Pdf Reading App That You Can Highlight, Write

When you need a document that looks the same everywhere, no thing which app opens the file, you need a PDF. They're the closest matter nosotros have to digital paper. PDF files are ubiquitous for detailed forms, eBooks, whitepapers, and anything else where you don't want text and fields to move around depending on your device and window size.

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And they're easy to use. On Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android today, you lot can view PDF files with congenital-in tools. You lot can often highlight text, fill out forms, and even add together basic annotations—but want to edit the text or supersede an prototype in a PDF? That'south where things get tricky.

We've tested fifteen PDF editors to find the best apps to both view and edit PDFs. Here are the apps to use the side by side time yous need to tweak a PDF—along with tips to plough anything into a PDF.

→ Want to make a PDF instead? Check our Guide to Making PDF documents to find out how to build your own PDF documents on any device.

What Makes a Great PDF Editor?

How we evaluate and examination apps

All of our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. We spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as information technology's intended to exist used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. We're never paid for placement in our articles from whatever app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how nosotros select apps to feature on the Zapier blog.

PDF editors are not all made equal. The PDF apps yous've likely used the nearly—Adobe Reader, Apple iBooks, Windows Reader—are PDF reader apps. They're built to help you read PDF files like you would a book, and help you flip to the folio yous want, search through the book, highlight text, and perhaps fill out PDF forms and sign them digitally.

Then at that place are PDF annotation apps, including macOS Preview, Xodo, and most mobile PDF apps. These let you lot add together comments to PDFs, rearrange pages, add shapes and arrows to call out things in the document, and insert new text blocks and images into the PDF. Yous tin't change the core, original PDF text—but you can add to information technology much like you might write notes on a printed document.

The near professional PDF software is PDF editor apps. These tools—including Adobe Acrobat, Foxit, and more—often expect like Office apps with detailed toolbars and menus, and can cost hundreds of dollars. They can change annihilation in a PDF. When yous need to replace an prototype, modify the text in a PDF, add new form fields, or edit annihilation else in a PDF, they're the apps you need. They can also create new PDF documents and forms from scratch.

Nosotros looked at both PDF note and editor apps in this roundup, checking to run into how they displayed PDF documents, if they worked well, and if they could edit PDFs without deeply changing how the original PDF certificate looked. We also tried to find the software with the all-time value for price—and found four apps that stood out every bit the all-time tools to edit, collaborate, and convert PDF files.

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The All-time PDF Editor Apps

• Sejda (Web, Windows, Mac, Linux) to edit text and create PDF forms for costless

• Xodo (Web, Android, iOS, Windows) to comment and collaborate on PDFs anywhere

• CloudConvert (Spider web) to plough PDF files into editable Word documents

• Foxit (Web, Android, iOS, Windows, Mac) to edit PDFs everywhere

• Preview (Mac) to rearrange pages, sign documents, and mark up PDFs for gratuitous

• PDF Skilful (iOS, Mac) to quickly edit PDF text and images

• PDFelement (Android, iOS,Windows, Mac) to edit PDFs and add together forms in an Office-like editor

• Adobe Acrobat (Windows, Mac) to create detailed PDFs and forms

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The Best Free PDF Editor: Sejda (Spider web, Windows, Mac, Linux)

To edit text and create PDF forms for free

Need to edit text in a PDF? Sejda is the rare gratuitous PDF editor that can edit text or add course fields to a PDF. It's designed around a set up of tools to rearrange pages in PDFs, merge documents, ingather or rotate pages, add together headers and footers with folio numbers, recognize text with OCR, split PDFs into smaller documents, and more than. Among those single-purpose tools is a surprisingly feature-filled PDF Editor that, yep, lets you lot edit text and add form fields for free.

It'southward not perfect. Sejda struggles more with editing text using custom fonts than other PDF editors (as y'all tin see with the italics text above). And then if your PDF uses an uncommon font, your best strategy is to select the text, switch to a like font included with Sejda, and then brand your edits. Also, information technology adds the same formatting to all text in one text box, so you lot can't italicize or bold 1 word in a paragraph—instead, create a blank space, so add a new text box for the formatted word and drag it in. You lot can besides kickoff from scratch with a blank document, perfect to make a new PDF form. Sejda packs an impressive suite of features into an easy-to-utilize editor that's ideal for your one-off PDF edits.

Sejda Price: Free to edit iii documents per day including upwardly to 200 pages each; from $5/week for Web Pro or $69.95 perpetual desktop license for unlimited edits and batch processing

The Best PDF Collaboration App: Xodo (Web, Android, iOS, Windows)

To annotate and interact on PDFs anywhere

Want Preview-fashion markup features that work everywhere? Xodo is the PDF editor to employ. It can't edit text—simply information technology does include all the annotation features you demand to markup your documents. Open xodo.com/app, elevate-and-drib in a PDF file, and seconds afterward it'll open in your browser with all of Xodo's markup features (without needing to make an account). You can fill out PDF forms, search through documents and bookmark pages, highlight or strikethrough text, and add images, text boxes, shapes, signatures, and other annotations. You tin't edit existing text and photos in PDFs—merely you can add almost anything else you want to a PDF. Or, from the app's front page, you can select to merge PDF documents or rearrange pages as well—or plow a Word document or photo into a PDF with Xodo'southward mobile apps.

Xodo is also designed for collaboration. You could add together standard annotations and text notes, then download the PDF and send it to your team as with most PDF editors. Or, you tin can work from the same online document together. Once yous've signed upwardly for an business relationship, you tin can invite others via e-mail or re-create a link to your document. And then, add together annotations and collaborate around comments on your PDF, like you exercise in Google Docs.

Xodo Price: Free

The All-time PDF Converter: CloudConvert (Web)

To turn PDF files into editable Discussion documents—and vice versa

It'south not a PDF editor, per se. But if you want to turn your PDF back into a document and edit everything in it, CloudConvert is one of your all-time options. Information technology's a conversion app that can turn over 200 different file types into the file yous want. Add together a PDF, and information technology can plough it into a Discussion document, plain text file, HTML webpage, ePub eBook, or individual images.

The Word document (.doctor or .docx) option is the almost useful. It extracts the text and images, replaces fonts with standard ones that are on most computers, and preserves equally much formatting as possible. It's not perfect—but information technology does quite a good task of making a document that's similar to your original PDF. CloudConvert can even be automated with Zapier—have Zapier picket a Dropbox or Google Bulldoze folder for new PDFs, and CloudConvert can automatically plough them into Word documents and salve them dorsum to the original folder. You can and so customize the documents further in Word or another word processor—earlier perhaps turning the finished document back into a PDF.

CloudConvert Cost: Free for up to 1GB files and 25 conversion minutes per day; from $8 per 500 conversion minutes with unlimited file size

Larn more in our CloudConvert overview , or build your own Zaps to convert PDFs automatically with Zapier's CloudConvert integrations .

Tip: Microsoft Word 2013 and the newest version in Office 365 for Windows (from $6.99/mo.) can convert PDFs to Give-and-take documents as well—though CloudConvert seemed to practise a similar or better job, for free, in our tests.

The Best Online PDF Editor: Foxit (Web, Android, iOS, Windows, Mac)

For a full-featured PDF editor web app

Want a full-featured PDF editor on your tablet, in your browser, and on your laptop? Foxit offers them all, with advanced mobile, web, and desktop apps for editing PDF files with ane subscription—forth with free apps to view and add together annotations to PDFs.

Foxit'due south has a fleck more than trouble with editing text in custom fonts—the online app misses some capitalizations and formatting like Give-and-take's PDF conversion, and its desktop app was a scrap better but still had some issues. Information technology makes up for that, though, with powerful PDF tools to excerpt information from filled forms and add them to spreadsheet files, plow a folio of your PDF into a template for new documents, and a tool to pull all your PDF comments into a new summary PDF document.

Foxit Price: Free Foxit Online or Foxit Reader for desktop to read and sign PDFs; from $vii.99/month Standard for online and mobile editing features and full desktop apps including OCR tools; from $129 ane-time buy for desktop

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Then, here are four other groovy PDF editors that work in fewer places or price more, but can exist great choices on your Mac or Windows PC for professional PDF piece of work:

Preview (Mac)

To rearrange pages, sign documents, and mark up PDFs for gratuitous on the Mac

Preview is the Mac'southward hidden gem. Double-click a PDF, image, or almost any other type of file on your Mac, and they'll open in Preview to, well, preview them. Preview tin can besides crop and resize images, and let you tweak brightness and more with its editing tools. And with PDFs, you can utilize those same tools to comment your PDF documents.

Some of Preview's PDF editing features are a flake hidden. There's a highlighter tool in the toolbar by default—then click the pen push button to open up the Markup toolbar to add callouts and text annotations, notes, and freehand drawings. You can add a signature with your trackpad—or sign a piece of newspaper and hold information technology upwards to your camera to re-create your real ink signature. Then, if the page thumbnail sidebar is open, you can drag-and-drop pages to rearrange them—or open another PDF in Preview and you can elevate-and-drop pages from 1 PDF into another, or elevate an entire new PDF into the sidebar to merge two documents. You can also salvage individual pages from your PDF as images from Preview'southward Export options.

Preview can't edit the original text and images in your PDF files, or add new form fields. For everything else, though, it'southward a handy ready of tools for cadre PDF edits.

Preview Toll: Free with macOS

Tip: Windows 10 likewise includes a Reader app to read PDF documents, highlight text, add together notes, and make full out forms. It's neat for core PDF reading—which formerly required Adobe Reader—simply it isn't designed for editing PDFs and tin't add a digital signature to them. On the web, DocHub offers similar annotation and signing tools, along with options to build PDF template documents.

PDF Expert (iOS, Mac)

To rapidly edit PDF text and images

At showtime glance, PDF Proficient doesn't expect like a full PDF editor. It's more focused on reading, with a clean interface that focuses on your documents. With options to view ii PDFs side-past-side along with a zoomed out view to run into every page in your document at once, it'south a swell way to read through even the longest PDFs. Information technology organizes and syncs PDFs on iPad, and lists recently viewed PDFs on Mac to spring dorsum in where yous left off. And when you demand to change something, its almost-hidden tools are waiting in the slim toolbar.

You'll encounter annotation tools to highlight or underline text, add signatures, and insert shapes and notes in the default Annotate view. Open up the zoomed out view that shows all pages at in one case, and you lot can elevate-and-drop pages into the order you desire, rotate pages, add new pages, or extract a section of your document into a new PDF. Then, in the Edit tab, you can click any text to edit information technology (using the document's original font for whatever letters that are independent in that department, and system fonts for any other characters). You tin also add together links to text and images, or insert new images into your documents. It doesn't include OCR tools or options to add grade fields—only is bully for editing text, images, and formatting in PDFs.

PDF Expert Price: $59.99 for Mac; $9.99 for iOS, plus additional $9.99 Pro in-app purchase for PDF editing tools

PDFelement (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac)

To edit PDFs and add together forms in an Part-like editor

PDFelement has a PDF editor app for everyone. Just demand to add together occasional edits to PDFs on the go? Its complimentary PDF app for iOS and Android lets y'all read, annotate, and even edit text in PDF documents every bit long equally you annals for a free business relationship. Then, on Mac, PDFelement Limited includes simplified tools to comment PDFs and edit text without needing the full app.

Or, you lot can get the full PDFelement app for a Microsoft Function-mode editor to tweak anything in your PDF documents. The Standard version includes full editing features, while the Pro version uses OCR to recognize text in images and can add together form fields to your PDF documents. It can even recognize form-style sections in your documents and turn them into fillable PDF forms automatically if you desire. With its large icons and clear labels, information technology keeps things from feeling complicated while still including a wide range of tools in its apps.

PDFelement Price: Free on iOS and Android; $39.95 PDFelement Limited for Mac with simplified editing tools; $59.99 PDFelement Standard for Mac or Windows with core editing tools; $99.95 PDFelement Pro for Mac or Windows with OCR tools

Adobe Acrobat (Windows, Mac—plus reader for Android, iOS, and Linux)

To create detailed PDFs and forms

Adobe Acrobat is the original PDF editor, the app that started information technology all in 1993. Today, it's to documents what Photoshop is to photos. The ubiquitous Acrobat Reader is great to view PDFs, add highlights and notes to annotate PDFs, and fill out forms—especially complicated ones like government forms that might non open up well in other apps. For annihilation else, you need the full Adobe Acrobat which is part of Adobe's Artistic Deject or as an private app subscription.

The latest versions of Acrobat are packed with features but feel surprisingly easy to utilize. It hides most of the tools by default, so you tin can read PDFs and fill in forms without editing them if you want. Click the Edit PDF button in the sidebar to edit text, images, links and more—with editing tools that tend to keep the PDF file looking as it did originally more than than other PDF editors. Acrobat will only use fonts you lot accept installed when editing the PDF—though it includes more than font editing options to ensure spacing looks correct in your edited text.

Acrobat tin can besides create new PDF documents from scratch with its basic word processor, or tin can convert other files and merge them together into PDFs. From the Tools folio, you can likewise use OCR to recognize scanned text, merge or separate PDFs, redact data, and build detailed forms that can summarize typed text into a barcode to easily copy it to another device or app. Yous tin connect Adobe Acrobat forms to databases, build mini-apps inside your PDF documents with JavaScript, and build activeness wizards to automatically process PDFs. It'due south more than yous'd need to edit text in the occasional PDF document—but if you work with PDF files daily, Adobe Acrobat is still the industry leader with the about advanced PDF editing and creation tools.

Adobe Acrobat Toll: Free Adobe Reader to view PDFs, add highlights and basic annotations, and fill out PDF forms; $24.99/month (or $14.99/month if paid annually) Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to edit PDFs, compare changes, use OCR on scanned documents, and more; from $299 onetime buy

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The next time you open up a PDF and wish you could change something—you can. Take hold of one of these apps, and yous'll be able to tweak text, add together a new epitome, highlight your favorite things, and build your own PDF forms in minutes.

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