Editing a PDF on a Mac sounds complicated, but it’s as simple as cropping a screenshot! You can add text, conceal private info, or fill in a form, and macOS comes with built-in tools — Preview and Quick Look — that enable you to edit PDFs for free. Third-party apps offer stronger solutions for your advanced features. Here’s all you need to know about PDF editing on macOS.

How to Edit a PDF on Mac: A Complete Guide to Using Preview, Quick Look, and Third-Party Tools

Edit PDFs on Mac Using Preview

Preview, the default PDF viewer in macOS, can also do a lot of basic editing. It enables you to view, annotate, and comment on PDFs. It doesn’t enable the editing of existing text, though. Steps to Edit PDFs in Preview:

Open the PDF file by double-clicking it in Finder (or right-click and select Open with > Preview if it doesn’t open by default).
Select the Markup Tool (Pencil icon) from the top toolbar to access editing options.

You can:

Add Text: Add a Text (A in a box) element and adjust the Font, size, color, and alignment, then drag where to place.
Add Signatures: Create a signature through the Trackpad, Camera, or connected devices, and drop it into the PDF.
Add Shape: This is a tool that you can use to add shapes such as circles, stars, or speech bubbles. You also can customize it. Customize size, border, and fill colors.
Rearrange Pages: To drag, reorder, or delete pages, turn on the Thumbnails view.

Edit PDFs on Mac Using Quick Look

Quick Look: Instant file previews, plus basic editing tools, similar to those available in Preview. Steps to Edit PDFs in Quick Look:

Find the PDF in Finder and hit the Space Bar to open Quick Look.
Click the Pencil icon to reveal the editing toolbar.
Edit the PDF with text addition, shape insertion, and annotations.

Most editing tools are supported in Quick Look, but rearranging pages is for Preview only.

Advanced Editing with Third-Party Apps

For more complex tasks such as editing existing text or combining PDFs, check out Adobe Acrobat DC, PDF Expert, and Foxit PhantomPDF.

Adobe Acrobat DC: A powerful professional tool for extensive editing needs.
PDF Expert: Clean interface for file reading, advanced markup tools, AI-enhanced features, split document, and sensitive information redaction.