Have you ever wanted to easily annotate documents, sign agreements or fill out forms directly on your Mac? Or perhaps make updates to an existing PDF report from your coworker? This step-by-step guide will cover everything from basic digital signatures to advanced editing unlocked with paid tools.
Overview – What You‘ll Learn
Here‘s a quick summary of the key things we‘ll be exploring in this guide:
- Background on the popular PDF format
- Using Preview for basic annotations
- Creating and adding digital signatures
- Exporting and sharing edited PDFs
- Paid software options for expert-level editing
- Security best practices when modifying sensitive PDFs
Equipped with these skills, you‘ll be able to expertly modify any PDF landing in your inbox with just native Mac apps!
A Brief History of PDFs
Since we‘ll be spending a fair bit of time editing them, let‘s first appreciate why PDFs have been so massively successful.
Portable Document Format, or PDF, was invented by Adobe Systems in early 1993 to solve a key problem – sharing documents digitally while retaining the intended formatting and layout. Prior to PDFs, documents would appear incorrectly formatted based on differences in applications, operating systems, installed fonts etc.
PDF allowed defining page sizes, content flow, precise positioning of design elements in a format agnostic way – so anyone could view it as intended by the creator.
This revolutionary technology sparked widespread PDF adoption during the 1990s internet boom as evident below:
table {
font-family: arial, sans-serif;
border-collapse: collapse;
width: 100%;
}
td, th {
border: 1px solid #dddddd;
text-align: left;
padding: 8px;
}
tr:nth-child(even) {
background-color: #dddddd;
}
| Year | PDF Adoption Rate |
|---|---|
| 1993 | 0% |
| 1995 | 10% Enterprises |
| 1998 | 60% Enterprises |
| 2001 | 90% Enterprises |
| 2005 | Over 50% Individuals |
| 2015 | Over 90% Market |
Today, billions of documents are shared daily in PDF format globally across industries, governments, organizations and individuals – underscoring why unlocking expertise in editing PDFs is such an invaluable skill.
And that brings us to Apple‘s Preview app and paid alternatives that enable PDF superpowers on your Mac.
Preview – Included for Basic PDF Editing
All modern macOS devices come pre-installed with Preview – a rather multipurpose app that handles PDF viewing and annotation along with image editing.
Let‘s first breakdown some key capabilities around PDFs:
What Preview CAN Do:
- View PDF documents
- Export PDF files
- Add text boxes
- Apply digital signatures
- Draw shapes and sketches
- Highlight passages
- Insert sticky note comments
What Preview CANNOT Do:
- Edit existing text or images
- Redo typos in form fields
- Add links, bookmarks
- Compare changes between versions
- Leverage OCR
So in summary – Preview grants basic modification powers but can‘t overhaul content within PDFs. We‘ll now dive into mastering Preview‘s strengths through an annotated tutorial while calling out its limitations versus paid alternatives.
Step-by-Step Guide: Editing PDFs in Preview
Let‘s run through the exact step-by-step process of leveraging Preview to expertly annotate PDFs with textual notes, shapes, highlights and signatures.
1. Launch Preview
Open Preview via Launchpad or Spotlight Search. Consider dragging it to your Dock for quick access later.
2. Open Your PDF
Under File > Open, locate the PDF document you wish to load up for editing. Alternatively, you can open the file directly from Finder too.
3. Access Annotation Tools
Click the Markup Toolbar icon (looks like fountain pen nib) to reveal annotation controls.
Here we have a range of self-explanatory options:
- Text: Insert text boxes
- Shapes: Lines, arrows, rectangles
- Sketch: Freehand pencil
- Highlighter: Translucent ink
- Speech: Comic-style bubbles
- Sticky Note: Virtual sticky notes
- Signature: Create/add signature
Fantastic! Now let‘s see these tools in action to expertly modify PDF documents.
Annotating with Text
To add supplementary text remarks at any location, click the Text Tool and then click-hold where you want the text box placed. This will spawn an empty container you can start typing into right away.
You can drag borders to resize as needed based on comment length. Prefer lots of text? Sticky notes may work better.
Drawing Attention with Shapes
The shapes tools allow swiftly annotating areas of interest with lines, arrows, circles etc.
Say we wish to point out a graph‘s poor choice of X-axis labels. Just invoke the shape drawing mode, drag out a pointer arrow and you‘re set!
Combine shapes with freehand sketching to call out specifics. Great for collaborative document reviews and feedback.
Highlighting Key Passages
Let‘s shine a spotlight on important content within paragraphs of dense text using the Highlighter tool. The translucent ink maintains readability of highlighted region so it‘s ideal for underscoring stuff without fully obstructing.
You can even switch between multiple accent colors if making distinct highlights for specific purposes.
Commenting with Sticky Notes
The Sticky Notes tool adds virtual sticky paper inserts anywhere on the page to accompany longer form remarks on a section.
Say we wish to critique a certain passage and provide amendment suggestions. Adding a sticky note adjacent and then filling it up with formatted bulleted commentary text makes this extremely convenient.
Sticky Notes, Text Boxes and Speech Bubbles enable you to tell a complete contextual story alongside the actual content!
Signing Documents
Easily the most popular reason folks want to edit PDFs is to sign agreements and approvals with their signature image inserted digitally.
Preview allows precisely that with minimal hassle! Under the markup tools, click Signature > Create Signature and then:
- Draw with trackpad
- Take an iPhone photo
- Capture webcam snapshot of signature on paper
With your signature now available, simply click the Signature icon again and drag-drop your sig where you want within the PDF document. A huge timesaver!
And finally, don‘t forget to export a fresh copy of the PDF using File > Export with your annotations and signatures applied!
This concludes Preview‘s built-in feature set. Let‘s re-cap the key capabilities:
- Annotate with text, shapes, sketches
- Highlight key passages
- Comment sticky notes
- Sign documents with signature image
- Export edited copy of PDF
Decently versatile for basic needs! But what about more advanced requirements?
Limits of Preview vs Paid Tools
While Preview grants adequatepowers for lightweight annotations, signing docs and exporting copies – it falls short if you actually need to modify text and images within an existing PDF document.
Suppose you are sent a PDF report with errors in paragraphs, charts or tables and wish to make corrections. Preview won‘t cut it.
Or a complex filing where fields must be error-free. Preview lacks the ability to edit text typed into the actual form itself either. Only append notes on top.
Advanced capabilities like:
- Editing existing text
- Touching up images
- Adding bookmarks
- Comparing versions
- Filling forms with precision
- Password protection
Require paid software like:
Adobe Acrobat Pro – Industry leading editor priced for professionals starting at $180 per year
PDFPenPro – Powerful editing with affordable one-time license fee of $75
For straightforward signing and annotations, utilize Preview‘s solid fundamentals. But for mission critical documents, invest into premium tools like above enabling unrestricted access to enhance PDFs per your creative vision!
Now let‘s move onto securely sharing your modified PDF outputs.
Final Takeaways
Let‘s round up key pointers before you embark on your PDF adventures:
- Backup originals in case edits go sideways!
- Verify recipients validate digital signatures
- Enable permissions and curtail editing rights for sensitive PDFs
- Use shapes and sketches to indicate change requests
- Combine annotations to provide contextual commentary
You‘re now fully equipped to master PDF editing on Mac leveraging Preview‘s friendly tools for basic needs and paid Acrobat/PDFPen for advanced document overhauls!
Excited to see your newly minted skills transform previously stubborn PDFs into powerfully communicative documents!
Had any lingering questions we missed? Sound off in the comments section below!
