# How to Edit PDFs on Your Mac Using Preview - Canonical: https://33rdsquare.com/how-to-edit-pdfs-on-your-mac-using-preview/ - Published: 2024-03-07 - Author: Jordan Brown - Categories: [Software & APP](https://33rdsquare.com/category/software-app/) --- As the default application for viewing images and PDFs on macOS, Preview is an often overlooked but surprisingly capable tool. In addition to merely viewing PDFs, Preview provides a variety of tools that allow you to perform basic editing tasks on your PDF documents. While it may not be as full-featured as dedicated PDF editors like Adobe Acrobat, Preview enables you to annotate, rearrange, and redact content in PDFs for free using the app already built into your Mac. Here‘s how to access and use Preview‘s PDF editing capabilities. ## Accessing PDF Editing Tools in Preview To get started editing a PDF in Preview, simply open the PDF file. Then, to access the editing tools, you‘ll need to reveal the Thumbnail sidebar and the Markup toolbar. The Thumbnail sidebar displays a row of thumbnails representing each page in the PDF document. To show the sidebar, click the Sidebar button in the top-left corner of the Preview window and choose Thumbnails. Alternatively, you can go to View > Thumbnails or press Command+Option+2. The Markup toolbar contains tools for annotating the PDF, such as shapes, text boxes, and drawing tools. To reveal the Markup toolbar, click the toolbox-shaped Show Markup Toolbar button near the top-right corner of the Preview window. ## Editing PDF Page Structure Using the Thumbnail sidebar, you can rearrange the pages in your PDF by dragging and dropping the thumbnail images into your desired order. This allows you to quickly reorder sections or move individual pages from one part of the document to another. To delete unwanted pages from the PDF, select one or more page thumbnails and press the Delete key. You can also right-click the thumbnail and choose Delete. Be careful when deleting pages, as this change is permanent once you save the document. You can also add new pages to the PDF from the Thumbnail sidebar. To insert a blank page, go to Edit > Insert > Blank Page. The new page will be added after the currently selected page thumbnail. To add pages from another file (such as a PDF, image, or other document), go to Edit > Insert > Page from File and choose the file to insert. Combining pages from multiple PDF documents is also possible directly from the Thumbnail sidebars of both documents. Select the page thumbnails you want to move from one PDF and simply drag and drop them into the sidebar of the other PDF. The pages will be inserted at the location you drop them. ## Annotating PDFs with the Markup Toolbar The Markup toolbar provides several annotation tools you can use to add shapes, text, and freehand drawings on top of your PDF: - Sketch: This tool allows you to draw freehand shapes and write text with your mouse or trackpad. Preview will attempt to recognize certain shapes (like squares and circles) and straighten lines to make them precise. - Draw: The Draw tool contains a variety of pre-defined shapes you can add to the PDF, including squares, circles, speech bubbles, arrows, and stars. Simply select a shape and then click and drag on the PDF to draw it. - Text: Use this tool to add text boxes to the PDF. Just click where you want to insert text and start typing. You can adjust the font, size, color and style of the text from the Format menu in the Markup toolbar. The Markup toolbar also lets you customize the look of your annotations. Use the Border Color and Fill Color menus to change the hues of your shapes and text. The Line Thickness and Line Style options adjust the appearance of borders and lines. You can even add stylized arrows to the start and end of lines. ## Redacting Content from PDFs In addition to annotating, the Markup toolbar also provides a Redact tool which allows you to permanently remove content from the PDF. Unlike annotations which appear as a layer on top of the document, redactions actually delete the selected content. To redact an area of the PDF, select the Redact tool from the Markup toolbar, then click and drag to highlight the content you want to remove. For images and other objects, Preview will place a black box around the redacted area. For text selections, the characters will be covered with a black bar and diagonal white lines. It‘s important to note that redacted content is only permanently deleted once you save and close the document. So make sure you review your redactions carefully before saving. ## Saving and Exporting Edited PDFs When you‘re done making changes to your PDF, you have two options for saving: 1. Overwrite the original file with your edits by going to File > Save. This will replace the original PDF with the edited version. 2. Save a new copy of the edited PDF by going to File > Export. Choose PDF as the format and enter a filename for the new document. Click Save to generate a new PDF file with your changes, leaving the original unaltered. ## Pros and Cons of Using Preview for PDF Editing As a built-in macOS utility, Preview offers some convenient advantages over third-party PDF editors: - It‘s free to use, with no extra software required - It‘s beginner-friendly, with straightforward tools - Edits are non-destructive until you save the file However, Preview does have limitations compared to more advanced applications: - Lacks OCR capabilities to make scanned PDFs searchable - No options for adjusting page size, orientation, or layout - Limited control over placement and formatting of annotations So while Preview is great for basic, casual PDF editing, those with more advanced needs may still require a dedicated editor like Adobe Acrobat or PDF Expert. ## Annotate and Organize PDFs with Ease in Preview Preview may be an understated part of the macOS utility suite, but it packs some powerful PDF editing features beneath its unassuming interface. The next time you need to touch up a PDF document, try using Preview‘s annotation, page organization, and redaction tools to get the job done without opening a separate application. From jotting quick notes to combining pages from multiple files, Preview provides an array of PDF editing capabilities right out of the box on your Mac. Knowing how to access and use these tools will help you work with this ubiquitous file format more efficiently. --- Source: [How to Edit PDFs on Your Mac Using Preview](https://33rdsquare.com/how-to-edit-pdfs-on-your-mac-using-preview/)