How to Edit PDF on Mac

How to edit a PDF on Mac computers? For example, how to add text, images, annotations or signatures to a PDF? And how to edit the text or insert a paragraph to the PDF content?

In this post, you'll not only get free solutions of how to edit PDF on Mac with Mac Preview, EasePDF Online Editor, and Word Online, but also get free tips on editing PDF on Mac with desktop programs like PDF Expert and PDFelement.

Part 1. How to Edit PDF on Mac for Free

Option 1. Mac Preview

On a Mac computer, users don't have to install specific applications before they can read documents including PDF, Word, Excel, PPT, images, etc and do some basic editing. Now we'll show you how to edit a PDF for free on Mac with the Preview app.

Step 1. Find the target PDF file you would like to edit and right-click on it. On the opening menu, choose "Open with" > "Preview".

Step 2. Go to the "View" menu on top and select "Show Markup Toolbar". You can also open the markup toolbar by clicking on the "pen point" icon on the top-right of the Preview interface.

Step 3. Edit your PDF as you want.

Preview offers many editing tools, you can highlight, underline, strikeout, and add text, etc. The first icon of the left toolbar is for text selection. Select any text you want to annotate and then click the "Pen" icon, choose a desired color from the drop-down menu if you want to highlight the text you select. To underline or strikeout text, just click the two options below the color tabs.

To add text to your PDF, just click the "T" icon and fill any text on the newly appearing text box. You can change the font, color, size, etc on the "A" option.

To insert a comment to the PDF, you can click the "Note" icon on the toolbar, then type your comments on the newly added colored box. The default color of the note box is yellow, you can change the color on the "Fill Color" tab on the toolbar.

With Mac Preview, you can also add shapes, arrows, and signatures, and draw on the PDF. Just try them on the markup toolbar.

Option 2. EasePDF

Another free solution of how to edit a PDF on Mac for free is to use an online PDF editor like EasePDF. In this way, editing PDF has no limitation on Mac, Window, Linux, Android or iOS. In other words, all you need to edit a PDF with EasePDF is an internet connection.

Step 1. Upload your PDF to the Online PDF Editor on EasePDF. You can upload your file by hitting the ''Add File(s)" button or drag and drop the file to the upload area. EasePDF also supports importing PDF files from Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive.

Step 2. Choose the PDF page you want to edit by clicking on the thumbnails on the left column. There are three main editing tools on EasePDF online editor.

1. Add text to PDF.

Click the "Add Text" icon on the menu and there will be a text box appearing. Type any text you want to add. The text color, size, and style can be customized in the text box settings.

2. Sign your PDF.

Select the "Add Signature" button to open a "Create Signature" box. Choose a color and font size then sign your name using your mouse on it. When you finish, click the "Save" button.

3. Add pictures to a PDF.

Choose the "Add Picture" icon and the server will navigate to folders of your local device. Choose any picture you want to add to the PDF in JPG, PNG or GIF format, then click "Open". You can readjust the photo size by pulling the little adjusting box on the edge of the photo.

Option 3. Word Online

On Windows, we can always edit a PDF with Microsoft Word. But Microsoft Office is not the first choice for many Mac users to edit Word documents, let alone to edit PDFs. Thanks to Word Online, Mac users can now edit PDF with Microsoft Word without installing the big program on the computer.

Step 1. Log in with your OneDrive account.

Step 2. Select the "Upload" button and go to "Files", then choose a PDF file from your local device. If the PDF file has already existed on your OneDrive, just skip this step.

Step 3. Right-click on the PDF you just uploaded, and choose "Open" to open it on Microsoft Word online.

Step 4. On the top-right toolbar, choose "Edit in Desktop App". A file conversion warning prompt will pop up saying that Word Online will make a copy of your PDF and convert the PDF to Word for you to edit. Just hit the "Convert" button to continue.

Step 5. A "File Conversion" message will show up. Click the "Edit" button to starting editing the converted document. No changes will be made to the original PDF. Now you can edit the file with all tools of Microsoft Word. You can edit the original texts and graphics, change font size color, or insert tables, pictures, links, comments, headers, and footers, etc.

Step 6. Finally, when you finish editing the converted Word document, go to the "File" menu and choose "Save As" > "Download as PDF". Word Online will start converting the Word to PDF. When it's done, there will be a download button on the page, just download it to your local device.

Part 2. Other Ways to Edit a PDF on Mac

Option 1. PDF Expert

PDF Expert is a powerful PDF viewer and editor for Mac computers. To bring first-class reading and editing experience to users, PDF Expert keeps a very simple and elegant interface and has simplified all operating steps.

Step 1. Free download PDF Expert and install it on your Mac computer. Then open the PDF file you want to edit with PDF Expert.

Step 2. On the top menu bar, switch to the "Edit" mode and select from the "Text", "Image", "Link", and "Redact" icon according to your needs.

Step 3. Edit the text, image, link, etc on your PDF or redact confidential content of the PDF.

1. Edit text in PDF

Click the "Text" icon on the editing option bar. Then choose any part of the text you'd like to edit and start editing it. You can customize the color, font, size, style, etc as you want. When you click on any blank space, PDF Expert will preserve your changes automatically.

2. Edit or insert images in PDF

Go to the "Image" option, and choose an image you want to delete or change, then switch to a new photo you like. You can insert a new image at the blank area of the PDF as well.

3. Add a hyperlink to PDF.

Click the "Link" icon, and choose any text you want to link. Choose the link destination from "to Page" or "to Web" and paste the link URL.

4. Redact the PDF.

In some cases, you might need to permanently delete or white out sensitive text and hidden data in your PDF. Well, you can click the "Redact" icon on PDF Expert, and select the text you want to redact in the PDF, then you'll find the target texts have been covered with colors. No more worry about confidential data leaks out problems!

Option 2. PDFelement

PDFelement is also a recommended program for editing PDF on Mac. This program is specialized in PDF editing, converting, creating, merging, splitting, etc and easy to use. Even if you're completely new to PDF editing, you'll find it super easy to operate on Mac.

Step 1. Download and install PDFelement on your Mac.

Step 2. Click the "Open File" link on the main interface to select a PDF file on your Mac computer.

Step 3. Choose the "Edit PDF" option on the left panel to enter the editing mode. You can edit text and image, add a link, watermark, background, header, footer, etc. For example, you can click on anywhere you want to edit the text, then use the editing toolbar on top to customize your texts.

You can also highlight, strikeout, underline texts, and add shapes, watermarks, sticky notes, etc on the "Comment" option on the left column.

There are more useful editing functions for you to find out on PDFelement, go try it now and share your experience with us. Our users also need your valuable feedback on every solution we recommend. Please let us know by commenting below this post if you've got any PDF Editing Tips to say.