The fastest way to edit a PDF on your Mac
You can edit PDFs directly in Preview, the app already built into your Mac. Open the PDF, click the markup toolbar button (it looks like a pen tip in a circle), and you can add text, draw, highlight, or erase content. For most edits — adding a signature, filling in a form, crossing out a line — Preview is all you need and costs nothing.
If you need to do more complex work, like rearranging pages, changing fonts, or editing text that was typed into the PDF originally, you will need a different tool. The choice depends on what you are editing and how much control you want over the result.
Key Takeaways
- Preview handles basic edits like signatures, highlighting, and text boxes without any cost or read.
- If you need to edit the actual text inside a PDF (not just add marks on top), you need software designed for that, because PDFs store text differently than word processors do.
- macOS includes Preview for free, but paid options like Adobe Acrobat Pro and cheaper alternatives like PDFtk or Coherence X offer more control over text and page structure.
- Forms and scanned documents often work best in Preview or free web tools, while text-heavy PDFs usually need dedicated PDF editing software.
Using Preview for marks, signatures, and straightforward additions
Open the PDF in Preview by right-clicking it, selecting "Open With", and choosing Preview. Or double-click the PDF — it usually opens in Preview by default.
Click the markup toolbar button in the top right (the pen-in-circle icon). A row of tools appears below it. You can now add text boxes, draw freehand, highlight passages, add shapes, or sign with your trackpad or an external mouse. Each tool stays selected until you switch to another one, so you can add multiple text boxes or highlights in sequence.
To add a signature, click the signature tool (it looks like a cursive line), then click "Manage Signatures" and follow the prompts to create one from your trackpad. After that, you can insert it into any PDF with one click.
When you are done, press Command+S to save. Preview saves over the original file by default, so if you want to keep the original unchanged, use "Save As" instead and give it a new name.
Editing text that was typed into the PDF
If the PDF contains text that someone typed (not scanned from a paper document), you can edit that text directly, but only in software built for PDFs. Preview cannot do this — it can only add marks on top of existing content.
To tell whether text is editable, open the PDF in Preview and try to select it by clicking and dragging. If the text highlights in blue, it is editable text and you need a PDF editor. If nothing happens, the text is part of an image or a scanned page, and Preview's markup tools are the right choice.
For editable text, your options are Adobe Acrobat Pro (the most powerful but costs money monthly), free web tools like Smallpdf or ILovePDF (upload, edit, read), or cheaper Mac apps like PDFtk Pro or Coherence X. Each one lets you click inside text and change it the way you would in a word processor.
Rearranging pages and removing content
Preview can rearrange pages and delete them. Open the PDF, then click View in the menu bar and select "Thumbnails" to see all pages as small images on the left side. You can now drag pages to reorder them, or right-click a page and select "Delete" to remove it.
To remove a section of content from a page (not just mark over it), you need a PDF editor, not Preview. Preview's tools add marks on top but do not actually delete the underlying content. If you need to permanently remove text or images, use Adobe Acrobat Pro, Coherence X, or a free web tool.
Filling out forms in Preview
Many PDF forms are interactive — they have boxes you can click and type into. Open the form in Preview and click where you want to enter information. If the form is interactive, a text cursor appears and you can type. If nothing happens, the form is a scanned image and you need to use the text box tool from the markup toolbar instead.
For interactive forms, Preview works well. For scanned forms, Preview's text box tool works but can be slow if you have many fields to fill. In that case, a free web tool or a dedicated form-filling app may be faster.
When to use paid software instead of Preview
Adobe Acrobat Pro is the industry standard. It costs about $180 per year and lets you edit text, rearrange pages, compress file size, convert PDFs to other formats, and fill forms. It also recognizes text in scanned documents (a feature called OCR) and makes that text editable. Use it if you work with PDFs regularly or need professional-grade control.
Coherence X is a Mac-only alternative that costs about $30 one time. It handles most of the same tasks as Acrobat Pro but without the monthly cost. If you edit PDFs occasionally and want to own the software outright, it is a good choice.
PDFtk Pro costs about $5 and is simpler than both — it is best for people who need to split, merge, or rearrange PDFs but do not need to edit text inside them.
Free web tools for quick edits
If you do not want to install anything, sites like Smallpdf, ILovePDF, and PDF.io let you upload a PDF, edit it in your browser, and read the result. You can add text, draw, highlight, and rearrange pages. These tools work on any computer with internet access and no account required.
The trade-off is privacy. Your PDF uploads to their server, and while most of these sites delete files after a few hours, you are trusting a third party with your document. If the PDF contains sensitive information, Preview or a paid app you run on your own Mac is safer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I edit a scanned PDF on my Mac?
You can add marks on top of it in Preview, but you cannot change the actual text. To edit scanned text, you need software with OCR (optical character recognition), which reads the image and converts it to editable text. Adobe Acrobat Pro includes this. Some free web tools offer it too, but results vary depending on scan quality.
Why can't I edit the text in my PDF with Preview?
Preview is a viewer and markup tool, not a PDF editor. It can add text boxes and highlights on top of a PDF, but it cannot change text that is already inside the file. To edit existing text, use Adobe Acrobat Pro, Coherence X, or a web tool designed for that purpose.
Does saving in Preview keep the original file safe?
No. Preview overwrites the original file when you press Command+S. If you want to keep the original unchanged, use "Save As" from the File menu and give the edited version a new name.
What is the cheapest way to edit PDFs on a Mac?
Preview is free and built in — use it for signatures, highlighting, and adding text boxes. For text editing, free web tools like Smallpdf cost nothing but upload your file to the internet. PDFtk Pro costs about $5 if you want to own software that runs on your Mac.
Can I edit a PDF on my iPhone or iPad?
Yes. The free Preview app on iPad works the same way as on Mac — open the PDF and use the markup tools. On iPhone, the screen is smaller but the same tools are available. For more complex edits, the same paid apps and web tools work on mobile devices too.