Quickly handle PDF notes with these 5 essential apps!

Your browser's built-in PDF viewer is fine for quick reading and markup, but when you need to edit text, sign documents, or add extensive notes, you'll want a more feature-rich app. That's where these dedicated PDF apps shine.

5. PDFGear

There are many reasons why PDFGear is a groundbreaking application on Windows, and it lives up to its hype. The application is feature-rich, has an intuitive user interface, and best of all - the full version is completely free.

PDFGear can edit PDF text without losing the original font - a feature that most paid PDF editors struggle with. You can highlight text in different colors to organize your notes by importance or topic, underline key concepts, and cross out outdated information without creating a new document.

For annotations, the app supports hand-drawing for quick sketches, sticky notes and text boxes for adding annotations, arrows and rectangles for organizing ideas, and even digital signatures for signing forms.

1. Download PDFGear for Windows | macOS | Android | iOS (Free)

4. Adobe Acrobat Reader

Adobe invented the PDF format in the early 1990s, so Acrobat Reader understands them well. The free version gives you enough annotation features to handle any schoolwork. The interface will feel familiar if you've used any Adobe products, as all your tools are neatly tucked away in the left sidebar.

Highlighting text opens a floating menu where you can add comments, highlight in different colors, underline important passages, or cross out errors. Editors come in handy when you're sharing drafts of a team project and need to hide sensitive information. You can also use drawing tools to draw attention to specific areas with rectangles, arrows, and lines.

1. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader for Windows | macOS | Android | iOS (Free)

3. Sejda

Sejda's PDF editor lets you add, delete, or edit text in a PDF without losing the original font. It automatically matches the text font from the document you uploaded, so all you have to do is focus on editing.

In addition to editing text, Sejda creates fillable forms for group surveys, processes multiple files at once to organize documents in bulk, and automates repetitive tasks through workflows.

1. Download Sejda for Windows | macOS | Linux (Free, Premium $5/week or $7.50/month)

2. PDF Expert (Mac only)

PDF Expert is Apple's exclusive PDF editor that syncs seamlessly across MacBook, iPhone, and iPad. It includes everything you need to quickly edit documents, such as multi-color highlighting for different topics, margin notes for quick ideas, stamps to mark assignment status, and diagrams.

The latest version includes an AI assistant that summarizes long research papers and extracts key points from textbooks. The app has page management to rearrange chapters, extract specific sections for study guides, or combine multiple sources into a single reference. You also get password protection and editing tools to keep your work safe when sharing drafts with teams.

1. Download PDF Expert for Mac | iPhone | iPad (Premium $79.99/year)

1. EmbedPDF

If you just need basic annotation without installing anything, EmbedPDF is a lightweight open-source PDF editor that runs entirely in your browser. However, the most important feature it offers is text editing, a premium feature in Acrobat Reader and PDF Expert.

EmbedPDF handles essential features like highlighting important passages, underlining key terms, crossing out mistakes, and adding squiggly lines to mark essential definitions, terms, or concepts you want to remember.

The Ink Drawing tool is great for adding diagrams and math notes. You can add circles and rectangles to emphasize parts or use lines to connect concepts across pages. Once you're done, you can download the PDF to your local drive.

1. Visit EmbedPDF

Jessica Tanner

Update 18 August 2025