Find out how to annotate a PDF on Mac and iPad: The quickest methods discovered

My work entails marking text-heavy PDFs, like manuals and contracts. So, I closely depend on dependable PDF annotation instruments that allow me make notes, add feedback, spotlight textual content, edit paperwork, and supply graphic suggestions — the checklist is limitless. Earlier than I discovered a few my favourite ones, I attempted many PDF annotation instruments for Mac. I needed to make issues simpler for you, so I put collectively an inventory of the very best options you should use daily.

On this weblog, I’m going to elucidate the way to annotate a PDF doc utilizing Mac’s built-in apps and third-party instruments. Let’s start.

Find out how to annotate a PDF on Mac

To annotate a PDF on Mac, you should use both Preview, which is Mac’s native app, or third-party apps like Adobe Acrobat, Nitro PDF Professional, PDF Search, Skim, or Books on iPad. Transferring ahead on this weblog, you’ll learn to annotate a PDF doc on a Mac utilizing these apps. Earlier than we dive into the directions, I wish to provide you with a fast sneak peek at every methodology:

Find out how to annotate a PDF utilizing Preview on Mac

Preview is the built-in PDF annotator on Mac, and it’s fairly helpful. You possibly can add notes, feedback, and spotlight textual content, plus fill out PDF kinds. It enables you to open and mark up PDFs and simply save and share them afterward. 

Preview is a local app for all Mac customers, so I believed I might dive a bit deeper and canopy the way to annotate, save, and share PDFs.

Find out how to annotate a PDF in Preview

Observe these steps to annotate and edit a PDF on Mac:

1. Proper-click the PDF in your Mac > Open With > Preview.
2. Press Shift + Command + A or click on View within the menu bar > Present Markup Toolbar.
3. Use the instruments you select to annotate your PDF:  Spotlight, Underline, Textual content, Shapes, Signal, Draw, Arrow, Fill Coloration, and lots of extra.

Find out how to save the annotated PDF

Relying on what you want, you’ve two choices to avoid wasting a PDF:

• When you’re performed annotating, click on File > Save to avoid wasting the adjustments on to the unique file.
• If you wish to save a duplicate with annotations, click on File > Duplicate, after which save the duplicate underneath a distinct identify or location.

Find out how to share the annotated PDF

You possibly can share the annotated PDF instantly from Preview by way of electronic mail or different apps.

1. Click on the Share button within the Preview toolbar.
2. Select a sharing possibility from the drop-down: Mail, Messages, AirDrop, Notes, Add to Photographs, and extra.

Battling enhancing PDFs in Preview? Discover ways to repair the Preview gained’t allow you to edit PDFs situation in your Mac.

Find out how to annotate a PDF utilizing Nitro PDF Professional

When you’re trying to critically improve your PDF enhancing, strive Nitro PDF Professional. It’s an excellent helpful app for all issues PDF. With each macOS and iOS variations, Nitro PDF Professional enables you to edit, annotate, and signal PDFs in your Mac or iPhone. Not solely are you able to annotate information simply, however you can even edit, create, merge, and even convert PDFs to MS Workplace codecs if it’s essential to do some extra superior enhancing.

Plus, Nitro PDF Professional enables you to handle person permissions, encrypt PDFs, and add passwords for safety functions. You can too signal and validate signatures digitally to avoid wasting turnaround time with out risking safety.

Right here is the way to use Nitro PDF Professional to annotate a PDF:

1. Set up and open the Nitro PDF Professional app in your Mac.
2. Click on Open File > Select PDF file and click on Open.
3. Within the toolbar, you’ll see Annotate. Click on the arrow pointing down, situated proper above the Annotate part.
4. Choose the specified possibility.

Find out how to annotate a PDF utilizing PDF Search

PDF Search is a helpful app that allows you to search for something in your PDF information. It comes with a bunch of cool instruments for marking issues up, like highlighting and underlining, so you may simply maintain observe of what you discover. Plus, it enables you to search via a whole bunch of pages actually quick

Listed below are the steps to make use of PDF Seek for annotating:

1. Set up and open the PDF Search app in your Mac.
2. Click on Add folder > Select a folder the place you retailer your PDF. It’ll routinely find all PDf information that yow will discover within the left pane.
3. Open the PDF file or use key phrases to seek for and find the doc.
4. Click on the pen icon to make use of annotation instruments.

Find out how to annotate a PDF utilizing Adobe Acrobat for professional-level annotation

When you’re in search of extra in-depth and professional-grade performance, strive Adobe Acrobat. Its options are tailor-made for professionals in numerous industries, similar to engineering, design, and regulation. The platform can deal with massive, advanced PDFs that require intensive annotations. 

In comparison with Preview, which is right for informal annotations, Adobe Acrobat affords superior instruments and collaboration capabilities required for professional-level duties. These usually embrace audio/video feedback, sticky notes with tags, share opinions, customizable shapes, integration to Adobe Doc Cloud, stamp library, discover and change in feedback, annotation report era, cross-platform compatibility, and lots of extra.

Observe these steps so as to add annotations utilizing Adobe Acrobat:

1. Set up and open Adobe Acrobat Reader in your Mac. 
2. Select the PDF you wish to annotate > Click on Edit to annotate PDF. 
3. Click on on the specified possibility so as to add annotations to your file. 
4. Save the doc when prepared.

As you may see, Adobe Acrobat works equally to different PDF viewers and annotators. Nonetheless, Adobe could be very RAM-heavy and might decelerate your system’s efficiency. Moreover, it’s important to purchase the Professional model for reside enhancing.

Find out how to annotate a PDF utilizing Skim

Skim is one other common device to annotate a PDF on Mac. That is additionally one of many free PDF editors for Mac. Designed initially for viewing and notating scientific papers, it enhances the capabilities of Preview. You possibly can add and edit notes, spotlight vital textual content, learn on the complete display screen, and add snapshots for simple reference. 

The device additionally supplies a magnification device, sensible cropping device, bookmarks, helpful preview of inner hyperlinks, and lots of extra options (the checklist is just too exhaustive to cowl right here).

Now, let me let you know the way to annotate a PDF doc utilizing Skim:

1. Set up and open Skim.
2. Go to File within the menu bar > Open.
3. Choose the PDF you wish to annotate.
4. Go to View > Present Toolbar.
5. Click on the Annotations icon within the toolbar to see the annotation instruments.
6. Click on on any device to make use of it.

To customise annotations, choose the annotation and right-click on Edit Properties. You possibly can change the colour, line thickness, opacity, and font of the annotation.

Bonus: Find out how to annotate a PDF on iPad utilizing Books

Books is a default app for PDFs on iPad. All PDFs on the iPad are opened within the Books app. So, studying the way to annotate a PDF doc on an iPad is crucial. Right here’s how you are able to do it:

1. Open the Books app in your iPad.
2. Open the PDF file > Faucet the web page.
3. Subsequent, faucet the Markup button situated on the high of the display screen of your iPad >  Use the drawing and annotation instruments.

If you wish to annotate in your iPhone or can’t open the PDF file in Books, simply test it out within the Information app as an alternative. It can save you it to the Books app from there after which begin annotating it.

Streamlining your PDF annotation workflow

Now, I’d wish to share some nice productiveness suggestions that may absolutely make it easier to streamline your PDF annotation workflow:

• Group annotations into layers to segregate corrections, notes, and suggestions.
• Use totally different colours for various annotations sorts, like purple for errors, inexperienced for approval, blue for revisions, and many others.
• Decide your annotation wants. You don’t must spend money on costly instruments for fundamental work; Instruments like Preview, Skim, and PDF Professional needs to be useful. Even superior performance is offered at inexpensive value with PDF annotation instruments like Nitro PDF Professional.
• To streamline working with PDFs much more, use PDF Buddies, an app that allows you to work together together with your paperwork. Put merely, you sort in some questions, and the app’s OCR engine the textual content, and AI analyzes it regionally to offer you solutions rapidly. In PDF Buddies, you may chat with a number of PDFs concurrently, all whereas PDFS stays regionally in your Mac.

Mastering PDF annotation on Mac for higher productiveness

So, you’ve a number of choices to annotate a PDF! Experiment with these instruments and discover the one which greatest covers your wants. Instruments like Preview, Skim, and PDF Search supply fundamental annotation performance, when you can think about using Adobe Acrobat, Nitro PDF Professional, and Hookmark, should you’re in search of superior PDF annotation instruments. Use Books to view, edit, and annotate PDFs on an iPad.

Additionally, don’t neglect the guidelines and proposals I’ve added to this weblog; these are really a lifesaver.  For instance, PDF Buddies enables you to chat together with your PDFs, making search simpler and faster. PDF Squeezer is a must have device as a result of it compresses massive PDF information with out compromising the standard of its content material.

What’s even higher is that you would be able to check many of those apps (and dozens extra) with a seven-day trial on Setapp, a well-liked platform for high-performance, best-in-class iOS and macOS apps.