How to edit a PDF on Mac
“Edit a PDF” means six different jobs. Here is each of them in Verso, and which guide goes into detail.
When someone says they need to edit a PDF, they mean one of about six things, and the six have almost nothing in common. Working out which one you need is most of the job.
Everything in this guide happens on your own machine. There is no account, nothing is uploaded, and the document never leaves your Mac.
Which kind of edit do you need?
| What you want to do | What it is called | Where to go |
|---|---|---|
| Fix a typo, correct a figure, change a date | Editing text | Edit text in a PDF |
| Put the pages in the right order, or remove some | Organising pages | Organise PDF pages |
| Add a comment, a highlight or an arrow | Annotating | Annotate a PDF |
| Complete a form someone sent you | Filling a form | Fill a PDF form |
| Put your name at the bottom of a contract | Signing | Sign a PDF |
| Take a name or a number out before you send it | Redacting | Redact a PDF |
Changing the words on the page
This is what most people picture. Click into a line of existing text and type — the real words on the page, not a box laid over the top. Verso looks at the size of the lines around the one you are changing and proposes a size that sits between them, so the edited line does not come out visibly larger or smaller than its neighbours.
One honest limit applies: this works on documents that contain real text. A scanned page is a picture of words, so there is nothing to click into. Run Make Searchable over it first and then you can edit it like anything else.
Changing which pages there are, and in what order
Often the document is fine and the pages are not. Organise Pages lays the whole document out as a grid so you can drag one page — or a whole selection — and drop it where it belongs. Rotate, duplicate, extract and delete are in the same place, along with merging several documents into one and splitting one into several.
Every page operation is free and always will be. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing is watermarked.
Adding your own marks
Highlight, underline, strike through, draw, add shapes and arrows, drop a note or a text box, insert an image. These sit on top of the page as objects, which is why they can be moved and removed later — and why flattening exists for the moment you want them fixed permanently into the page.
Completing something designed to be completed
If the document has real form fields, fill them and save it back, filled. If it does not — if the form is just lines drawn on a page — you can add text boxes wherever the answers go, or build proper fields so the next person can fill it properly.
Signing it
Place your signature exactly where it belongs, at the size it should be. Stamps work the same way, for the times a document needs “Approved” or “Draft” rather than a name.
Taking something out
Redaction removes content from a document rather than covering it. This is the edit people most often get wrong elsewhere: a black rectangle drawn over a name leaves the name in the file, where anyone can select it and copy it straight back out.
Redaction removes content permanently, and flattening fixes annotations into the page so they can no longer be moved or removed — and turns those pages into pictures, so their text stops being selectable. Both are deliberate. Keep the original if you may need it. Verso takes a snapshot before the most destructive operations, so there is usually a way back even when you did not think to make one.
Saving what you changed
Saving overwrites the document you opened, the way a document editor should. Verso keeps track of what is unsaved, warns you before you close something with unsaved work, and will not quietly overwrite a file that changed on disk behind your back without asking first.
When you need the content somewhere else entirely — back in a word processor, into a spreadsheet, as pictures for a deck — exporting is a separate step and a separate guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can you actually edit a PDF, or only annotate it?
You can edit it. Verso changes the real text on the page rather than pasting a box over it, and can reorder, rotate, merge, split, crop and delete pages. Annotation is a separate thing that sits on top of the page.
How do I edit a PDF on a Mac without uploading it anywhere?
Use an app that does the work on your machine. Verso contains no code that talks to the internet — text editing, recognition, conversion and compression all run on your Mac. Turn off your Wi-Fi and everything still works.
Why can I not click into the text in my PDF?
The page is almost certainly a scan, which is a picture of words rather than words. Run Make Searchable over it and then the text becomes editable like any other.
Is editing a PDF free?
Reading and every page operation — reorder, rotate, duplicate, extract, delete, merge, split, crop — are free permanently. Editing the text itself, markup, forms, signing and redaction are Premium.
Will editing a PDF ruin the layout?
It should not. Verso re-lays only the line you change and matches it to the size of the lines around it, so the edit sits with its neighbours rather than standing out. You can override the proposed size whenever you want something different.
How do I save my changes?
Save overwrites the document you opened, as a document editor should. Verso tracks what is unsaved, warns you before closing unsaved work, and asks first if the file changed on disk while you had it open.
Can I undo an edit after saving?
Undo works throughout a session. Beyond that, snapshots are named restore points kept on your Mac, and Verso takes one automatically before the most destructive operations.