PDFelement Pro PDFelement Pro is one of the best programs for all solutions to edit PDF files on Mac. You can edit, add, modify, and delete texts, graphics, and images in PDF format with this tool.You can also convert your PDF files to Word, Excel, EPUB, Images, and more formats. Furthermore, you can annotate and mark all the screen content with a variety of markup and annotation tools. Best PDF reader for Mac in 2021: Free and paid. The best PDF readers for Mac can allow you to not just read, but also edit, annotate, convert, and more on your iMac or Macbook. Online PDF editors are most importantly used for editing scans and PDF files. The best free PDF editor and paid ones for Windows 10,7,8 & others also help with transforming PDFs into Excel, PowerPoint and more. These best PDF editor for Windows 10 and other versions further provide commenting tools for making PDFs and defining signature workflows.

PDF files are the most popular type to publish some document in read-only mode both offline and online. Most of the software available online is only for reading the PDF documents called PDF reader. And people on internet aggressively looking for some Open source PDF editor solution which they can use without paying any penny. The PDF open source editors are bit different from PDF readers because they allow us to edit them. The best free PDF editor does not only let us edit the PDF files but also allow to add our own text, images, graphics, fill out form fields and more.

Some online PDF editors those use the web-based technology means they work in a web browser. To edit PDF online first you need to upload them to their website and then one can edit them which can be a privacy issue. But the best thing about such PDF online editors is you can use them from anywhere without installing any software locally on the computer. And once you have done the online PDF editing of our PDFs, you can save them back to our computer. Coming to the point, the best open source PDF editors we have mentioned in this article are available online, free of cost and active projects.

1. Just create a simple PDF example by using TextEdit's export function, and open the PDF with a plain text editor, you should be easy to figure out what's going on in PDF. Threcius 3 months ago AFAIK, if you read through the first few chapters of the PDF spec, then you can easily understand later chapters.
2. I put a lot of free time into improving PEP (PDF Editing Program) for Mac, the free and open source PDF editor for Mac. PEP is under development and alpha releases are sent out frequently. Official website: https://macpep.org.

Top and Best Open Source PDF Editors for Windows, Mac, and Linux

LibreOffice draw pdf editor

LibreOffice is a complete office suite that consists all type of document reading, editing and creating tools such as Writer a Microsoft Word alternative, Calc alternative of Excel, Base for Database and so on. It also has one tool that known as Draw which is basically a diagram creator but also has strong ability to create and edit PDF files. It is one of the best open source PDF editor and a strong competitor in the world of PDF editing.

It is free and open source software and can be a good alternative for those don’t want to pay for proprietary software like Acrobat. It has all basic features you can expect from a free PDF editor open source, yes it is not a complete bundle of PDF editing tools but a good option in the open source word. Also, don’t forget that the LibreOffice is a whole office package and best alternative to Microsoft Office.

This open source PDF editor allows editing text, images, creating PDF files or delete PDF pages from pre-exist PDFs. It supports file conversion, export, import and can also Digitally sign the PDF files. The LibreOffice is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating system.

Apache OpenOffice Draw

Apache OpenOffice Draw is like LibreOffice Draw and can act as PDF reader and editor. It provides a couple of tools to edit PDF pages and allow them to save or import in different file formats. One can insert text, images, forms field and more using this open source PDF editor.

The interface of OpenOffice looks a bit old in comparison to LibreOffice Draw. If you talk about platform compatibility it supports Windows, Mac, and Linux.

PDFedit

PDFedit is still in a beta stage and falls under free and open source PDF editor software category. It can use as a PDF reader, PDF editor and also can extract information from a PDF file.

PdfEdit includes pdf editor which based on QT3.x that provides it a graphical interface. A person with a coding knowledge can modify the behavior of the editor using script and plugins. It can use to add text and images to the PDF files, moreover, a user can find change or delete any particular section, word or information. It is multiplatform supported PDF open source software that can work on Unix systems, Windows32/64 and also Windows CE and others.

InkScape

Inkscape is other open source software that can use to edit high graphics PDF files. It is not standalone PDF editor and majorly known for its powerful and free design tool but can act as open source editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. To edit PDF files created somewhere else it uses the Vector Graphics tool. It can use as basic PDF reader and open source PDF editor for removing and adding Images or Text to the file. The Inkscape is a portable software which means you not need to install it, moreover, you can carry it in a pen drive and use anywhere you want.

The main ability of this open source PDF editor software is creating sketches but it also allows exporting the files in PNG format. But remember it just a basic PDF editor.

PDFsam–PDF Split and Merge

PDFsam Basic is a free and open source pdf editor solution that can do basic editing tasks such as PDF split, merge, mix, extract pages and rotate PDF files. It available for Windows, Mac, Linux and any other operating system that supports Java Runtime Environment (with JavaFX) version 8 or above. It is free PDF reader and can create PDF file from 300+ file formats.

It also offers a premium version that allows the user to create PDF forms from scratch, add actions to print the document, send it by email and other. The paid version can feature 256 bits AES encryption, set permissions and the digital signature on a PDF file. Furthermore, the great thing is that it has OCR (Optical Character Recognition) support to extract text from images.

Scribus

Scribus is another open source PDF editor software that also a desktop publishing (DTP) application. It is GPL licensed free PDF software. It available all for leading system platforms such as for Unix, Linux, BSD, macOS, Haiku, Microsoft Windows, OS/2 and eComStation operating systems. Scribus is based on the free Qt toolkit.

This open source PDF editing software can use to create both animated and interactive PDF presentations and forms. It supports PDF/X-3 specification, JS forms, and offers a wide range of export options including PDF.

Also See: 5 Free & Best Open Source Office Suite Software

If you know any other open source PDF editor which works best in your case, please let us know…

• Filed to: Mac Tutorials

Most of the tools that are created using the open source license are targeted at Windows users. This may seem to be so when you come to PDF editors. However, there are PDF editors hat have been specifically created for the Mac. The great thing about open source software is that it is free and is still under development. This means that future versions will have more features and they will not cot you any cash. Some of these PDF editors have very powerful features despite being developed on an open source license. Open source PDF editor for Mac can also perform just as well as some of the premium variations. One should not frown upon open source PDF editors, but try out those put in this list and be amazed. Besides, PDFelement Pro is a perfect PDF editor you can try.

Part 1. Top 5 Open Source PDF Editor for Mac

#1. Skim

Skim is primarily a PDF reader for Mac but it allows you to make some edits to PDF files. With the help of the open source PDF editor for Mac, you can add notes and make annotations to PDF files. It is a great tool for making presentations in PDF format. One can also add boxes and circles to a PDF file in order to emphasize something. The box can also be filled with white to create a white space for adding new text to the file.

Pros:

• The tool is easy to use and has quite a number of followers due to this.
• One can highlight and annotate text in order o emphasize a point.
• Can add white space for typing over in case one wants to change an entire paragraph or page.
• It is light and will not use up a lot of your system resources even when you load large PDF files.

Cons:

• The editing features are rather limited and it is not suitable for advanced PDF editing.

#2. Foxit

Foxit is primarily a PDF reader, but it is also an open source PDF editor for Mac that has some editing capability. You can add multimedia levels and make notes on PDF files. You can also run JavaScript on the file and secure the text. You can also select different blocks of text in order to edit. Editing with this tool can be somewhat tedious since every sentence is taken as a text box. You would have to go text box by text box, from the start of the page right to the end. This is a tool that enables you to see how many people read your document thanks to the connected signature feature.

Pros:

• It is easy to use.
• It allows for added multimedia levels.
• It can be used to annotate text.
• It has the ability to secure text.
• It has the ability to open protected PDF documents, which is quite a feat.

Cons:

• Every sentence is a text box, which makes the editing of a page to be very tedious.

Pdf Editing Software Free

#3. Scribus

Scribus is a cross-platform editing tool that is primarily a text editor. It can be also used as an open source PDF editor on Mac to edit PDF files. You can add text and images, but you cannot edit the original text. You have to create white space so you can write over the original text. Apart from just editing our PDF files, you can now do prepress operations using Scribus. Get your PDF files edited and then print out the color separations ready for the printing press. You can also create a PDF right from the start using this program. Scribus actually has some very powerful editing features locked beneath s very simple exterior. Make sure you give it a try and see how great it can be.

Pros:

• Can create a new PDF document.
• Can do prepress operations.
• Has a simple user interface.
• Gives you more control over the editing functions.

Cons:

• The fact that you cannot edit the existing content but have to write over it.

#4. Inkscape

Although Inkscape is a graphics tool, it is also able to edit PDF files. You can open PDF files and edit the images and text. Each sentence of the text is taken as a text box. This makes it quite challenging when you want to use it for editing large text areas. Editing a paragraph would means clicking on each sentence, changing it, and then moving to the next. This means that text does not flow and the results could be a bit odd. However, when it comes to editing the images in a PDF file, this is perhaps the best that you can get.

Pros:

• It is the best for editing images within a PDF file.
• It opens up any PDF file, even when they are protected.
• Ideal for converting PDF files into images.

Cons:

• Each sentence is a text box and this makes it challenging and awkward when editing paragraphs.

#5. Formulate Pro for Mac

Formulate Pro for Mac has been said to be one of the best open source PDF editors for Mac. It comes with very powerful features. You are able to redact your PDF files and add text on top. It also merges several PDF files into one and rearranges the pages. The tool is able to use OCR to turned scanned documents into editable text. You may create a PDF file from scratch using this tool, and then add special security measures including a digital signature.

Pros:

• It has the ability to create PDF files right from the start, which brings out the creativity in you.
• It can be used to create a digital signature for added protection of your work.
• It is able to convert other files into PDF and maintain the overall look.
• You can easily use the tool thanks to the simple user interface.
• You can edit images, text, and complete pages. This means that you can change the order of pages.

Cons:

• It cannot convert documents to ePub, and that limits its ability to provide all eBooks.

Free Mac Pdf Editor

Part 2. The Best PDF Editor for Mac (10.15 Catalina Included)

PDFelement Pro for Mac (macOS 10.15 Catalina included) is a powerful PDF editor for Mac and allows you to edit every part of a PDF file, thanks to some of its wonderful features. Every elements of the PDF file will be editable, giving you full control over how the file will be in the end.

Steps to edit PDF files using PDFelement Pro for Mac (Including macOS 10.15 Catalina)

Open Source Pdf Editor Mac Free Online

• Step 1: Download and install PDFelement Pro for Mac on your Mac
• Step 2: Click on 'Open File' button to import PDF files to the program.
• Step 3: Open the 'Edit' menu and choose the editing tools to edit texts, images, links and pages in PDF files with ease.

Pdf Software For Mac

Why Choose PDFelement Pro to Edit PDF Files on Mac

Open Source Pdf Editor Mac Free Downloads

With the help of PDFelement Pro, you can also change the order of the pages, delete some of them and do a lot more. Place your own digital ID on the PDF and also change the metadata. Scan printed document and turn them into editable text through OCR. Here are some of the other great features that can be found in this tool:

Best Mac Pdf Editor

• Starting off with a blank file, you can create your own PDF files. The tool also allows you to get files of other formats and convert them to PDF.
• No more seeking out PDF Form templates on template sites. You simply have to create your own. You can also edit and fill out PDF forms from other sources.
• Add security to your PDF documents with a digital signature. You will get a digital ID which you will use to secure all your PDF files
• The PDF tool has a user interface that is easy to navigate and find editing features. This makes it fast and easy to use.
• The tool allows you to edit scanned documents and turn them into PDF files that can be edited. This is called the OCR process.