mimics that of Adobe. There is support for colors, font types, and images. There is a drag and drop functionality that you can use to move things around and resize them once they are placed inside the page.
Download Scribus (Free)
Best PDF Editor – Web
1. PDFescape
While PDFescape is not an open source PDF Editor, it’s still a worthy option, as it’s free and can be open from your favorite web browser. There is no messy installation process involved. There is also desktop version, which lets you edit PDF documents without internet connections.
Once you go to the website, you can either create a new PDF document from scratch or edit an existing one by uploading it from the hard drive. Next, to edit a PDF document, you can quickly add text, white out previous content, add images, and digitally sign documents.
The web app is free to use, if the PDF files is less than 10 MB and 100 pages, which is more than sufficient for most users. However, if you decide to remove these restrictions, you can upgrade to pro plan for $2.99 per month.
Try PDFescape
Wrapping Up: Open Source PDF Editors
MS Word is a good PDF editor for Windows if it is working for you. Otherwise, you can either go for Apache OpenOffice Draw to edit your PDF files. It is a little slow but still better than the ones I reviewed.
For Mac users, Formulate Pro is free and works nicely but if you are looking for more features and functionalities.
Wondering that the only way to edit a PDF file or filling a PDF form is to get it printed, fill it with a pen, scan it and then resend? Well, you don’t actually need to go to such lengths. There are lots of PDF Editors available for Mac users that allows you to view, edit, and manipulate PDF files with ease.
Both Mac and Windows have entry level and mid weight solutions now for video editing. IMovie on the Mac is a wonderful tool but it has limitations and Windows Movie Maker is a free entry level package for PC, again it has its limitations. Windows movie maker for mac.
You can also use these PDF File Editor software to combine, convert, split & export text and pages for better processing and management.
Here we have combined the Best PDF Editors for Mac(both free & paid). Go through their feature set and choose the ideal one for your needs & requirements!
How To Edit PDF File: Top 7 PDF Editor Apps For Mac
With a plethora of choices available, we wouldn’t blame you if you find it difficult to choose which one to use. Hope this list of Best PDF File Editors helps in making your decision a whole lot easier!
1. PDFelement
PDFelement is another professional best PDF editor for Mac available at an affordable price. The software is cluttered with powerful features to effortlessly create, edit, convert & sign PDF documents. The PDF solution is sold globally in nine different languages. Its interface is literally a no-brainer, you can easily navigate from one module to another.
Let’s take a look at this PDF File Editor’s features:
- Robust Editing, Create PDF from files, Merge PDF from multiple files, split PDFs.
- A PDF Converter, with the ability to convert over 300 file formats into professional-looking PDFs.
- Provides batch PDF creation & convenient indexing to organize files.
- Export data from scanned PDFs.
- Spell Check, text Autofit, Annotations & Comments.
- Ready-to-use templates.
- Store & share files with utmost security.
- Create & manage your own digital signatures.
- Free customer support.
It’s the only complete PDF solution that can stand next to Adobe Acrobat.
2. iSkysoft PDF Editor for Mac
iSkysoft PDF Editor is first on our list of best & free PDF solution for Mac. It is a useful and intuitive application that lets you edit PDF quickly and easily. Using this application, you can change the text into your PDF documents, notes, bookmarks and can draw lines as well as arrows. iSkysoft PDF Editor Professional for Mac has a simple and clean user interface that makes using the application a piece of cake.
Features:
- Easy and simple to use application.
- Addition, deletion, insertion and modification of text is simple.
- Add hyperlinks to PDF and edit links in PDF.
- Easy add files either through drag or drop or browse button.
- Quick addition of watermarks as well as can change the background.
- Can draw lines as well as arrows.
- Can convert PDF document to Word documents easily with few simple clicks.
Best Pdf Editors For Mac
3. Skim
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. It contains various tools for editing a PDF. Using Skim, you can highlight the text of your PDF, go to index, create screenshot etc.
You can view the various feature provided by Skim below:
Features:
- Best of Viewing PDFs.
- You can improve the text of the PDF via editing feature.
- You can make screenshot for future orientations.
- Bookmarks
- It provides extensive AppleScript support
- Support for Apple Remote Control
- Magnification tool to read small fonts
Get it here
Free Pdf Editor For Mac No Watermark
4. PDF Buddy
Next in our list of free PDF editor for Mac is PDF Buddy. It is an online tool for editing PDFs. You just need to drag a PDF or you can browse the location path of PDF from your computer. Once you have done, you will be able to edit the PDF. It is very useful and safe tool which you can access from anywhere weather you are in office or home or somewhere else. It provides lots of features to manipulate a PDF. The features are provided below:
Features:
Free Pdf Editor For Macbook Pro
- It is free tool for editing 3 PDF each month.
- It saves you time as you can access this tool from anywhere.
- It is safe and secure as it uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and AES-256-bit encryption to protect your PDFs.
Get it from here
5. PDFpenPro
PDFpenPro is a powerful tool for PDF editing on your Mac. It is all-purpose editing tool which provides you variety of features like using PDFpenPro, you can add text and signatures, make modifications, OCR on scanned documents and much more. You can export your edited PDFs in various formats example docx, ppts, xls etc. You can save your PDF on cloud and you can access it anytime from anywhere. It also includes various feature provided below.
Features:
- You can export your edited PDF to Microsoft® Word.
- You can add text, images and signatures to PDF.
- You can adjust color, resolution sand size of scanned document.
- You can save your PDF files in the Cloud.
- You can save your PDFs directly to the Evernote.
Get it from here
6. Preview
Preview is a built-in free PDF editor software which comes with your Mac. Preview allows you to read and edit your PDFs. It is a free app to edit your PDFs on your Mac. It provides you basic functionality but if you need more functions to edit your PDF you need to use a third-party PDF editor. Using Preview, you can perform operations like merge PDFs, split, zoom, highlight the text, secure your PDF and export it to other formats.
Features:
- Built-in system tool.
- No need of installation.
- you can read PDFs fast and smooth.
- It is Free to use.
- It allows you to add a digital image of your signature to PDFs.
Get it from here
7. PDFescape
PDFescape is online, free PDF editor for Mac compatible. It also allows you to create PDF forms for filling. PDFescape online PDF editor compatible with browsers like Internet Explorer, Safari, Google Chrome, Opera and Firefox. You just need to click on free online button on its web app and you will be able to perform operations. It provides various tools to add text, rotate, zoom etc.
Features:
- You can view and edit PDFs.
- Annotate PDF Documents
- Create Basic PDF Forms for filling
- Password Protect PDFs
- Share PDFs Online
Get it from here
That’s all folks. I hope you will like this post. If you have any comments or suggestion you can post in the provided section below. I hope you will like this post of best free PDF editor for Mac.