The PDF (Portable Document Format) file was invented by Adobe in 1993
and it’s been associated with that company ever since.
But you don’t need Adobe software to read or mark-up PDF documents on a Mac.
OSX comes with it’s own PDF application called Preview and this opens by default when you double-click any PDF or image file.
Preview offers some great mark-up tools.
Here’s how you use them:
- On your Mac, double-click any PDF document and it opens in Preview.
- On the right-hand side of the Preview toolbar is the Edit Toolbar icon. It looks like a pen inside a rectangle (circled below.)
- Click the Edit Toolbar icon or use the Keystroke Shortcut Shift Command A.
The tools are as follows:
- Rectangle – Hold Shift key to draw square
- Oval – Hold Shift key to draw circle.
- Straight line.
- Arrow.
- Text Box – Draw text box, click inside and type text.
- Speech Bubble.
- Thought Bubble.
- Note.
- Signature Management Tool.
- Color Options.
- Line Attributes.
- Show Fonts.
- Text Selection – To select text that is already part of a PDF Document.
- Rectangular Selection.
- Crop Tool – Select area to crop. Keystroke Shortcut Command K to crop.
The best way to understand these tools work is to open a PDF and play around with them.
Preview is a terrific alternative to Adobe Reader. It’s super fast and offers a lot of great features.
Give it a shot.
If you have questions or need Mac, iPhone or iPad help call No Problem Mac at 310-621-5679.
