PDF documents are ones that are viewed in the same way no matter what device you're using. They don't rely on application software that may.
Sep 25,2019 • Filed to: Edit PDF
With the popularity of PDF documents comes the need to manipulate the text for instance highlighting. You may need to highlight PDF documents with PDF highlighter for several reasons:
- Highlight important information in long documents for your reference for example when you read.
- Sharing of information which you need the other reader to see first.
- Highlighting the areas of the PDF that need correction.
- In case of annotations, highlight will show where exactly the comments and any other markup point to.
There are several programs in use today that have the highlighter for PDF feature. Here are the top ten PDF highlighters for both the Mac and Windows platforms, including PDFelement Pro.
Part 1: Top 5 PDF Highlighter for Mac
#1: PDFelement Pro for Mac
Among the most popular software, PDFelement Pro is an all in one software for the creation, editing, conversion to other formats, annotation and most importantly highlighting of PDF documents. You access the PDF highlighter feature using the Highlight button at the top right corner. It is simple; you click the highlight button and select the text to highlight. You can change the colour of the highlight to green, red and any other custom colour you want. You can enjoy a broad range of other features with this software.
- Easily highlight PDF files and add sticky note, text box, and free handdrawing to PDF.
- Edit PDF texts, links, images, pages with multiple editing tools as easey as working on Word files.
- Convert PDF to Word, Excel, PPT, EPUB, images, and convert mutiple PDF Files in Batch.
- Easily fill out PDF form and extract data from PDF forms in 1 click.
- OCR scanned PDF and allow you to combine, split and compress PDF files.
#2: Foxit Reader for Mac
A flagship PDF Reader for Foxit software is the second in this list of the best highlighter for PDF. It is a reliable and versatile program that enables you to view, create, convert or annotate your documents. The user interface gives users just what they need making the handling of PDF documents an effortless process. As you view your document, you can select and highlight important information. You can leave comments and use an array of other markup tools in this application.
#3: Scribus for Mac
Scribus is open source publishing software that offers a range of features besides versatile PDF creation. You will enjoy the user-friendly interface as you deal with PDF documents from creation, editing and other manipulations. The highlight feature enables you to view key points at a glance if it is a long document. There are two versions, one stable and the other more recent one under development and so you will choose according to your needs. Whether you are a professional or a beginner, Scribus is a good choice.
#4: PDF-X change for Mac
One of the reliable software is this highlighter for PDF editor that allows users to personalise the pages with sticky notes besides the addition of images and manipulation of text. Highlighting is simple on this application and therefore a good option when looking for good PDF software. The changes you make in the document are saved with the document, and thus you can open later and access the text as you highlighted it. The tool tip feature allows you to see what will happen before you do the particular action.
#5: Preview
This free pdf highlighter helps accomplish most PDF needs effortlessly. You can edit or view images besides the PDF editing feature. Users can view PDF, add simple modifications, annotate and highlight PDF documents seamlessly on this application developed by NeXT. Other features include the editing and filling of forms that is the current trend. You can view and print the PDF documents at a click of a button. It completes the list of the top 5 highlighters for Mac.
Part 2: Top 5 PDF Highlighter for Windows
#1: PDFelement Pro for Windows
The best software in this group is this PDFelement Pro for Windows that gives you control over your PDF files. With this software, you can insert, delete, extract and add watermark, change the background and other things. The highlight for PDF feature allows you to manage the information in your documents easily. Highlighting enables you to master your documents as you read, though. Another feature that goes hand in hand is annotation is an excellent way to manipulate your work.
#2: Foxit Reader
Currently, the best alternative for Adobe Reader is the Foxit reader that is available for both Windows and Mac. Just like the Mac version, the Windows version is suitable for creating, viewing, converting, annotating PDF documents and an array of other features. With this pdf reader with highlight functions, you can easily interact with your document in an easy-to-use interface. The interface is ribbon based similar to Microsoft office thus easier for you to navigate the application. It meets your expectations in dealing with PDF.
#3: Nitro PDF Reader
Among the best highlighters for PDF, Nitro pdf reader with highlighter stands out with its amazing capabilities in handling PDF. You can scan, edit and convert documents using this software. Review of documents, securing and conversion of PDF to other formats makes this software a one stop solution to all needs. The highlight feature that comes along with annotation and markup is crucial in enabling you to personalise your document the way you may want it to be.
#4: Adobe Acrobat Pro
The standard pdf reader with highlighter for windows is Adobe which delivers all you need in dealing with your documents. Ability to handle even the most complex documents that some other PDF software cannot handle, Acrobat has stood tall even with many alternatives available. Among the features users can access, is the highlight for PDF which comes in handy when reading documents. Adobe gives more flexibility and ability to customise your highlighting. The premium version is what gives you access to these features and more.
#5: Xodo PDF Reader & Editor
To complete the list of the best PDF highlighters is this innovative Xodo PDF Reader and Editor that makes handling PDF documents an enjoyable thing. Besides the powerful viewing, creation and editing, you can highlight your text in an easy way. It comes together with other exciting annotating features like underline, strikeout text, the addition of sticky notes and addition of text. You just click on the highlight button and then select the text to highlight. You can customise the colours to suit your preference. It is available for Windows 8.1 and later versions only. It is available for free download from Microsoft store.
The list of the best PDF highlighters is long, but these ten applications enable you to highlight PDF documents besides a lot more features. Both free and premium software are available and depending on your budget, you can find what is best for you. The premium versions have trial versions where you can see how best it suits you before purchasing it.
In a digitized era, where practically all business is done online, it’s hard to spend a day without encountering a PDF file. After all, it’s the most popular digital document format — interactive, free to use and, crucially, able to preserve original formatting (including fonts, images, layouts, and more).
Developed by Adobe in the 90s, PDF made it possible to present identical documents using different applications and devices. Originally a proprietary invention that was promoted with Adobe software, PDF became an open format in 2008, which meant free use for all, without any lingering ties to Adobe.
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How To Choose The Best PDF Editor For Mac
Today, there are dozens of applications that can read, modify, and edit PDFs. All are different: free PDF editors, PDF modifiers, costly Mac PDF editors, and even a default PDF reader for Mac that comes with your operating system.
If you need to edit a PDF on Mac, it’s important to not go straight to Google looking for a “free PDF editor download.” In the last decade, lots of bad players have been putting all kinds of malware in those free PDF downloads, hoping for people to be enticed enough by the proposition. So you should know exactly which PDF editor app is best for your needs — luckily you have the perfect guide below.
Apple Preview PDF reader for Mac
If you’re looking for a free PDF editor for Mac, you should start with the one you already have — Preview — which is the default application for viewing any images and PDF files.
Although it can hardly be called a PDF editor app, Preview can perform most of the tasks most people need to do every day: looking through the documents, leaving comments, and signing contracts.
To configure Preview to your liking:
- Launch the app from your Dock or Launchpad
- Select View from the menu bar options
- Set scroll, zoom, and toolbar to what you’d like to see
Then to actually use PDF modifier functions:
- Choose Tools from the menu bar
- Hover over Annotate
- Select from shapes, signatures, notes (comments), and more
![Pdf Pdf](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126345264/135513191.jpg)
When you’re done editing the document, don’t forget to save it (⌘ + S) or export it to create a new file by going to File ➙ Export.
A hidden benefit of Preview that’s not often talked about is its natural integration into the macOS. The app can be easily used within the Apple ecosystem and is quite swift as well.
Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac
One of the first and hence now widely considered standard solutions for viewing and editing PDF files is Adobe Acrobat Reader. By all accounts, it’s a solid and professional PDF editor for Mac.
There’s, however, one caveat — you can hardly call Adobe Acrobat the best free PDF editor for Mac because to get all of its features you need to pay, a lot. If you subscribe for the whole year, it comes down to $15 a month. Otherwise, it’s $25.
So if you download Adobe Reader for Mac from Adobe’s website, it will only give you a limited number of tools, which are very similar to Apple Preview: comment and sign. To get more you’d need to sign up for the Adobe Acrobat Pro free trial.
Anyway, in case you’re satisfied with Acrobat PDF editor’s limited functionality for the basic version, you can still work with all the PDFs you need:
- Download and install Adobe Reader for Mac from adobe.com
- Open the PDF file of your choice
- To comment or sign the file, navigate to Tools in the top bar of the app
- Choose the tool you want to use and then select a more specific one from the top bar once you’re in the document itself
If you try to choose the tool that’s not available in the free version of Acrobat Reader for Mac, the app will direct you to the website where you can subscribe to get access.
All in all, while the paid Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac offers you a full toolkit of productivity, its free option is comparable to Apple Preview, with the latter being a bit more lightweight and fast due to its integration with macOS.
But what’s a truly powerful Mac PDF editor?
PDFpen full-featured OCR editor
While the paid version of Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac is costly and convoluted, PDFpen offers much more in one straightforward package.
Install PDFpen, best PDF editor for Mac
Make any PDF file editable with PDFpen. With in-built OCR support, nothing is carved in stone if you have PDFpen installed on your Mac.
PDFpen lets you edit PDFs by adding text and images, fixing typos, filling out forms, and covering sensitive information. What’s more, the app features an OCR (optical character recognition) functionality, so you can scan printed documents directly into editable PDF files, and even export them to Microsoft Word later on.
Using PDFpen is as easy as Preview:
- Open any PDF document
- In the top bar, find the toggle which lets you switch between text and shapes. These are the tools you can use to enhance your documents. All of them can also be accessed from the Tools dropdown in the menu bar.
One of the most commonly used features with PDFs is highlighting, which is perfectly executed in PDFpen. Just select from the top bar and choose a color. The tool will then switch between a freehand highlighter when hovering over shapes and a structured one when it’s over some text.
Finally, PDFpen’s renowned OCR functionality doesn’t require you to have any specific AI knowledge — it just works:
- In PDFpen, go File ➙ Open (or ⌘ + O) and select your image
- Check all languages that apply
- Turn the image into either an OCR Page or OCR document
- Now you can edit your image freely and export it later
Bonus: Professional PDF Search
When you’re working with lots of PDFs everyday, some things are inevitably going to get lost. Especially, since lots of documents and reports are often dozens or even hundreds of pages long.
In this reality, you absolutely need a tool that will help you retain information at the tip of your fingers. Enter PDF Search. This app doesn’t just search your PDF files for exact matches — it uses the power of AI to check relevant terms, multiple combinations, and even scan PDF files in bulk.
The first time you open PDF Search, it will ask you to index the folder with all your PDFs, which may take some time but will also speed up all future searches. After indexing is complete, simply enter the number or text you’re looking for in the search field, press Return, and the results (including related ones) would instantly appear.
To recap, when you’re looking for the best free PDF editor for Mac, your options might seem infinite, but it really comes down to what exactly you need to edit. If it’s just viewing documents and making comments, Apple Preview can do the job just fine. But when you need some heavy-duty lifting, nothing beats PDFpen. In addition, PDF Search is recommended for anyone working with large number of PDFs on a daily basis.
Best of all, PDFpen and PDF Search are both available to you on a free 7-day trial from Setapp, a platform for over 150 indispensable Mac apps designed to take your productivity to the next level. All that’s left to do now is just read and edit!