How to Edit PDFs on Mac

Edit PDFs

A PDF editor is an application that enables the editing of PDF files. You might use it to fill out forms, add your signature, highlight text, add or remove images from PDFs, and more. On a Mac, using the integrated Preview software is the simplest way to edit a PDF. There are other possibilities as well, such as online and third-party PDF editors, which--depending on what you need the PDF editor to do--might be more advantageous to you.

Mac comes with an application called Preview that can edit PDFs. With the exception of the inability to alter already-created content, it is about as comprehensive as any other PDF editor. It does have the advantage that you don't need to install anything in order to use it. You can simply open the PDF and begin editing right away.

Although it would seem logical, the Edit menu is not where you can discover all of Preview's PDF editing features. Instead, this menu will allow you to remove pages from the PDF and add pages from other PDFs (or make blank pages).

Additionally, Preview allows you to reorder PDF pages by dragging them up or down from the sidebar. You can make the last page the first page, the second page the first page, etc. You can enable the sidebar from the View menu if it isn't visible in Preview. The markup toolbar has a list of options that allow us to set the app to editing mode and alter PDFs on Mac.

Most of Preview's other PDF editing options are in the markup Tools menu. It's here that you can add a bookmark to the PDF or rotate pages. The Tools > Annotations toolbar menu allows us to edit existing text, highlight text, underline text, strikethrough text, insert a note, rectangle, oval, line, arrow, and other shapes, and type on the PDF (anywhere or in form fields), use speech bubbles, and more.

Add a Signature

We can also use Preview to add your signature to the PDF if your Mac is equipped with a trackpad or an iSight camera. Additionally, a freehand drawing tool is offered so that you can create shapes or your signature on the document directly.

Filling a PDF Form

When you open a PDF in Preview that contains editable fields, you can make changes by simply clicking on the form's components. These typically take the form of interactable text boxes or checkboxes. For example, if you click on a text box that can be filled in, you can start typing there to add the information to your file.

Save the document after editing it by selecting File > Save.

Adding Text

Use Preview to add more text to a PDF document using text boxes. To achieve this, select the Text button after pressing the Markup button.

There will be a text box in your document. Double-click the text box to begin modifying it after moving it with your cursor to a new location. You can format your text box utilizing the Text Style options at the top right.

Filling PDFs using IronPDF

IronPDF allows us to edit PDF forms. This can help in filling multiple forms quickly. Once the Viewer has been installed to your WinForms project, users will have the ability to edit any PDF that contains form field data. The Viewer displays each field in accordance with the type of form to which it belongs. This includes text boxes, radio buttons, combo boxes with (auto-complete), checkboxes, and lists.

If your PDF contains Acroform data, you can import from or export to the following formats: FDF, XFDF, XML, and TXT.

// Load a PDF document from a file path
PdfDocument doc = PdfDocument.FromFile(@"D:\Test.pdf");

// Access the form within the PDF file
var form = doc.Form;

// Find a specific form field by name and set its value
var field = form.FindFormField("First Name");
// or access directly by index if the order is known
var field = form.Fields[0];
field.Value = "MAC";

// Save the updated PDF document
doc.SaveAs(@"D:\Test.pdf");

// Load a PDF document from a file path
PdfDocument doc = PdfDocument.FromFile(@"D:\Test.pdf");

// Access the form within the PDF file
var form = doc.Form;

// Find a specific form field by name and set its value
var field = form.FindFormField("First Name");
// or access directly by index if the order is known
var field = form.Fields[0];
field.Value = "MAC";

// Save the updated PDF document
doc.SaveAs(@"D:\Test.pdf");

Merge PDF Files

PDF files can be merged easily using IronPDF without installing additional software. We can merge any number of PDF pages into a single document. Below is sample code for merging PDF documents.

// Create a new PDF renderer using the IronPDF library
var Renderer = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer();

// Create a list to hold multiple PDF documents
var PDFs = new List<PdfDocument>();

// Load existing PDF documents into the PDF list
PDFs.Add(PdfDocument.FromFile("AAA.pdf"));
PDFs.Add(PdfDocument.FromFile("BBB.pdf"));
PDFs.Add(PdfDocument.FromFile("CCC.pdf"));

// Merge the loaded PDF documents into a single PDF
PdfDocument PDF = PdfDocument.Merge(PDFs);

// Save the merged PDF file to disk
PDF.SaveAs("merged.pdf");

// Create a new PDF renderer using the IronPDF library
var Renderer = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer();

// Create a list to hold multiple PDF documents
var PDFs = new List<PdfDocument>();

// Load existing PDF documents into the PDF list
PDFs.Add(PdfDocument.FromFile("AAA.pdf"));
PDFs.Add(PdfDocument.FromFile("BBB.pdf"));
PDFs.Add(PdfDocument.FromFile("CCC.pdf"));

// Merge the loaded PDF documents into a single PDF
PdfDocument PDF = PdfDocument.Merge(PDFs);

// Save the merged PDF file to disk
PDF.SaveAs("merged.pdf");