If you’ve ever been given a pdf file that you want to edit, or a pdf form that you need to complete and return electronically, you’ll realise that it’s not obvious how to edit a pdf file in OS X. You can make simple changes to a pdf file using the free built-in Preview App that comes free with OS X. Here’s how.

PDF Editor for Mac allows users to add, edit, or delete headers, footers, watermarks and backgrounds in a PDF file. Create and Export PDF PDF Editor for Mac allows users to convert Microsoft Office, HTML, image, and text files to PDF, PDF/A, PDF/E, and PDF/X. Create, view, print, edit, and search for text in PDF portfolios. It is one of the finest editors which come packed with plenty of features. However, this isn't the only software which you can use, especially on Mac OS X 10.11 (Including macOS Sierra 10.12). Let us take a look at a Nitro PDF for Mac OS X El Capitan (Sierra included) alternative - PDFelement Pro PDFelement Pro, which can aid in editing the PDF.

If you double-click on any pdf file in OS X it will open in an application called Preview. Preview has a hidden “Annotations Toolbar’ that will allow you to edit the pdf file. You can’t change what’s already in the pdf document. But you can do minor changed like adding your own text and graphics, so this method will allow you to complete a form or make minor additions.

For full pdf editing capabilities (for example adding paragraphs of text, moving pictures around on a page etc) you need to get some fully blown pdf editing software like Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Acrobat Professional. But these cost hundreds of dollars. The good news is that ‘Preview’, the built-in OS X pdf reader app, has some basic pdf editing abilities built-in.

Here’s how to use the Annotations Toolbar.

If you are looking for a free Mac PDF editor so you can add or change text in a PDF, add your signature, add comments, redact information, or just to.

Go up to the View menu and select the menu item called ‘Show Annotations Toolbar. This will give you a toolbar along the bottom of your preview window to help you edit the pdf file.

Note: In Yosemite and El Capitan the ‘Annotations Toolbar’ has been Renamed to ‘Markup Toolbar’ so that it looks like this:

After you select the ‘View: Show Annotations Toolbar’ menu you will see a toolbar across the bottom of the preview window that looks like this:

These buttons will allow you to edit the pdf file. The left three buttons make an arrow, a circle or a rectangle. The fourth button along allows you to add text to the pdf.

If you click on the text box button – the 4th button across, you can then go up to your document and add in a text box like this:

If you click on the text button you can add a text box to the pdf document like this.

This is a very easy way to fill in pdf files that are forms.

If you highlight the newly added text you can change the font by pressing Apple-T and the font window will appear.

You can’t delete what’s already in a document, but you can draw a rectangle over it to hide it and type something new over the top.

You can cover over existing text using a rectangle with a white border like this.

You’ll notice you can’t change the rectangle color from being black, but you can put a very fat white border around it so it looks like a white rectangle!

Please note, this is more of a hack than a proper way to edit. The original information that you have edited will still be there. It is just covered over. If someone deletes the box they will see the original document.

This is what led the the recent scandal in Australian Politics when all the private phone numbers of Australian politicians were accidentally leaked. The deleted the phone numbers from public documents by changing the colour from black to white. But they didn’t realise someone could still get the numbers out of the documents.

If you want to totally change the images and text on an existing pdf file you will need an application like Adobe Illustrator that can actually edit the content of pdf files. But if you only want to make small changes, the built-in preview app will do the job!

If you’d like to sign a PDF document with your handwritten signature I have a separate article on how to do that.

2020-09-11 18:03:22 • Filed to: PDFelement for Mac How-Tos • Proven solutions

InDesign by Adobe is one of the most popular applications which are used to create graphical images, edit them, and create all type of design that we see on the back of a book or a poster. If you are creating the cover of a book, you might need to edit PDF in InDesign. Normally, InDesign will not simply open or edit the PDF file, however, you can just link the PDF file in InDesign. If you scanned a PDF file, you can make an editable PDF InDesign on Mac OS X (10.15 Included). Here's the detailed guide on how to make an editable PDF in InDesign on Mac.

How to Edit a PDF in InDesign for Mac

To edit a PDF in InDesign for Mac, please follow the steps here:

• Before you continue, you will have to open the PDF file In Adobe InDesign which is not easy as it seems.
• Launch the Program on your computer and click on 'File' and 'Place'.
• Now, select the PDF file that you want to edit in InDesign.
• Once the file is opened in InDesign, the next step is to edit the PDF File, as you will move the cursor of your mouse, you will see two circles on the page.
• You can move the PDF file which will be shown as the Image as you want and can edit in any possible way in the program. After editing the file, you can save it by using the export option in Adobe InDesign.

Shortcomings of Using Adobe InDesign to Edit PDF:

• You cannot adjust the length and size of the PDF file in Adobe InDesign.
• There is no way to edit already present text in the PDF File, although, you can add or remove the text.
• There is no way to convert PDF files to other document formats in Adobe InDesign
• No option to Perform OCR on documents to convert scanned images to editable text.
• No option to create PDF files from Word or other popular formats.

How to Edit PDF Using InDesign Alternatives

PDFelement is the best InDesign alternative to conveniently edit your PDF files. As the name of the application suggests, it is a wonderful program to edit PDF files in any possible way or manage PDF pages in various ways. Just like editing PDF in InDesign, you can add text to any place in the PDF file or replace the existing text with the new text or can completely delete the text from the screen.

The unique thing about using PDFelement is that you can also adjust the font, size, alignment of the text present in the PDF file. You can also edit and crop images without having to use third-party software.

That's not it! It will also let you draw different types of shapes on the PDF file and you can add one of the built-in stamps to PDF document or will let you add images from different sources and you can resize or rotate the images present in the PDFelement. Unlike the InDesign application, in this application, you can even adjust the pages of the PDF file. Lastly, when you are done with editing, you can save the file or save it as a new PDF file that you want.

PDFelement is compatible with macOS 10.12, macOS High Sierra 10.13, macOS Mojave 10.14, and macOS Catalina 10.15. So you don't have to worry about the compatibility issue. Here is a step by step guide to Edit PDF InDesign Alternative for Mac:

Step 1. Open PDF

Launch the Program on your Mac and you can either use drag and drop option to open the PDF file or can directly click on the 'Open File' button and select the required PDF file.

Step 2. Edit PDF Text

You can click on the 'Text' button to make modifications to your PDF files, including change the text, add new text to the PDF.

Step 3. Edit PDF Image

Just like text, enable the 'Image' button and hit the 'Add Image' icon in the new bar to add images. Now, you can click on any image to edit in any possible way. After adding the image, you can double-click the image to rotate, replace, crop, extract, and delete.

Step 4. Edit PDF Pages

Editor Pdf For Mac Os Versions

Apart from editing the text or images, whole pages can also be moved, replaced, rotated, or inserted. Click on the 'Organize Pages' button on the top-right menu bar and choose the options you want to make. Select any required option and select the criteria for the pages that you want to edit them.

Free Download or Buy PDFelement right now!

Free Download or Buy PDFelement right now!

Foxit Pdf Editor For Mac Os X

Buy PDFelement right now!

Buy PDFelement right now!