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Tommy1910's avatar
Tommy1910
Brass Contributor
May 26, 2026

How can I edit a pdf document on a mac for free?

Hi everyone, I have a few PDF documents on my Mac that I need to edit, including editing & deleting text, adding notes, and inserting a few images. I thought Preview could handle it, but it seems pr...
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Lauradosh's avatar
Lauradosh
Iron Contributor
May 26, 2026

You can edit PDF on Mac for free with the built-in Preview app.

Double-click any PDF. It opens in Preview by default. If not, right-click → Open With → Preview. And here is a few tricks to let you edit PDF file on Mac for free.

Add Text

  1. Go to Tools → Annotate → Text (or press A to open the Markup toolbar)
  2. Click anywhere on the PDF to place a text box
  3. Type your text, adjust font/size/color in the toolbar

 

Highlight, Underline & Strikethrough Text

Select text, then right-click → choose Highlight, Underline, or Strikethrough

Or use Tools → Annotate menu

Add Notes/Comments

Tools → Annotate → Note to add sticky-note style comments

Rotate, Delete & Reorder Pages

  1. Open the sidebar (View → Thumbnails)
  2. Drag thumbnails to reorder pages
  3. Right-click a thumbnail → Delete to remove a page
  4. Tools → Rotate Left/Right to rotate

Limitations of Preview

Preview can add content on top of a PDF but cannot edit existing text that's already in the document. For that, you'd need Adobe Acrobat or an online PDF Editor tool.