One of my favourite features of PDFelement is the ability to actually edit a PDF using the Edit menu, you can edit or add text, add images and even add or remove your own water mark, super handy. Advanced PDF Editor is a PDF document editor with some useful features to help you edit PDF documents easily and quickly. Advanced PDF Editor is a must-have app for anyone who reads, annotates or edits PDF documents on Mac.Advanced PDF Editor is for those who want to go beyond PDF Editor to create.
PDFs offer a lot of advantages over other file types, but being easy to work with generally isn’t one of them. What makes working with PDFs difficult is that they look familiar, but because PDFs are essentially images, they are much more restrictive. This can make editing them extremely aggravating when you know exactly what change you want to make, but your software won’t cooperate.
- We've tested the following trial and free versions of some of the best known PDF editors for Mac, read on to find out which one is best for you. You can convert your PDF to Word, Excel.
- In selecting the best PDF editor for Mac, we used the following criteria in selecting the winner: Overall Design — Working with PDF files is hard enough as it is. The PDF editor you choose should provide a clean user interface with features that are easy to understand and use so you can complete your work quickly.
Fortunately, there are a couple of great tools available for the Mac that make working PDFs a much more pleasant experience. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the best options available and crown our favorite: PDFpen.
Evaluation Criteria
In selecting the best PDF editor for Mac, we used the following criteria in selecting the winner:
- Overall Design — Working with PDF files is hard enough as it is. The PDF editor you choose should provide a clean user interface with features that are easy to understand and use so you can complete your work quickly.
- Viewing Speed — While much emphasis is placed on the ability to edit PDF files, equally as important is the ability to quickly find the areas you want to change. This can be slow and cumbersome if your PDF editor doesn’t provide a pleasant reading experience.
- Annotations — Most PDF editing tasks require annotating documents and sending them back to your clients or coworkers, so the PDF editor you use should allow you to mark up your PDF files quickly and easily.
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR) — The ability to apply Optical Character Recognition (or OCR) is extremely important as it takes an image that looks like text and converts it to actual, computer-readable text. This allows you to search for (and depending on the app, even edit) text in your PDF files much like you would in a word processor.
- Additional Editing Features — Depending on your use case, you might need additional features that are only available in some higher-end (read: expensive) PDF editors. These features can either be completely unnecessary or essential to your workflow depending on your work.
- Sharing & Exporting Options — Once you have your PDF file ready to go, you need to be able to share it easily. In addition to sharing the PDF file itself, you might need to open the file in an external application. The PDF editor you choose should be able to send your file to other applications easily.
- Price — The price range for PDF editors is very broad, ranging from free to hundreds of dollars. You need to consider price when balancing what a specific PDF editor offers against your individual PDF editing needs. Power user features may be nice to have, but if you aren’t going to use them very often, the extra cost may not be worth it for you.
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Our Favorite PDF Editor: PDFpen
Smile’s PDFpen application is a functional, powerful PDF editor. While the user interface isn’t the best of the apps we tested, it’s generally easy to use and makes up for a lack of polish with powerful features to meet even the most rigorous demands of PDF power users.
There are lots of workflows that are possible in PDFpen, but we’ve looked at some common ones to show the power and flexibility packed into this program.
Annotations
Annotations in PDFpen are fairly straightforward. To highlight text in your PDF, just select Highlight from the tool bar, pick your color, then select the text you want to highlight.
To add a note or comment to your PDF, select the appropriate options from the Tools menu. Notes can be minimized and display a text bubble icon in the document that you can click to expand, and comments are displayed as text on top of the page.
You can also add shapes to your PDF document if you want. To do this, select the Shapes icon from the toolbar, select the type of shape you want, and then drag it into your document. Once you have your shape, you can easily select a new color, line format, or line thickness from the toolbar.
PDFpen also has a library of proofreading marks you can use to mark up your document. To access these, go to Window → Library and click the Proofreading Marks icon.
When you’re done annotating your document and you want to print it, you can click Show Details from the Print menu to select whether you want to include comments, notes, or both.
Signing Documents
Signing PDF documents is another common editing task. This takes a little bit of prep work in PDFpen, but once you have it set up you can easily reuse your signature by saving it to your library. To do this, you first need to sign your name and scan it to your Mac. Once you have the file, you can drag it into PDFpen, but you’ll see that the image file will have a background that obstructs whatever the signature is sitting on top of (usually it’s white). You can make the background transparent by going to Edit → Make Transparent Image. This will open a popup with an eyedropper tool where you can select the background color that you want to make transparent.
Once you select the background color and click Make Transparent, you’ll have a signature that you can drag to the appropriate place in the document and resize by dragging one of the corners.
Once you have your signature ready, you can save it for re-use. You can do this by going to Window → Library to make sure the Library window is open, then go to the Library window and select the + icon, and click Add Selected Imprint to save the transparent signature image to your Library.
Applying OCR
Optical Character Recognition is extremely important when dealing with PDF files as it allows the computer to identify the text contents of your document. Without it, all it sees is a bunch of pixels, which means you can’t do anything that involves text selection (i.e. copy & paste) and you won’t be able to search your document and find a selected word or phrase.
This is one area PDFpen really shines as it is incredibly easy to apply OCR to a document. In fact, when you open a PDF file in PDFpen that it thinks is scanned, a dialog box will appear and ask you if you’d like to apply OCR to a particular page or to the entire document. You can even select from multiple languages.
Redacting Text
Occasionally you’ll need to share PDF documents that contain text you don’t want others to be able to see (like address, telephone number, etc.). PDFpen has you covered there too, as it allows you to find and redact text to hide personal or sensitive information.
To redact text in PDFpen, first click the Find button in the toolbar and type in the text you want to redact. You’ll see all the instances of that text appearing in the document in the box below your search term. Next, click Find in the dropdown menu and select Redact.
Finally, select the instance you want to redact from the list and click Redact. If you want to redact all instances of the text, you can also click Redact All to redact them all at once.
Best Pdf Editor And Converter For Mac
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Exporting to Microsoft Word (or other word processors)
Let’s say you get a contract from someone that you want to edit. Frequently these documents are sent as PDF files specifically because it makes it harder to make changes, but PDFpen’s export to Microsoft Word feature makes this easy as well. All you have to do is click File → Export and select the desired file format.
This will allow you to easily edit the text in the document and you can then export back to PDF by clicking File → Print and selecting Save as PDF.
Additional Features
If your PDF needs extend beyond the scope of the standard PDFpen application, you can also check out PDFpen Pro, which includes the following additional features:
- Turn websites into PDFs
- Create and edit forms
- Export to Excel, Powerpoint, and PDF/A
- Add and edit permissions
- Create and edit Table of Contents
- Create links from URLs
PDFpen is availabe for $75 on the Smile software website, and PDFpen Pro is $125 if you need the additional features.
Runner Up: PDF Expert
PDF Expert by Readdle Software is an excellent application with one major flaw: It doesn’t have the ability to add OCR to your PDF files. This is absolutely critical when editing PDF files, so the lack of this single feature is unfortunately a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
For a lot of PDF-based tasks, PDF Expert is fine. It offers a blazing fast PDF reading experience, and has very good annotation tools. It also offers the tools to edit, merge, and sign documents as well as fill forms. Once you’re done editing your PDF file, PDF Expert integrates fully with the Mac share sheet so you can send it to any application that accepts PDFs. It does all of this with a beautiful user interface and a price tag ($59.99) that is on par with the other PDF editors we looked at. If you’re a student, you can even snag a small education discount when purchasing directly from Readdle.
Other Options
- Adobe Acrobat Pro — Adobe actually created the PDF file format back in 1991, so you might think that Adobe Acrobat Pro would be the hands-down favorite for the best PDF editor for Mac. While it’s true that Adobe Acrobat Pro is an extremely powerful PDF editor, it’s also incredibly expensive. It’s available via subscription for $15/month or as part of the Creative Cloud suite ($49/month), and is also available as a stand-alone product for $449. In our opinion, Adobe Acrobat Pro is not as easy to use as PDFpen Pro, and the incredibly high price is not justified unless you really need some Adobe-only features or already have a Creative Cloud subscription.
- Preview — Preview is the default PDF editor that comes bundled with Mac OS X, and is actually a pretty decent tool for basic PDF editing tasks. Depending on your needs, Preview might be enough for you. For example, you can make basic annotations, reorder pages, and even sign documents in Preview. But in our testing, annotations made in Preview sometimes didn’t display correctly in other PDF editors, and if you work with PDFs frequently, you’ll soon hit the limit of what Preview is capable of. Preview is “fine” for occasional PDF editing, but for anything more you’re going to want a more powerful PDF editor in your arsenal.
- Everything Else – A quick internet search will show that there is no shortage of PDF editing software options, but many of them look like they haven’t been updated since before 2008 when Adobe released the PDF file format as an open standard per ISO 32000-1, and most lack even basic features that are present in Preview. Even if these companies are legit (and a lot of them aren’t), it’s not worth your time to look here. If you’re looking for a cheap/free PDF editor for basic PDF editing, try Preview first.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to edit PDFs on your Mac, quality options are hard to come by, and PDFpen is the cream of the (very limited) crop. PDFpen offers enough features to complete just about any standard PDF editing task quickly and easily, and offers a Pro version for those who need the extra features. If you don’t work with PDFs regularly or don’t need all the bells and whistles that PDFpen offers, PDF Expert offers a great user interface for basic edits and is probably powerful enough for most people at a much lower price point.
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Jan 29,2019 • Filed to: PDF Converter
PDF a widely used file format and better for transferring and sharing. You can open and read PDF on Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad and other platforms. While there might the need that you have to convert PDF to other formats like .DOC, .DOCX, .TXT and so on. Search from the Internet, you can find many PDF converter. However, which one is the best PDF converter? These PDF converter programs comes with vary features and it is hard to choose the best one fit you. No worry! Here we will help you to pick up top 11 best PDF converter for Mac and Windows that enable you to convert PDF to any format and even edit PDF.
Part 1: Top 11 Best PDF Converter For Mac or Windows
#11: PDFelement Pro
PDFelement Pro should be in the top list of PDF con verter. You can use it to convert native and scanned PDF to Word, Excel, Images, PPT, HTML, TRF, EPUB, and more. Better that other PDF converter, it allows you to edit PDF texts, images and pages easily before converting.
Why Choose This PDF Converter
- Convert any PDF file to other format with original formatting.
- Convert multiple PDF files and allow you to customize pages for converting.
- Edit, add, delete and insert Pdf texts. Mark up and annotate PDF with vary tools.
- Fully control PDF pages. Combine, compress and split PDF easily.
- Advanced OCR feature enables you to edit and convert scanned PDF.
#10: iSkysoft PDF Converter Pro for Mac/Windows
An application which rejoices from increased popularity lately, iSkysoft PDF Converter is the best converter that can convert native or scanned PDF to Word, Excel, Text, RTF files and more, all with the touch of a button. It is compatible with both Windows and Mac platforms and can convert multiple files at once (up to 200) at impressive speeds. Password-protected files can also be converted in-app with native decoding. Furthermore, the interface is well-polished and very appealing for both beginner and advanced users alike.
- Convert PDF to Word, Excel, PPT, HTML, EPUB, and more at high speed.
- Upload 200 files or customize specified pages to convert to different formats.
- Perfectly preserve the original layout and formating after the conversion.
- Convert scanned PDF or image PDF with the built-in OCR feature.
#9: Nitro PDF Converter
Nitro PDF Pro is undoubtedly one of the most popular suites on the market for converting PDFs into editable Microsoft Office files. It can easily convert the troublesome format into Word, PowerPoint or Excel files, all while retaining original format, images and fonts. This is very important for someone who wishes to read or print a PDF file but does not have an advanced application at hand for such task. Furthermore, Nitro PDF converter can be considered quite fast in regard to the rest ones, being able to transform a page in a matter of seconds. The interface is very similar to that of Microsoft Office.
Price: $186
Support OS: Windows
#8: Smart PDF Converter
Another highly popular choice for converting PDF files relies in the Smart PDF Converter program. With the aid of this suite one can transform simple PDF documents into DOC, HTML, RTF, TIFF, JPEG, XLS or TXT files. The output file can be edited with minimal hassle if it is open in an appropriate reader such as Microsoft Office Word. Furthermore, one can choose to convert PDFs into single or multi-sheeted XLS files. Various formats can also be converted back to PDF.
Price: $69.90
Support OS: Windows
#7: Amyuni PDF Converter
A Japanese-made software designed for maximum conversion speed and no-hassle across various operating system versions. It is perfectly compatible with Windows 7 and Windows 8 and it also features an intuitive interface designed specifically for users with little knowledge in the conversion domain. All graphic symbols are retained throughout the conversion process, the application being able to handle various types of output documents. Once a file has been successfully converted to the chosen format, it can be sent directly to the printer.
Price: $102.70
Support OS: Windows
#6: FoxTab PDF Converter
An elegant conversion solution designed specifically for the Windows operating system. Compatibility has been certified for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. What's truly notable about this software is that users can obtain it under a CC license. Various output formats are available for conversion including those in the Microsoft Office suite (DOC, TXT, TIFF, XLS and so on). However, the conversion quality is not as good as the one of a paid converter, who has the benefit of a larger team working on the project.
Price: 0
Support OS: Windows
#5: Solid PDF Converter
It might not be the best PDF converter on the market, but Solid PDF Converter manages to get the job done in little time and through an intuitive process. It can easily convert PDF documents to DOC, TXT or XLS files. It can also convert documents in these formats to PDF. There is not such wide array of advanced editing options available forehand, but with a dedicated converter the output files work perfectly. Furthermore, users have the option to export created files directly to a chosen printer or scanner.
Price: $39.95
Support OS: Mac/Windows
#4: ScanSoft PDF Converter
ScanSoft PDF Converter is a software that comes with the promise that you will never have to retype a PDF file again. It is able to successfully convert chosen documents into a selected format, while giving you some font options forehand. However, the original format is not retained at all times. For lengthy e-books or documents which feature heavier coding or personalization options, some formatting may be lost in the process.
Price: $99.9
Support OS: Windows
#3: AnyBizSoft PDF Converter
A PDF converter that can successfully convert PDFs into Word, HTML, Powerpoint or TEXT2 files. Even encrypted PDF3 files can be converted while retaining original layouts, images, texts and hyperlinks. However, format for lengthy or more complex PDF files may suffer as a result of the process or may prove to be slowly for some computers.
Price: $49.9
Support OS: Windows
#2: Able2Extract PDF Converter
An accurate PDF converter with advanced file recognition which can turn selected files into Word, Powerpoint or Excel documents at the touch of a button. The interface is very well polished and benefits from an umber of customized options which are hidden beneath the Options tab. The application is perfectly compatible with Windows 7 and Windows 8 and can also send output files directly to a chosen printer.
Price: $99.9
Support OS: Mac/Windows
#1: Lighten PDF Converter
An inexpensive PDF converter that is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS. It is capable of converting chosen files into DOC, TXT or RTF formats while preserving much of their original characteristics. The conversion accuracy and speeds are very good, one 100-page PDF document being converted to DOC into about 1 minute. Furthermore, batch conversion is also available and conversion of password-protected files is built-in. A computer with 2Ghz processor and 1GB of RAM is recommended for maximum speed.
Price: $19.99
Support OS: Mac/Windows
Part 2: How to Choose the Best PDF Converter to Convert PDF
Comparison
Choose the Best PDF Converter | Price ($) | Support OS | Conversion speed | Supported output formats | System requirements |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PDFelement Pro | 99.95 | Mac/Windows | excellent, up to 500 pages per minute | DOC, XLS, PPT, TXT, RTF, TIFF, EPUB, HTML, images, and more | 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 200 MB of hard-disk space |
iSkysoft PDF Converter | 79.95 | Mac/Windows | excellent, up to 200 pages per minute | DOC, XLS, PPT, TXT, RTF, TIFF, EPUB, HTML, images, and more | 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 200 MB of hard-disk space |
Nitro | 186 | Windows | very good, up to 100 converted pages per minute | DOC, XLS, PPT, RTF, JPG, TIFF and more | 1GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM (1GB recommended), 300 MB of hard-disk space |
Smart | 69.90 | Windows | good, up to 50 pages per minute | Excellent | 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 200 MB of hard-disk space |
Amyuni | Simple and intuitive which is easy for users to familiarize | Windows | very good, up to 80 pages per minute | DOC, TXT, RTF, XLS, PPT | 1.2 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 250 MB of hard-disk space |
FoxTab | 0 | Windows | good, up to 50 pages per minute | DOC, XLS, PPT, RTF, HTML, TIFF | 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 100 MB of hard-disk space |
Solid | 39.95 | Mac/Windows | good, up to 70 pages per minute | DOC, XLS, PPT, JPG | 1.5 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, 400 MB of hard-disk space |
ScanSoft |
| Windows | excellent, up to 150 pages per minute | PDF/A, DOC, XLS, PPT, TIFF, RTF, JPG, XPS, CDR | 1.2 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, 300 MB of hard-disk space |
AnyBizSoft | 49.9 | Windows | good, up to 50 pages per minute | DOC, XLS, PPT, EPUB, HTML, TXT | 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 200 MB of hard-disk space |
Able2Extract | 99.9 | Mac/Windows | very good, up to 100 pages per minute | DOC, XLS, PPT, TIFF, RTF, CDR | 1.4 GHz processor (Core 2 Duo for Mac), 512 MB of RAM, 200 MB of hard-disk space |
Lighten | 19.99 |
| very good, up to 100 pages per minute | DOCX, TXT | 2 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, 300 MB of hard-disk space |