While all-in-one PDF suites can do everything They exist, they can cost quite a bit. For example, Nitro Pro costs $160, PDF Studio costs $90, and Adobe Acrobat Pro DC will set you back $15 per month. If you prefer not to pay a single penny, we have good and bad news for you.
The good news? Free PDF Tools Abound The 6 Best PDF Readers for Windows The 6 Best PDF Readers for Windows Adobe Reader isn't always the best choice for viewing PDF files. Here are the best PDF readers for Windows 10 to consider. Read More The bad news? You will have to collect several different tools and assemble your own. A la carte “PDF package” (if you want the best results).
In this article, you'll find Windows and Mac recommendations for the best tool to use for the following PDF-specific use cases:View, Annotate/Edit, Sign, Merge, and Split .
I switched to SumatraPDF years ago and never looked back, and for one main reason:it's the fastest and lightest PDF viewer I've ever used. Even on an old laptop taking its last breath, SumatraPDF is working while providing accurate PDF rendering.
But it is only a PDF viewer. It does not It has capabilities to edit, sign, annotate or change PDF documents. In addition to PDF, SumatraPDF can view EPUB, MOBI, XPS, CBR, and several other formats.
Not happy with SumatraPDF? Check out these other lightweight PDF viewers for Windows 4 Very Lightweight Alternatives to Adobe Reader 4 Very Lightweight Alternatives to Adobe Reader Still using Adobe Reader for PDF documents? It's time to move on to an alternative PDF reader that's lightweight, starts up quickly, while keeping your documents saved. Read more.
Preview is the preferred PDF viewer for most Mac users, and to be fair, Preview can certainly get the job done, and the fact that you don't have to install anything to use it is a bonus. But if you want a faster PDF viewer with better ease of use, consider using Skim.
Skim was originally designed to view scientific articles in PDF format, but has since evolved into a general purpose viewer. It's extremely fast, lightweight, and easy to navigate (even for large documents with many pages and images). Please note that the site seems outdated, but the app is still being updated.
Don't like Skim or Preview? Take a look at these alternative Mac apps to read PDF files. 4 Best Free Mac Preview Alternative to Read PDF Files. 4 Best Mac Preview Alternatives for Reading PDF Files. If you are looking for a free preview replacement for your PDF reading habit, here are the best options available. there. Read more.
PDF-XChange Editor is one of the only free tools that allows real editing of text in PDF documents. However, you can only edit text . Editing any other type of content (eg lines, shapes, images, etc.) is a paid feature.
In fact, PDF-XChange Editor is not completely free. If you use any of the paid features, which are marked with an [x] icon in the menus, your PDF will be stamped with a non-reversible watermark as soon as you save. Removing the watermark requires a paid license, which costs $43.50.
Paid features include insert or delete pages, replace pages, edit forms, headers and footers, anything that includes bookmarks, and more. However, other notable features include text box notes, highlighting, sticky notes, and drawing lines and shapes.
Unfortunately, we did not find any reliable free tools that can edit PDF files on Mac, only tools that can annotate and fill in documents. The best free tool we found is the default Mac app, Preview.
Preview annotation options include highlighting, text box notes, drawn shapes, and embedded document notes (only viewable when the PDF is opened with Preview). You can also fill out most PDF forms, including text fields and checkboxes. But if you can't, you can use a textbox note.
Foxit Reader is a free PDF application that offers five ways to protect a PDF document:
In addition, Foxit Reader also offers a Validation feature (which verifies whether a PDF document is ISO compliant, ensuring that it will be usable at any time in the future) and a Timestamp feature (which uses a third-party service to verify) that the signatures were signed at a certain time).
Foxit Reader is seen by some as a bit bulky, but we recommend keeping it just for these signing and security features. Still don't want to use it? Check out these other methods to sign PDF documents 8 Ways to Sign a PDF from Windows, Mac and Mobile Platforms 8 Ways to Sign a PDF from Windows, Mac and Mobile Platforms When you get the contract by email, what do you do? You have to print the last page, sign it, scan it and email it, surely MakeUseOf, must there be a better way? Read more.
Formerly known as PDF Split and Merge, PDFsam is the best way to merge multiple PDF documents into one. It's open source and completely free for personal use, and works on any platform that supports the Java Runtime Environment, i.e. Windows, Mac, Linux, and more.
You can select any number of input PDFs and you can designate which pages you want to combine for each PDF. If the PDF files have bookmarks or outlines, you can decide to keep, merge or discard them. You can also create a table of contents for the resulting PDF. Everything is quite easy.
Other nifty features include PDF shuffling (combine documents by alternating pages), rotate PDFs (applied to all pages), extract PDFs (create a new document using only certain pages of a source PDF), and split PDFs (but we recommend using the method). below for this).
These days, you do NOT need a dedicated tool to split PDF files. Your web browser, as long as you use one of the main ones, is equipped with a simple function that can handle it with full flexibility.
On Windows 10, open any PDF in any web browser:
On Mac, open any PDF in any web browser:
Unfortunately, Mac's print to PDF option isn't as flexible as Windows 10, but it's good enough for a simple split. If you need more complex functionality, consider using PDFsam (mentioned above).
In the past, we've covered other PDF-related tips, including how to extract images from PDF How to Extract Images from a PDF and Use Them Anywhere How to Extract Images from a PDF and Use Them Anywhere PDF files can be containers for embedded images. we show how to extract images from a PDF file and save them to your desktop. Read More in Docs, Drive is a fully functioning office suite. What many people don't realize is its ability to do much more than just view PDF files. More information and ways to convert PDF documents (into images 6 ways to convert a PDF to JPG Image 6 ways to convert a PDF to JPG Image More information and on Word documents How to convert PDF to Word for free How to convert PDF to Word for Free PDF PDF to Word converters are a dime a dozen. We've rounded up the top 5 that you can get for free, both for secure online and offline use. Read More).
If you're creating your own PDF files, be sure to keep these tips easy to read. Make your PDF files more accessible and easier to read with these tips. Make your PDF files more accessible and easier to read with these tips. Be Approachable to Communicate Ideas:Follow these tips to make sure your document hits the mark. Read More Nothing worse than trying to read a badly formatted document!
What are your favorite PDF tools? Are there any that we missed? Share them with us in the comments below!
