Best free PDF editors 2023: Their top picks

If you work with PDF files regularly then a PDF editor is an indispensable tool. Whether it’s part of your job, you manage PDF files for your own personal use, or you just need to complete a one-off editing task, a top editor program is an essential piece of software. Full-featured editors such as Adobe’s Acrobat Pro DC might provide all of the bells and whistles, but a free PDF editor can still offer most of the important tools of a paid service for no additional charge.

Plus, many free PDF editors are browser based, which means that you don’t need to worry about about platform- or device-compatibility issues.

Of course, free products won’t come with every feature of their premium counterparts. So, if you find that you need more advanced tools such as password protection, Bates numbering, or e-signatures, then you’re probably better served by a premium PDF editor.

PDF Candy – Best free PDF editor overall

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: Free

PDF Candy is the rare free PDF editor that offers a lot of the features you’d typically have to pay for. We’re talking scanning, multiple file-conversion options, and OCR functionality. While the free version has access to the expansive toolset of the paid version, you’re limited to one PDF task per hour. For unfettered access, you need to shell out $6 month.

Apple Preview PDF editor – Best free PDF editor for Mac users

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: Built into macOS

Mac users have an excellent PDF editor built right into their operating system. Although its ostensibly a photo viewer, macOS’s Preview app is rife with PDF-editing capabilities including tools for adding text and shapes, redacting content, making freehand drawings, inserting sticky notes, and capturing your signature using your trackpad, camera, or iPhone.

Sejda PDF editor – Most versatile free PDF editor

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: Free (Premium $7.50/mo)

Offered as both an online tool and a desktop editor, Sejda is capable of performing dozens of tasks including editing, form creation and filling, Bates stamping, file encryption, and more. If the daily usage limits are too restrictive for you, you can upgrade to the affordable paid version.

While there are a number of different types of PDF file formats, they all fall under the umbrella term of PDF documents. A PDF form is a type of PDF document that has editable form fields a user can fill out. Typically, parts of the document are static and can’t be changed in a PDF form. These usually include questions and instructions for those who end up filling out the form later on. In a PDF form, the content fields a user fills out are typically open to editing and can offer a list of possible answer options or can be written in freely.

Yes. They are two entirely different document formats. While you can export from one file format to another, they are not the same. Word file formats are usually used for word processing, editing, and making changes to text. PDF documents on the other hand, are most often utilized for viewing, sharing, and printing documents. Additionally, Word files can be read and/or written to and contain some version of the “.doc” file format. Whereas PDF files are typically read-only and contain the “.pdf” file format.

Yes. If you have a PDF document that you do not want anyone else to be able to edit, you can protect the file. You can do this by opening the file in Acrobat, clicking Tools > Protect. Then you have a few options as to whether you want to just restrict editing with a password, or if you want to encrypt the file for further safety. Once you choose how you want to protect the PDF document, you can set a password and save.

Yes, many free PDF editors such as their top pick PDF Candy, allow you to merge two or more PDFs into one. As most free PDF editors are browser-based, you will just need to open up the PDF editor application or website in your browser and click the “Merge” option. It will then ask you to add the files of all PDFs you wish to merge. Once the files have been added, just make sure that they are in the correct position and alignment you want before proceeding with the merge. Afterwards, all of your previously PDF files will be merged together into one new PDF document.

Yes and no. Google doesn’t provide a designated free PDF editor itself, but there are third-party Chrome extensions that you can use to help get the job done. Alternatively, you can make use of Google Drive to edit a PDF document. Simply upload the document onto your Google Drive and then select the file and right-click and select Open with > Google Docs. The file will be opened as an editable Google Docs text document. Then just make your edits and when you’re finished click File > obtain > PDF Document to revert it back to a PDF file.

This method is a quick and easy way to edit a simple PDF document, but be careful as Google Docs can run into formatting issues if your original document has complex visual formatting such as tables and graphs. In this case, it’s best to use a designated free or premium PDF editor.

How to obtain Adobe Acrobat free or as part of Creative Cloud

Want to obtain Adobe Acrobat? You're in the right place. There are lots of options when it comes to packages, but we're here to help you find the choice for you. And if you want to try Acrobat for free, we'll show you how.

Adobe's industry-leading PDF editing and creation software can save you a ton of time and effort, and works across desktop, mobile and even on the web. You can obtain a free seven-day trial of Acrobat Pro DC from Adobe and get started right now with all the awesome pro tools.

While you can often find basic PDF tools in your operating system, they're normally limited in scope. Acrobat offers a much more complete set of tools, with a range of security and editing options. And it's not a static piece of software – it's constantly evolving, so a subscription means you will stay up to date. That's a must-have for busy creative professionals, allowing you to benefit from all the latest features automatically.

There are various other Adobe software options that will also benefit digital creatives – check out their main Adobe discount page to find out the apps that are best suited to you. And if you're looking for a new and completely free Adobe experience, check out Adobe Creative Cloud Express.

Download a free trial of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC todayGet Adobe Acrobat Pro DC for free with a seven-day trial, directly from Adobe. That's for Windows or Mac, with no obligation to buy if you cancel your subscription within seven days. Or, if you like it, you can convert to a paid subscription, either during the trial or after it’s expired.View Deal

Download Adobe Acrobat Standard DC for WindowsThe standard version of Adobe’s industry-leading PDF software (for Windows only), allows you to create, edit and sign PDFs across desktop, mobile and in your browser. Click the links or the View Deal button below to find the price in your region. Monthly costs range from $12.99 (US); £13.14 (UK); Au$18.69 (Aus).View Deal

Download Adobe Acrobat Pro DC for Windows and MacThe Pro version of Adobe’s industry-leading PDF software is available for Windows and Mac. You get the full Acrobat feature set, including the ability to compare two versions of a PDF, turn scanned documents into editable PDFs and more. Monthly costs range from $14.99 (US); £15.17 (UK); Au$21.99 (Aus).View Deal

Download Adobe Acrobat Pro DC with an all-Apps Creative Cloud subscription (Windows and Mac)The best value way to obtain Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is to sign up for Adobe's All Apps subscription. This will also get you access to the full range of apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and more. Prices range from $52.99 per month (US); £49.94 per month (UK); AU$76.99 per month (Aus).View Deal

The Windows-only Adobe Acrobat Standard DC can only be downloaded as a single-app subscription, for which you pay monthly or annually. The best value option is an annual subscription, which will cost you $12.99 / £13.14 / AU$18.69 per month.

To obtain Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, there are two options. The first, and cheapest, is again to subscribe as a single-app subscription, which you can choose to pay for either monthly or annually. The second and best value option is an annual subscription, which will cost you $14.99 / £15.17 / AU$21.99 per month.

The third option is an All Apps subscription. This will cost you more, but it provides access to all of the Creative Cloud apps, along with a range of other benefits. (If you’re not sure which CC apps could be useful to you, check out our Adobe software list.) An All Apps subscription currently costs $52.99 per month / £49.94 / AU$76.99 per month.

Those prices see discounts from time to time – keep an eye on their guide to the latest Creative Cloud discounts. And if you're a teacher, student or working in education, you can get a special discount, which you'll find details of below.

Educational discount: save 65% on Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and all-Apps Creative Cloud subscriptionStudents, teachers and education workers can get Adobe Acrobat Pro DC as part of a heavily-discounted Adobe's All Apps subscription. This will also get you access to the full range of apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and more. It's $15.99 per month (US) / £16.24 per month (UK) / AU$21.99 per month (Aus)View Deal

If you’re a student, teacher or anyone working in education, you can get 70% off Adobe Acrobat as part of a heavily discounted All Apps plan. Get the entire Creative Cloud suite of apps, along with 100GB cloud storage, Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, and Adobe Spark, for just $15.99 / £13.15 / AU$21.99 per month for the first year, and then $29.99 / £25.28 / AU$43.99 the following year (still a lot cheaper than the usual price).

Adobe Acrobat comes in two versions. Adobe Acrobat Standard DC, for Windows only, offers all the standard PDF features that allow you to view, create, edit, sign, and convert PDF files. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, for both Windows and Mac, adds in special features such as:

We'd recommend you obtain Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. It only costs a little more than Adobe Acrobat Standard DC, and you'll get the full feature set. Of course, if you use a Mac, it's the only option anyway.

Note that Acrobat Pro DC comes included when you obtain Creative Cloud, Adobe's all-apps subscription package which also includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and more. In their view, a Creative Cloud subscription is the best-value way to get Adobe Acrobat Pro DC if you use other Adobe products.

Yes, you can obtain Adobe Acrobat for free, in the form of a seven-day free trial of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (see above. Note that you cannot get a free trial of Adobe Acrobat Standard DC).

You can cancel your subscription at any time during your week's trial via your Adobe Account page or by contacting Customer Support, and you won't have to pay a thing. Alternatively, if you like the software and decide to keep your subscription, you can just keep going.

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New Adobe Acrobat PDF Engine Coming to Microsoft Edge Browser in March

News

Microsoft and Adobe have collaborated on "natively embedding" new Adobe Acrobat PDF technology into the Microsoft Edge browser for Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems, according to a Wednesday Microsoft announcement.

This new Adobe Acrobat PDF engine will start to appear in Edge for unmanaged Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems as early as March. It'll be replacing the current "legacy engine" that's already in the Edge browser. These unmanaged Windows users won't have an opt-out option.

Organizations overseeing managed devices won't get the new engine in March, but they can opt in to get it then, if wanted, according to Microsoft's FAQ announcement. The policy to opt into using the new engine is called "NewPDFReaderOptInEnabled."

Organizations with managed Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices will start getting their rollout of the new Adobe Acrobat PDF engine in September. They'll also have an opt-out policy option at that time. However, this September opt-out policy will just supply organizations a six-month reprieve, as Microsoft intends to remove the old engine on March 31, 2024. That's also the date when the opt-out policy will expire for organizations.

The switch to the new embedded engine in Edge is being done to enhance the PDF document experience, such as adding "higher fidelity for more accurate colors and graphics, improved performance, strong security for PDF handling, and greater accessibility," Microsoft's announcement indicated. The improvements and PDF studying capabilities don't cost users. However, users with Adobe Acrobat subscriptions can also tap an Acrobat extension in Edge that lets them perform actions such as "edit text and images, convert PDFs to other file formats, and combine files," Microsoft's FAQ indicated. Users also will be able to buy access to such "advanced features" from within the Edge browser.

The new Acrobat engine will continue to provide access to the same features as were available in the legacy engine, Microsoft assured. One coming change with the new engine will be an Adobe brand icon, which will appear "in the bottom corner" of PDFs.

Microsoft and Adobe also are working to add the new Acrobat PDF engine to the Edge browser for macOS systems. However, there's not projected date, with Microsoft saying that "we will have more to share at a later date."

Adobe's landing page describing the integration offered a broader picture than just a new Acrobat engine in the Edge browser. Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Sign (an electronic signature app) are integrated across Microsoft 365 applications, Dynamics 365 Sales and Microsoft Purview Information Protection, according to that page.

Adobe and Microsoft are long-term partners. However, it hasn't been too long since Microsoft removed the Adobe Flash video player from Windows in favor of video using HTML5, WebAssembly and WebGL technologies. Microsoft's monthly "update Tuesday" patch releases for Windows systems had often also included patches for Adobe Flash back then.

Microsoft did not describe any Edge patching details that might be associated with coming new Adobe Acrobat engine.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.