The Best Way to Edit PDFs on a Mac

If you ever find yourself having to edit a PDF, you’re probably going to feel like pulling your hair out. There’s no option built into PCs or Macs that lets you edit PDFs without downloading an app or program, and a lot of the options that are out there are locked behind annoying paywalls or limited free trials. Luckily, if you’re trying to edit a PDF on a Mac, these great options will help you get the job done.

Figure out what kind of edits you need

The first step is to figure out what you need and want to do. If you’re just looking to add annotations or comments to a PDF, then the built-in Preview app can be really great for that, though it isn’t really the most intuitive UI in the world.

If you need to do more than that, you may need another program. Say, for example, you made a PDF and forgot to update something within it and don’t have the original document on hand at the moment (definitely not something I’ve done in the past), then you’ll need something that can edit the text of the PDF directly. Luckily, there are a few good options.

This is the best free PDF editor for Mac

One of the most common solutions you’re going to see is Adobe Acrobat. Don’t get me wrong, Adobe’s apps are really handy, and I get a lot of use out of them. But having to pay $US13 a month for Acrobat to edit a PDF isn’t exactly the best option out there. Instead, I recommend checking out PDFGear. Unlike Acrobat, PDFGear is completely free and doesn’t even require you to sign up for an account. It’s an uncommon find in apps these days, but it’s very welcome.

You can download PDFGear from its website. Once installed, simply open the PDF that you want to edit and then select the text and other things you need to change. Make sure to save the document when you’re done, though.

PDFGear is great because it lets you edit the PDFs directly. You can also sign, annotate, and convert them, as well as an assortment of other options that you might not find in other free PDF editors. And, since you download the app, you don’t have to worry about uploading your PDF to any of those sketchy online PDF editors that you just aren’t sure you can trust. PDFGear is even available on Windows and iPhone, so you can edit your PDFs anywhere you need to.