The Best Free PDF Software app downloads for Mac: PDF OCR X Community Edition Adobe Acrobat DC Pro PDF Merge Mac PDF Split and Merge Flip PDF Professi. Download PDFelement 7 - PDF Editor for macOS 10.12 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. ‎PDFelement - The easiest way to create, edit, convert and sign PDF documents. We’re now introducing the all-new PDFelement 7, which includes a redesigned UI, more advanced writing tools, improved team collaboration features, more powerful conversion tools. PDFExpert for Mac from Readdle also did a good job of maintaining the fonts, style and formatting of the original PDF. There are two options for editing that you can find in the menu at the top of. PDFelement Pro - The Best Alternative Free PDF Reader Pro for Mac to Adobe Acrobat.

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In a digitized era, where practically all business is done online, it’s hard to spend a day without encountering a PDF file. After all, it’s the most popular digital document format — interactive, free to use and, crucially, able to preserve original formatting (including fonts, images, layouts, and more).

Developed by Adobe in the 90s, PDF made it possible to present identical documents using different applications and devices. Originally a proprietary invention that was promoted with Adobe software, PDF became an open format in 2008, which meant free use for all, without any lingering ties to Adobe.

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How To Choose The Best PDF Editor For Mac

Today, there are dozens of applications that can read, modify, and edit PDFs. All are different: free PDF editors, PDF modifiers, costly Mac PDF editors, and even a default PDF reader for Mac that comes with your operating system.

If you need to edit a PDF on Mac, it’s important to not go straight to Google looking for a “free PDF editor download.” In the last decade, lots of bad players have been putting all kinds of malware in those free PDF downloads, hoping for people to be enticed enough by the proposition. So you should know exactly which PDF editor app is best for your needs — luckily you have the perfect guide below.

Apple Preview PDF reader for Mac

If you’re looking for a free PDF editor for Mac, you should start with the one you already have — Preview — which is the default application for viewing any images and PDF files.

Although it can hardly be called a PDF editor app, Preview can perform most of the tasks most people need to do every day: looking through the documents, leaving comments, and signing contracts.

To configure Preview to your liking:

1. Launch the app from your Dock or Launchpad
2. Select View from the menu bar options
3. Set scroll, zoom, and toolbar to what you’d like to see

Then to actually use PDF modifier functions:

1. Choose Tools from the menu bar
2. Hover over Annotate
3. Select from shapes, signatures, notes (comments), and more

When you’re done editing the document, don’t forget to save it (⌘ + S) or export it to create a new file by going to File ➙ Export.

A hidden benefit of Preview that’s not often talked about is its natural integration into the macOS. The app can be easily used within the Apple ecosystem and is quite swift as well.

Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac

One of the first and hence now widely considered standard solutions for viewing and editing PDF files is Adobe Acrobat Reader. By all accounts, it’s a solid and professional PDF editor for Mac.

There’s, however, one caveat — you can hardly call Adobe Acrobat the best free PDF editor for Mac because to get all of its features you need to pay, a lot. If you subscribe for the whole year, it comes down to $15 a month. Otherwise, it’s $25.

So if you download Adobe Reader for Mac from Adobe’s website, it will only give you a limited number of tools, which are very similar to Apple Preview: comment and sign. To get more you’d need to sign up for the Adobe Acrobat Pro free trial.

Anyway, in case you’re satisfied with Acrobat PDF editor’s limited functionality for the basic version, you can still work with all the PDFs you need:

1. Download and install Adobe Reader for Mac from adobe.com
2. Open the PDF file of your choice
3. To comment or sign the file, navigate to Tools in the top bar of the app
4. Choose the tool you want to use and then select a more specific one from the top bar once you’re in the document itself

If you try to choose the tool that’s not available in the free version of Acrobat Reader for Mac, the app will direct you to the website where you can subscribe to get access.

All in all, while the paid Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac offers you a full toolkit of productivity, its free option is comparable to Apple Preview, with the latter being a bit more lightweight and fast due to its integration with macOS.

But what’s a truly powerful Mac PDF editor?

PDFpen full-featured OCR editor

While the paid version of Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac is costly and convoluted, PDFpen offers much more in one straightforward package.

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Free Pdf Editor For Mac

Make any PDF file editable with PDFpen. With in-built OCR support, nothing is carved in stone if you have PDFpen installed on your Mac.

PDFpen lets you edit PDFs by adding text and images, fixing typos, filling out forms, and covering sensitive information. What’s more, the app features an OCR (optical character recognition) functionality, so you can scan printed documents directly into editable PDF files, and even export them to Microsoft Word later on.

Using PDFpen is as easy as Preview:

1. Open any PDF document
2. In the top bar, find the toggle which lets you switch between text and shapes. These are the tools you can use to enhance your documents. All of them can also be accessed from the Tools dropdown in the menu bar.

One of the most commonly used features with PDFs is highlighting, which is perfectly executed in PDFpen. Just select from the top bar and choose a color. The tool will then switch between a freehand highlighter when hovering over shapes and a structured one when it’s over some text.

Finally, PDFpen’s renowned OCR functionality doesn’t require you to have any specific AI knowledge — it just works:

1. In PDFpen, go File ➙ Open (or ⌘ + O) and select your image
2. Check all languages that apply
3. Turn the image into either an OCR Page or OCR document
4. Now you can edit your image freely and export it later

Bonus: Professional PDF Search

When you’re working with lots of PDFs everyday, some things are inevitably going to get lost. Especially, since lots of documents and reports are often dozens or even hundreds of pages long.

In this reality, you absolutely need a tool that will help you retain information at the tip of your fingers. Enter PDF Search. This app doesn’t just search your PDF files for exact matches — it uses the power of AI to check relevant terms, multiple combinations, and even scan PDF files in bulk.

The first time you open PDF Search, it will ask you to index the folder with all your PDFs, which may take some time but will also speed up all future searches. After indexing is complete, simply enter the number or text you’re looking for in the search field, press Return, and the results (including related ones) would instantly appear.

To recap, when you’re looking for the best free PDF editor for Mac, your options might seem infinite, but it really comes down to what exactly you need to edit. If it’s just viewing documents and making comments, Apple Preview can do the job just fine. But when you need some heavy-duty lifting, nothing beats PDFpen. In addition, PDF Search is recommended for anyone working with large number of PDFs on a daily basis.

Best of all, PDFpen and PDF Search are both available to you on a free 7-day trial from Setapp, a platform for over 150 indispensable Mac apps designed to take your productivity to the next level. All that’s left to do now is just read and edit!

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

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PDF is the most common format used to share files around, but it can be frustrating to deal with if you want to make changes to the text or images. Editing a PDF often requires special software. And this is where Microsoft Word can really come in handy. A great way to make changes to PDFs is to turn PDF into Word document, make any edits, and convert it back to a PDF.

What’s the easiest way to convert PDF to Word on Mac? Copy and paste could come to mind, but it’s a hassle. Oftentimes, the original formatting doesn’t make it to the new platform and you’ll have to spend your precious time tediously reflowing and adjusting text in Word, only to eventually send it back again.

Get the best PDF editor for Mac

Change anything in your PDF without converting it to other formats. PDFpen can handle OCR, signatures, images, and so much more.

The point is you absolutely need to know how to convert PDF to Word on Mac — whether to sign your lease agreement or correct a file at work. So why not learn the best ways to convert PDF to Word doc now to make your life much easier later on.

How To Convert PDF To Word On Mac

Pdf To Excel For Mac

So how do you turn PDF into Word quickly and seamlessly? Truth is there are a few ways to convert PDF to Word to make simple edits in your files. For example, you could convert PDF to Word doc using Google Drive or Adobe Acrobat Pro. You could also capture PDF text with a built-in Mac utility called Automator. But the real secret is to know a few advanced apps that do all the work for you. Let’s dive into all.

Pdf To Word Converter Free Download For Mac

How to change PDF to Word with Google Docs

Google Docs is a popular online editing tool and there’s a good chance that you already store some PDFs within its storage solution called Google Drive, which also allows you to convert PDFs to Word docs without the need to download a PDF to your computer first. Just note that if your PDF includes lots of images, Google Drive might remove them in the final document.

Here’s how to set your Google Drive to read PDF files in Google Docs and then convert them into Word documents:

1. Click on the cog symbol at the top right in Google Drive and choose Settings
2. In the General tab, check the box in 'Convert uploads' that states 'Convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format'
3. Find the desired PDF file within Google Docs and right-click on it.
4. Choose 'Open with' and select Google Docs
5. Once a new Google Doc window opens, click File in the top-bar menu and select Download as Microsoft Word

Google Drive works really well if you have a simple PDF text document that you need to edit in Word. However, if your PDF file is image-heavy, you’re going to need a more powerful PDF to Word converter for Mac.

How to convert PDF to Word using Adobe Acrobat Pro

Adobe Acrobat Pro is another complete solution to create and edit PDFs. The good thing about it is that your fonts and layout features, such as bullets and tables, will be left intact. Even when you’re out of the office, you can still export PDF to Word using a mobile version of Acrobat.

To convert from PDF to Word using Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Open your desired PDF file
2. Choose the Export PDF tool on the right sidebar
3. Select Microsoft Word as the export format and then Word Document
4. Click Export
5. Save and name your Word file in your desired location

If the PDF file contains any scanned text, Acrobat will recognize it automatically.

Pdf To Format

How to convert from PDF to Word using Automator

Automator is a Mac utility, built right into your macOS. It generally helps with menial tasks, such as renaming files in batches or moving files in bulk. For our purposes, Automator also offers to help with extracting text from PDF without converting the file to Word. You can then edit the text in any text editor, such as the Ulysses app.

To use Automator for extracting text:

1. Open Automator via the Applications folder
2. Select Workflow and tap Enter
3. Click on Files and Folders in the left column
4. In the second column, select Ask for Finder Items and drag it into the right pane that says 'Drag actions or files here to build your workflow.'
5. Choose the PDFs in the left column and select Extract PDF Text located in the second column
6. Drag and drop Extract PDF Text to the right under Find Files and Folders
7. Select Rich Text instead of Plain Text to retain formatting
8. Choose where you want Automator to place your extracted text files
9. Save as an application, open the new Automator application, and select the PDF you want to grab the text from

Open the new Rich Text document in a word processor like Ulysses, a focused writing app. Ulysses helps you write with a clean distraction-free user interface as well as structure and format your piece in its Markdown editor. Conveniently, you’re also able to keep your side notes, sketches, and manuscripts in the app’s library. When you’re done, just export your work into a well-designed ebook or a new PDF file.

Ulysses can also be the answer to how to convert Word to PDF on Mac, since it’s able to open Word files and export anything as PDF too.

On another note, Automator works great for working with text files, but what can you do if you want to extract words from images in your PDF?

How to extract text from images with Prizmo

When you want to grab text embedded in an image, you need Prizmo.

Prizmo is an essential app that uses optical character recognition (OCR) to create searchable PDF documents. It also lets you edit or correct small errors or formatting mistakes in scanned files, just as you would be able to in your favorite word processor. All in all, Prizmo is your best friend if you’re looking to work with text in any printed papers, business cards, or even receipts.

How to edit PDFs without converting them to Word

If figuring out how to export PDF to Word sounds like too much work — there’s another way to edit them as well, using PDFpen.

PDFpen is a powerful editor you can use to add new images, text, and even signatures directly to your PDF files. You can also erase and edit existing content, resize or move graphics, and copy and paste from other sources while retaining formatting.

Use PDfpen when you need to review and add feedback to PDF files. You’d be able to simply highlight, underscore, or add corrections to any file. With a simple drag and drop feature, you can add new pages, reorder existing ones, or combine separate PDF files into one. If you’re going to be editing PDF files on a regular basis, PDFpen is a must-have.

Now that you know how to export PDF to Word, extract text from PDF, and even edit your PDF file directly, you can take control of your important documents and make edits as needed.

Best of all is that all three apps mentioned above: Ulysses, Prizmo, and PDFpen, are available absolutely free for seven days as part of the trial for Setapp, a collection of more than 160 Mac apps, all of which promise to make your day on Mac as productive as it can be. Try and see for yourself today!

Pdf To Word For Mac

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