Best PDF editors in 2021

Best PDF editors in 2021 on upwork

PDF files aren't fixed in stone. the simplest PDF editors allow you to open up almost any Portable Document File in order that you'll edit, alter, annotate, increase or subtract from what could seem to be an unalterable document.

There are many PDF editors out there, free and paid. But which is that the best for your needs?

PDF files were developed within the youth of publication — i.e., the first 1990s — to capture the high-quality design and layouts of physically printed pages, like you'd find in magazines and newspapers.

Yet while they're presented to you as finished documents, PDF files aren't actually unchangeable. the simplest PDF editors recognize text in scanned documents, allow you to edit text and pictures , and price files and make annotations in order that somebody else can update the first file.

Do you need a PDF editor which will handle all that? No problem — we've tested quite a half-dozen different options and have produced an inventory of the simplest PDF editors for altering text, changing images and annotating in documents. Here's what we've found.
What are the simplest PDF editors?
When you got to edit documents, the simplest PDF editor is SmileOnMyMac's PDFpenPro 11 — a minimum of on the Mac — because of its host of features and outstanding capabilities in optical character recognition (OCR).

The app also allows you to create PDFs, forms, and tables of contents if you would like creation tools on top of editing and annotation capabilities.

That's all great if you've a Mac, but what if you don't? Windows users (or Mac users considering an alternative) should address Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, which also boasts a powerful tool set. We also like Acrobat Pro's OCR capabilities, including how easy it's to edit scanned text.

If you favor free software, give PDF Candy a try. Its text-editing tools are a touch limited, but it excels at converting and creating files. In fact, in our ranking of the simplest free PDF editors, PDF Candy checks in at No. 1.

If you're just looking to annotate documents, Mac users don't got to stray any longer than the Preview app already built into macOS. Apple's Preview is straightforward to work and it's free.

So is PDFescape (for files up to 100 pages), and since this browser-based tool works with everything from Chrome to Firefox, it is the best PDF annotation tool you'll use for free of charge .

In addition to those recommendations, we've also tested PDF Expert, PDFelement Pro and Sejda PDF Desktop Pro. Each app has its strong points, but ultimately there are too many quirks for those programs to rank highly on our list of the simplest PDF editors.