You can edit PDFs directly in Preview, the app already on your Mac

macOS comes with Preview, a built-in app that opens PDFs and lets you make changes without buying additional software. You can add text, draw, highlight, sign documents, and rearrange pages. For most everyday edits — filling in a form, marking up a document, adding your signature — Preview handles the job.

If you need to do something Preview cannot handle, like changing the actual text that was typed into the PDF or restructuring a complex document, you will need a different tool. But for quick edits and annotations, Preview is already there.

Key Takeaways

  • Preview is built into every Mac and can add text boxes, drawings, highlights, and signatures to any PDF without installing anything.
  • To edit text that was originally typed into the PDF, you need a tool like Adobe Acrobat Pro, not Preview.
  • You can save your changes back to the same PDF or create a new file, and Preview will ask which you prefer.
  • For forms, Preview's text tool works well; for complex document restructuring, consider Adobe Acrobat Pro or a free online tool like Smallpdf.

Opening and annotating a PDF in Preview

Right-click the PDF file on your Mac and select "Open With" > "Preview". The document opens in the Preview app. At the top of the window, click the toolbox icon (it looks like a pen tip in a circle) to reveal the editing toolbar.

From there, you can select several tools. The text tool (marked with an "A") lets you click anywhere on the page and type new text. The draw tool (pen icon) lets you write or sketch freehand. The highlight tool adds colored overlays. The signature tool lets you sign the document if you have already set up your signature in Preview's preferences. Click the tool you want, then click or drag on the PDF to use it.

Each annotation you add is a separate layer on top of the original PDF. The underlying document does not change — you are adding marks to it, not rewriting it.

Saving your changes

When you finish editing, press Command+S or go to File > Save. Preview will ask whether you want to save changes to the original file or create a new copy. If you choose to overwrite the original, the changes become permanent. If you choose "Save As", you can give it a new name and keep both versions.

Be careful with the overwrite option if you might need the original unmarked version later. Creating a copy is usually safer, especially for important documents.

When Preview is not enough: editing the actual text

Preview can add new text on top of a PDF, but it cannot edit text that was already typed into the document. If you need to change the words in a form field or rewrite existing paragraphs, Preview will not do it.

For that, you need Adobe Acrobat Pro, which costs about $180 per year and lets you edit the original text directly. Acrobat also handles more complex tasks like reorganizing pages, extracting content, and working with form fields that have special properties.

If you do not want to pay for Acrobat, free online tools like Smallpdf, ILovePDF, or PDF.io can edit text in some PDFs. These tools work in your web browser — you upload the file, make changes, and download the result. They are free but do require uploading your document to someone else's server, so avoid them for sensitive or confidential files.

Filling out forms with Preview

If the PDF is a form with blank fields, Preview's text tool works well for filling it in. Click the text tool, then click inside each field and type. The text will appear in that field. This works whether the form was created as an interactive PDF or is just a scanned image of a paper form.

For interactive forms — PDFs with actual form fields built in — Preview recognizes them and may let you tab between fields using the keyboard. For scanned forms, you are simply typing text on top of the image, which is fine for printing or sharing but means the text is not searchable or extractable later.

Drawing and highlighting without typing

The draw tool in Preview lets you sketch, circle text, or add arrows. Select the tool, choose a color and line thickness from the toolbar, then drag across the page. This is useful for marking up documents before sending them back to someone else.

The highlight tool works similarly but creates a transparent colored overlay, like a highlighter pen on paper. Both tools are good for visual markup but do not change the actual content of the document.

Rearranging or removing pages

Preview can delete pages and rearrange them, but the process is not obvious. Open the PDF and go to View > Thumbnails to show a sidebar with page thumbnails. Right-click a page thumbnail to delete it, or drag thumbnails to reorder them. When you save, the changes stick.

If you need to extract a few pages from a longer PDF and save them as a separate file, you can select the pages you want in the thumbnail view, then go to File > Export Selected Pages and save them as a new PDF.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I edit a PDF that is password-protected?

If the PDF is locked to prevent editing, Preview will not let you make changes. You will need to remove the password first, usually through the tool that created the PDF or through a password-removal service. Once unlocked, Preview can edit it normally.

Does Preview work on iPad or iPhone?

Yes. The Files app on iPad and iPhone can open PDFs, and you can use the Markup tools to annotate them. The process is similar to Mac: open the file, tap the pen icon, and choose your tool. Changes save back to the file.

What if I want to convert a PDF to a Word document so I can edit it more easily?

Preview cannot do this, but online tools like Smallpdf or Google Docs can convert a PDF to Word format. Upload the PDF, download the Word file, and open it in Microsoft Word or Google Docs to edit the text freely. This works best with PDFs that contain mostly text, not scanned images.

Can I add images or graphics to a PDF in Preview?

Preview does not have a built-in tool to insert images. You can take a screenshot, paste it into the PDF using the draw tool, but it will appear as a drawn element, not a properly inserted image. For more control over images and layout, use Adobe Acrobat Pro or a design tool like Affinity Publisher.

Is there a free alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro for Mac?

Preview is free and handles most common edits. For more advanced features, PDFtk is a free command-line tool for Mac that can merge, split, and rotate PDFs, though it requires some technical knowledge. Online tools like Smallpdf or ILovePDF are also free but require uploading your file to their servers.