The best free PDF software on Windows and Mac

Although a PDF set all in one can do everything but the price is quite high. For example, Nitro Pro is $ 160, PDF Studio is $ 90 and for Adobe Acrobat Pro DC you will have to pay $ 15 a month. If you do not want to pay for these software, please see the following list.

This article will introduce some of the best PDF software for Windows and Mac with specific features such as viewing, editing, signing, merging or separating PDF files.

1. Instructions for editing PDF documents online for free
2. How to convert PDF files to Word simply, without font errors

Software to view PDF files

Windows: SumatraPDF

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SumatraPDF is one of the fastest and lightest PDF file reader software. But this is just a PDF viewer, it has no ability to edit, create signatures, annotate or change PDF documents. In addition to PDF files, SumatraPDF can read EPUB, MOBI, XPS, CBR and a number of other formats.

Not satisfied with SumatraPDF? Please see the Top 5 software to read this quality PDF.

Mac: Skim

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Preview is a PDF viewer selected by most Mac users. Preview can do a good job of viewing PDF files and in fact you don't have to install any other tools. However, if you want a faster PDF viewer with better usability, consider Skim.

Skim was originally designed to view scientific articles in PDF format, but from there it evolved into a popular PDF viewer. This software is very fast, light and easy to navigate (even for large document pages and images). Note that the site is out of date but the application is still being updated.

Editing software, annotating PDF files

Windows: PDF-XChange Editor

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PDF-XChange Editor is one of the only free tools that allows editing text in PDF documents. However, text editing is only possible, if you want to edit any other content such as lines, shapes, images, etc., you have to pay a fee.

The PDF-XChange Editor is not completely free. If you use any of the paid features, marked with the [x] icon in the menu, the exported PDF will have a watermark image. Delete this watermark for a fee of $ 43.50.

Premium features include inserting or deleting pages, replacing pages, editing forms, titles and footers, any bookmark-related content, and more. However, other notable free features include text box notes, hightlight and drawings, shapes.

Mac: Preview

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The best free tool for editing PDF files is Mac's default application, Preview. Preview notes preferences include hightlight, text box annotations, embedded document notes and notes (these edits are only viewable on Preview).

Software signed in PDF file

Windows and Mac: Foxit Reader (Windows, Mac)

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Foxit Reader is a free PDF application that provides five ways to protect PDF documents:

1. PDF Sign: Hand signature to verify authenticity.
2. DocuSign : Digital signature uses DocuSign eSignatures.
3. Sign & Certify: digital signatures are embedded in document pages.

In addition, Foxit Reader provides a Validation feature (check the IOS compliance standards of a PDF document to be usable at any point in the future) and a Time Stamp feature (use Third party services to verify that signature has been signed at a specific time). Foxit Reader is quite heavy, so consider using it when you want to use signatures and protect PDF files.

The software for joining PDF files

Windows and Mac: PDFsam

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Formerly known as PDF Split and Merge, PDFsam is the best way to combine multiple PDF documents into one. This is an open source application and is completely free for personal use and it works on any platform that supports the Java runtime environment - meaning Windows, Mac, Linux and many other operating systems. .

You can choose the number of input PDFs you want and specify the pages you want to merge for each PDF file. If PDF files have bookmarks or outlines, you can decide to keep, merge or delete them. In addition, users can create a table of contents for a merged PDF. Other convenient features like mixing PDF documents (combining documents with alternate pages), rotating PDF files (applied to all pages), extracting PDF files (creating a new document only use certain pages from a PDF source) and split PDF files.

PDF splitting software

Windows and Mac: Web browser

Today, there is no need for a specialized tool to extract PDF files, you can use the web browser to perform this task.

On Windows 10, open PDF files with any web browser.

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Step 1: Print PDF document ( Ctrl + P shortcut).

Step 2: Change Destination to Microsoft Print to PDF.

Step 3: Select the pages you want to keep, for example, select consecutive pages like 1-5, 6-10, etc. . or specify certain pages like 3,6,8,10,21, etc. You can also combine them as type 1-3,6-8,10.

Step 4: Click Print .

On a Mac, open any PDF file in any web browser.

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Step 1: Print PDF document ( Command + P shortcut).

Step 2: Change in Pages to Range and enter the pages you want to split.

Step 3: In the lower left corner, click the PDF menu and select Save as PDF

Step 4: Name the exported PDF and click Save .

However, the Mac does not have the option to print to a PDF file like Windows 10.