Mac users have a genuine advantage when it comes to PDF editing. Apple’s built-in Preview app handles more than most people realize, and several free third-party tools fill in the gaps. I spent two weeks testing every option I could find – from native macOS features to browser-based editors – to figure out what actually works for editing PDFs on a Mac without paying for Adobe Acrobat.
If you want an overview of the best editors across all platforms, check out our guide to the best free PDF editors. This article focuses specifically on Mac-native solutions and what works well on macOS.
Quick Comparison: Mac PDF Editing Tools
| Tool | Text Editing | Annotations | Form Filling | Signatures | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preview (built-in) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free (included) | Quick markup and signing |
| LibreOffice Draw | Yes | Yes | No | No | Free (open source) | Full text editing offline |
| Sejda PDF Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free (3 tasks/day) | Online editing with no install |
| PDF Expert | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free trial / $79.99/yr | Native Mac experience |
| Foxit PDF Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free trial / $149.99/yr | Heavy-duty editing |
| Smallpdf | Yes (overlay) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free (2 tasks/day) | Simple quick edits |
| Google Docs | Yes (converts) | No | No | No | Free | Text-heavy PDFs only |
| Okular | No | Yes | Yes | No | Free (open source) | Annotation on KDE/macOS |
1. Preview – Already on Your Mac
Here’s the thing: most Mac users don’t realize Preview can do about 70% of what they need. It’s pre-installed on every Mac and handles annotations, form filling, and digital signatures without downloading anything.
What Preview Can Do
Open any PDF in Preview (it’s the default app), then click the Markup toolbar button (looks like a pen tip in a circle). From there you can:
- Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text
- Add text boxes anywhere on the page
- Draw shapes – rectangles, circles, arrows, lines
- Insert your signature (trackpad, camera, or iPhone)
- Fill out form fields in interactive PDFs
- Add notes and comments
- Rearrange, rotate, and delete pages (drag thumbnails in the sidebar)
The signature feature deserves special mention. You can sign using your trackpad directly, photograph a paper signature with your Mac’s camera, or sign on your iPhone and have it appear on your Mac. I use the trackpad method daily and it takes about 5 seconds per document.
What Preview Can’t Do
The big limitation: you can’t edit existing text. If a PDF says “John Smith” and you need to change it to “Jane Smith,” Preview won’t help. You can add text on top, but you can’t modify what’s already there. No OCR either, so scanned documents are just images as far as Preview is concerned.
For annotation and signing, Preview is honestly all most people need. I’d say 80% of the “I need to edit a PDF” requests I’ve seen are really “I need to fill out and sign this form,” and Preview handles that perfectly.
2. LibreOffice Draw – Full Editing, Zero Cost
When you need to actually change text inside a PDF – fix a typo, update a date, swap out a phone number – LibreOffice Draw is the best free option on Mac. It’s open source, works offline, and doesn’t have daily limits or watermarks.
How It Works
Open LibreOffice, go to File > Open, and select your PDF. Draw imports it as an editable document. You can click on any text block and modify it directly. Font matching isn’t always perfect (it depends on whether you have the same fonts installed), but for simple edits it works well.
The editing experience is more like working in a page layout program than a word processor. Each element on the page – text blocks, images, shapes – is a separate object you can select and modify. This takes some getting used to if you’re coming from Word or Pages.
Limitations
Complex layouts with multiple columns, tables, and embedded graphics can get rearranged during import. I tested a 15-page report with headers, footers, and sidebar elements, and the formatting shifted noticeably. Simple documents with mostly text convert cleanly. Documents with lots of images and complex positioning? Not so much.
Download size is about 300MB, which is hefty. But once installed, you get a full office suite – word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool – not just PDF editing. Worth the disk space if you do any other document work.
3. Sejda PDF Editor – Browser-Based, No Install
Sejda runs entirely in your browser and offers genuine text editing on PDFs, not just text overlay. It identifies existing text and lets you click to modify it, change fonts, adjust sizing. For a free browser tool, that’s impressive.
What You Get Free
The free tier gives you 3 tasks per day, files up to 50MB or 200 pages, and 1-hour processing time. Most casual users won’t hit those limits. The editor itself is fast – pages load in 2-3 seconds even for larger documents.
Editing is straightforward: upload your PDF, click any text to change it, use the toolbar to add images, shapes, links, or whiteout content. When done, download the edited file. Your files are deleted from their servers after 2 hours according to their privacy policy.
Where It Falls Short
Font matching is approximate. Sejda tries to match the original font, but if the PDF uses a proprietary or unusual font, the edited text might look slightly different. This is a problem shared by every PDF editor that isn’t Adobe, honestly.
The 3-task daily limit means this isn’t suitable if you edit PDFs frequently. For occasional use – fixing a contract, updating a resume, correcting an invoice – it’s more than enough.
4. PDF Expert – The Mac-Native Premium Option
PDF Expert by Readdle is the closest thing to Adobe Acrobat that’s actually built for Mac. The interface feels native to macOS in a way that Foxit and other cross-platform tools don’t. But there’s a catch: it’s not fully free.
What the Free Trial Includes
You get 7 days of full functionality. After that, it drops to a reader with basic annotation. The paid version costs $79.99/year or a one-time purchase of $139.99. During the trial, you can test text editing, page management, form creation, and redaction.
The text editing is the best I’ve tested on Mac outside of Adobe. It handles font matching better than LibreOffice or Sejda, maintains paragraph flow when you add or remove words, and the interface is responsive. I edited a 40-page contract during my trial and the experience was smooth throughout.
Is It Worth Paying?
If you edit PDFs more than a few times per month, probably yes. The $79.99/year breaks down to about $6.67/month, which is less than Adobe’s $12.99/month for Acrobat Standard. For light use, Preview + Sejda covers you for free.
5. Foxit PDF Editor – Cross-Platform Power
Foxit has been around forever in the PDF space. Their Mac app offers a 14-day free trial with full editing capabilities. After that, it’s $149.99/year – more expensive than PDF Expert but with more advanced features like OCR, Bates numbering, and document comparison.
Strengths on Mac
Foxit handles complex documents better than most alternatives. Tables stay aligned, headers maintain their positioning, and multi-column layouts don’t break during editing. If you regularly work with legal, financial, or technical documents that have precise formatting, Foxit handles these well.
The OCR feature converts scanned PDFs into searchable, editable text. I tested it on a scanned contract from 2019 (not great scan quality), and it correctly identified about 95% of the text. That’s solid for a scan with some coffee stains.
Downsides
The interface feels more Windows-like than Mac-native. Menus are dense, toolbar icons are small, and it doesn’t follow macOS design conventions. Performance is also heavier – opening Foxit takes 4-5 seconds versus Preview’s instant launch. For the price, I’d pick PDF Expert unless you specifically need OCR or advanced features Foxit offers.
6. Smallpdf – Quick Edits in Your Browser
Smallpdf is simpler than Sejda but faster for basic tasks. Upload a PDF, add text, shapes, images, or signatures, and download. The free tier allows 2 tasks per day with a 5MB file size limit on some operations.
What Works Well
The interface is clean. No cluttered toolbars, no confusing menus. For someone who just needs to add a few notes to a PDF, or slap their signature on a document, Smallpdf gets it done in under a minute. It also has a Mac desktop app (paid only) that integrates with Finder.
Smallpdf processes files in the cloud, so it works on any Mac regardless of specs. That old 2015 MacBook Air? Runs Smallpdf just fine because your browser does the heavy lifting.
Limitations
Smallpdf doesn’t offer true text editing in the free tier. You can add new text on top of existing content (overlay), but you can’t click on existing text and modify it. That’s reserved for the Pro plan at $12/month. The 2-task daily limit is also more restrictive than Sejda’s 3-task limit. For more capable free options, see our guide to free PDF annotation tools.
7. Google Docs – The Workaround Method
Google Docs can open PDFs by converting them to editable Google Docs format. Upload your PDF to Google Drive, right-click it, and choose “Open with Google Docs.” The text becomes fully editable.
When This Works
Text-heavy PDFs with simple formatting convert surprisingly well. Letters, basic reports, and simple contracts maintain their text accurately. You edit in Google Docs, then download as PDF when done. No software to install, no limits on usage, and it works on any Mac with Chrome or Safari.
When It Doesn’t
Formatting is the issue. Tables get mangled, images shift position, headers and footers disappear, and multi-column layouts become single-column text. The converted document will contain all the right words but might look nothing like the original. I tested a formatted resume and the output was unusable – all the columns collapsed into a single stream of text.
Use this method only when you care about the text content, not the layout. For anything with formatting you need to preserve, stick with Preview, LibreOffice, or Sejda.
8. Okular – Open Source Alternative
Okular is KDE’s document viewer, available on Mac through Homebrew (brew install --cask okular). It’s a capable PDF viewer with annotation tools – highlights, notes, stamps, text markup, drawing tools. It won’t edit existing text, but for review and markup tasks it’s a solid free option.
The interface isn’t Mac-native (it uses Qt), so it looks a bit different from typical Mac apps. But it’s fast, handles large PDFs well, and saves annotations directly into the PDF. If you’re already using Homebrew and want an open-source annotation tool, Okular is worth trying.
How to Edit PDFs on Mac: Step-by-Step by Task
Fill Out and Sign a Form
- Open the PDF in Preview (double-click it)
- Click form fields and type your information
- Click the Markup button, then the Signature icon
- Create or select your signature
- Drag it to the signature line, resize as needed
- Save (Cmd+S)
Total time: about 2 minutes. No downloads needed. For more signing options, see our guide on how to sign PDF documents for free.
Change Existing Text
- Open the PDF in LibreOffice Draw (File > Open)
- Click on the text you want to change
- Edit directly – add, remove, or modify text
- Export as PDF (File > Export as PDF)
Total time: 5-10 minutes depending on the number of changes.
Add Annotations for Review
- Open in Preview
- Use Markup toolbar for highlights, notes, text boxes
- For more annotation types, use Okular or Sejda
Redact Sensitive Information
Preview doesn’t have a redaction tool. You can draw a black rectangle over text, but that’s not true redaction – someone could still copy the text underneath. For proper redaction on Mac, you need PDF Expert (trial) or Foxit (trial). LibreOffice Draw can also work: delete the text element entirely rather than covering it.
Mac-Specific Tips
Quick Look editing: Press Space on any PDF in Finder to preview it. Click the Markup button in Quick Look to annotate without even opening Preview. This is the fastest way to add a quick note or signature.
Continuity Camera: In Preview’s signature tool, you can sign on your iPhone and it appears on your Mac instantly. No scanning, no photos. This works over Bluetooth/Wi-Fi through Apple’s Handoff system.
Automator workflows: macOS Automator can batch-process PDFs – combine files, extract pages, add watermarks. Look for the “PDF” category in Automator’s action library. You can merge 50 PDFs into one with a simple drag-and-drop workflow.
Shortcuts app: On macOS Monterey and later, the Shortcuts app supports PDF actions natively. You can create one-click shortcuts to split, merge, or convert PDFs. If you do repetitive PDF tasks, this saves real time.
Looking for mobile solutions too? We covered PDF editing on iPhone and PDF editing on Android as well.
Which Tool Should You Pick?
The answer depends on what “edit” means for your situation:
- Sign and fill forms: Preview. It’s already installed and works perfectly for this.
- Change existing text (free): LibreOffice Draw for offline work, Sejda for browser-based.
- Heavy editing (paid): PDF Expert if you want a Mac-native app, Foxit if you need OCR and advanced features.
- Quick annotations: Preview for basics, Okular if you want more annotation types.
- One-off simple edit: Smallpdf or Sejda in your browser. No install needed.
For most Mac users, honestly, start with Preview. You might be surprised how much it does. When you hit its limits – and you will if you need text editing – move to LibreOffice Draw (free forever) or Sejda (free with daily limits). Only pay for PDF Expert or Foxit if you edit PDFs regularly enough that the free tools feel limiting.
For a broader comparison of all free PDF editors across platforms, our best free PDF editors roundup covers everything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I edit a PDF on Mac without downloading any software?
Yes. Preview comes pre-installed on every Mac and handles annotations, form filling, signatures, and page management. For actual text editing without downloads, use browser-based tools like Sejda (3 free tasks per day) or Smallpdf (2 free tasks per day). Google Docs can also convert PDFs to editable text, though formatting often breaks.
Is Preview good enough for editing PDFs on Mac?
For about 70-80% of common PDF tasks, yes. Preview handles highlighting, text boxes, shapes, form filling, signatures, page reordering, and rotation. The main gap is existing text editing – you can’t modify text that’s already in the PDF. If you need to change a name, fix a date, or update a phone number in the original text, you’ll need LibreOffice Draw or a paid tool like PDF Expert.
What is the best free alternative to Adobe Acrobat on Mac?
LibreOffice Draw is the most capable fully-free option. It lets you edit text, move objects, and modify layouts without daily limits or watermarks. For a more polished experience with a Mac-native interface, PDF Expert offers a 7-day free trial. Browser-based Sejda is the best middle ground – real text editing capabilities with 3 free tasks per day.
How do I electronically sign a PDF on Mac for free?
Open the PDF in Preview, click the Markup button in the toolbar, then click the Signature icon. You can create a signature three ways: draw on your trackpad, hold a signed paper up to your camera, or sign on your iPhone using Continuity. The signature saves for reuse across all future documents. Drag it onto the signature line, resize, and save.
Can I edit a scanned PDF on Mac for free?
Scanned PDFs are images, so you need OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to make the text editable. Free options for OCR on Mac are limited. Google Docs can sometimes handle clean scans – upload to Drive and open with Docs. For better results, Foxit’s 14-day trial includes OCR. There’s no fully free Mac-native OCR tool that matches paid options for accuracy.