Top 7 Best Free PDF Editor for Mac to Edit and Manage PDFs (Compatible with Mac OS 10.14 Mojave) 9:00 am July 26, 2018. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is a full-featured and powerful PDF editor for Mac. To make it easy for you we have done research and come up with a list of the very Best PDF editor 2018. Here, you will find capable software that will make it easy for you to create, edit and share PDF files. Download a FREE Trial of PDF Editing Software, the best PDF Editor for Mac out there today! Altoconvertpdftoexcel.com – A review of what we think is the best PDF editing program out there – A long list of features!

Whether you’re a seasoned programmer, or a beginner trying to code your first piece of software, a good text editor is one of the most important things you’ll need on your Mac. Thankfully there are a lot of free text editors as well as great paid text editors out there. To save our readers from the time consuming (and often confusing) task of choosing the right text editor for their use, we’ve picked out the 10 best text editors for Mac that are actually worthy of attention in 2019. Note that while all the Mac text editors mentioned on this list are great, you should choose the one that fits your needs. So, without further ado, let’s check out the list, shall we?

Best Text Editors for Mac in 2019

In this article, we are focusing on the best text editors for coding but if you are looking for a text editor for your writing purposes, you can check out our article on the best writing apps for Mac.

List of Best Text Editors for macOS

1. Sublime Text 3

Sublime Text is probably one of the most famous text editors available for Mac and for all the right reasons. The software brings a ton of features including syntax highlighting and folding, a high level of customizability, easy to navigate interface, multiple selections, powerful API and package ecosystem, and more. One of the best features of Sublime Text 3 is the “Goto Anything” feature. As it names suggests, the feature allows you to instantly jump to symbols, lines, or words that you are looking for, and can be activated simply by hitting the keyboard shortcut ⌘P.

Combine this with features like split editing, Goto Definition, Command Palette, batch editing, and instant project switch and you have one of the best and most powerful text editors out there. Probably the only drawback of Sublime Text 3 is its cost. Just like any well developed Mac software, Sublime Text 3 boasts of a premium price. That said, since a text editor is going to be the foundation for your future work, investing up front in a good text editor is not a bad thing. If money is no concern for you, definitely check this out.

Pros:

  • Easy to use
  • Feature-packed
  • Customization options
  • Ability to assign custom keyboard shortcuts
  • Fast and smooth
  • Cross platform

Cons:

  • Pricey
  • Some plugins affect performance

Download: (Free Trial, $80)

2. Atom

If you want a text editor which is as capable as Sublime Text but doesn’t cost a penny, then Atom is for you. Developed by the same minds which are behind the popular SVC service GitHub, Atom is an open-source software which is both modern and approachable and yet hackable to its core. Atom is built on HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and Node.js integration and it runs on Electron. Although the software is already feature rich, if you want more features, you can install any of its thousands of open-source packages to add new features and functionality.

Atom is also highly customizable. If you want, you can change almost everything about it. You can install different themes to change its look and feel, you can tweak the UI with CSS, and even add major features which fit your workflow using HTML and JavaScript. Atom allows you to create a working environment which complements your workflow and that is its biggest power. Also, it is completely free to download and use with no restrictions.

Best Free Pdf Editor Mac

Pros:

  • Open-source and free
  • Feature-rich
  • Nice UI
  • Customization options
  • Tons of packages available

Cons:

  • A lot of packages can slow it down
  • Can be a resource hog

Download: (Free)

Best pdf editors for mac 2018 collections

3. Brackets

Another popular text editor for Mac is Brackets which mainly focuses on web design. Brackets is a better option for front-end developers and web designers than the ones mentioned above. While this text editor has been designed by Adobe, which is famous for its subscription pricing model, Brackets is a completely free text editor. Adobe has developed Brackets as an open-source project which is supported by its active and passionate community. One of the best features of Brackets is the “Live Preview” feature which allows users to see any changes that they make to the CSS and HTML of the code reflected live in a Chrome window. This feature allows developers to keep an eye on their code and stops them from making any drastic mistakes.

Since Brackets is an Adobe product, it works really well with other Adobe products. For example, there’s a feature called “Extract” which lets users automatically extract color, font, gradient, and measurement information from a photoshop document file. Brackets is already a feature-rich text editor, however, if you want to add more features, you can do so by using Brackets’ extensions which are free to download and install. Some of the most popular Brackets’ extensions are Beautify, Autoprefixer, Emmet, Minifier, Bracket Gits, and Brackets File Icons. If you are into web development, you should definitely try Brackets.

Pros:

  • Open-source and free
  • Various free extensions
  • Feature-rich
  • Cross platform
  • Lightweight

Cons:

  • Aimed mostly at front-end developers
  • Lacks a few useful text editor commands

Download: (Free)

4. BBEdit 12

BBEdit is developed by Bare Bones software and is probably one of the oldest and most reliable text editors you can find on Mac. Not only BBEdit is used by thousands of developers out there but it is also used by many writers as the software provides features for editing, searching, and manipulation of prose, source code, and textual data. Some of the biggest features of BBEdit include built-in tools for text manipulations, Hard Wrap, customizable syntax coloring support for over two dozen built-in languages, placeholder options for easier site maintenance, multiple files manipulations, complete set of HTML Tools for fast, easy, and correct markup, extensive file handling capabilities, and more.

One of the things that is important when choosing a software like a text editor is its longevity. You don’t want a text editor which won’t receive any updates, or worse, get killed few years down the line. With BBEdit, you can be sure that it will never happen. The software has been available since 1992 which is longer than the existence of macOS as we know today. BBEdit’s existence of more than 26 years is an enough proof that the developers are not going to let this die. If you want a powerful text editor for web development which will be there for you for the next decade, definitely give this a try.

Pros:

  • Stable and reliable
  • Packs in almost all the features you can think of
  • Great performance
  • Various built-in tools and languages
  • Simple to use

Cons:

  • A little pricey

Download: (Free Trial, $49.99) / (Get it from the Mac App Store – $3.99/month)

5. UltraEdit

UltraEdit is one of the best and most versatile text editors for Mac out there. For starters, UltraEdit supports a ton of different languages including C, Objective C, Javascript, XML, PHP, Perl, Python, and more. Just like BBEdit, UltraEdit has been around since ages and is celebrating its 25 year’s anniversary this year. So reliability is not a concern here. The software brings tons of features including and not limited to themes support, support for large files (>4GB), syntax highlighting for multiple languages, multi-caret editing, multi-selection capabilities, a very robust search, integrated FTP, support for 4K and Apple Retina display, and more.

UltraEdit is a very capable text editor, however, if you need more features, you can buy it with other Ultra products like UltraCompare, UltraEdit Suite, UltraFinder, and IDM All Access, all of which bring additional features. Finally, do note that UltraEdit is not cheap and is one of the costliest text editors out there. However, there is a 30-day free trial which you can use to get a feel for the software before springing up the money.

Pros:

  • Supports most languages
  • Handles large files very well
  • Reliable and regularly updated
  • Fast and easy to use

Cons:

  • Pricey
  • Some features available to purchase separately

Download: (Free Trial, $99.95 – comes with UltraCompare)

6. Coda 2 / Nova

Another hardcore text editor specially designed for web developers is the Coda 2 which brings a multitude of features like project-wide autocomplete, syntax highlighting for tons of languages, code folding, find and replace, indentation guides, automatic tag closing, and fast commenting and shifting of code. Coda also brings one of the best deeply integrated file system. Users can open local files or edit remotely on FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, or Amazon S3 servers.

Coda 2 has recently launched a ton of new features. Now Coda 2 supports touch-bar on MacBook Pros, offers faster syntax highlighting and symbol parsing, indexing of local files, CSS overriding, and more. However, by far my favorite feature of Coda 2 is built-in WebKit Preview which includes a web inspector, debugger, and profiler. Using the WebKit Preview developers can see the real-time effect as their code changes. Also, like many other text editors on this list, Coda 2 brings an extensive set of plugins which can be used to further enhance its feature set.

Note: Panic, the company behind Coda 2, is creating a new text editor called Nova. Once Nova is officially released, Coda 2 users can seamlessly move to using it. Nova is basically a re-branded Coda 2 with enough new features to justify the brand change. You can sign up to test Nova here.

Pros:

  • Great search feature
  • Accessing and editing files remotely
  • Specially designed for web developers

Cons:

Best Pdf Editors For Mac Reviews

  • Lacking in features when compared to others
  • Quite pricey

Download: (Free Trial, $99)

7. Visual Studio Code

Although developed by Apple’s arch-rival Microsoft, Visual Studio Code is one of the best text editors that you can get for your Mac. The text editor is packed with features and has been optimized for Mac in such a way that you don’t feel any performance difference from its Windows counterpart. The main features of Visual Studio Code include the ability to highlight syntax for more than 30 different languages, lightning fast source-code editor, keyboard-centric code editing approach, automatic real-time API description, Git control, IntelliSense for smart completions based on variable types, Debugging support, and more.

Visual Studio Code also comes with support for extensions and a big extension library which can be used to not only enhance its features but also customize the interface to suit your workflow. Some of the popular extensions are Git Lens, Sublime Text Keymap, Azure Storage, Angular Essentials, Vim, and Debugger for Chrome. Also, the text editor is completely free to download and use.

Pros:

  • Support for most languages
  • Various plugins available
  • Good performance
  • Great UI
  • Free to use
  • Monthly updates

Cons:

  • You have to install a lot of plugins to make it feature rich
  • A bit of a learning curve
  • Can be buggy at times

Download: (Free)

8. Textastic

Textastic is one of the most affordable and user-friendly text editors for Mac that you can find. It is a powerful and fast text, code, and markup editor. Textastic supports syntax highlighting for more than 80 source code and markup languages. It also features auto-completion of code for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, C, and Objective-C languages. I also love that the text editor allows users to work in multiple tabs making it easier to review or consult your own code. Other features include the ability to quickly find files, print files, use symbol list to quickly navigate in a file, built-in Emmet support and more.

It might not be the most powerful text editor for the Mac, however, it is fairly capable. Also, its easy to understand user interface ensures that you have a less of a learning curve here than with some of the other text editors on this list.

For

Pros:

  • Supports a number of script and markup languages
  • Simple to use
  • iCloud sync support
  • Multiple tabs feature

Cons:

  • Mac and iOS only
  • Not as powerful as others on the list
  • No Python and SSH terminal support

Download: ($7.99)

9. TextMate

TextMate bridges UNIX underpinnings and GUI by cherry-picking the best of both worlds so that it can be used by experts and novices alike. It brings enough project management features to keep most users happy, but is otherwise very lightweight and has a clean and minimalist GUI. Features of TextMate include the ability to research and replace the code in projects, auto-pairing of brackets and other characters, column selection and typing, recordable macros with no programming requirement, syntax highlighting for multiple languages, and more.

TextMate also works with Xcode and can build Xcode projects. One of the best things about TextMate is that it comes with extensive documentation and video library which should easily get users started. If you want a no-nonsense text editor, TextMate is the one for you.

Pros:

  • Works with Xcode
  • Open-source
  • Lightweight
  • Handles packages well

Cons:

  • Only macOS
  • Development not very reliable

Download: (Free Trial, $56.25)

10. CodeRunner 2

Just like Textastic, CodeRunner 2 is a very affordable text editor which has been specifically designed for Macs. CodeRunner 2 supports a large number of languages and delivers big IDE features while remaining lightweight and clutter-free. Some of its features include full-blown IDE-level code completion, support for 23 different languages, support for multi-file projects, breakpoints and debugging support, theme support, file and symbol navigator, automatic indentation support, intelligent bracket matching, and more. CodeRunner 2 brings a powerful text-editor in a simple to understand package which is good for beginners and experts alike.

Pros:

Pdf
  • Supports various languages
  • Clean UI
  • Customizable
  • Packs in necessary IDE features

Cons:

  • Does not play well with big projects
  • Not as feature rich

Download: (Free trial, $14.99)

SEE ALSO: 12 Best Mind Mapping Apps for Mac to Organize Your Ideas

Code Smarter Using These Excellent Text Editors

That ends our list of the 10 best text editors that you can get for your Mac. Do note that most of the paid text editors on the list offer a free trial option, so check them out before you settle for one. Once you do find your favorite text editor for Mac, share its name in the comments section below. Also, if you have a favorite text editor which is not on the list, do share its name too.


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Best free PDF editors

Read out reviews below for more information.

There are some fantastic free PDF editors around, so we've rounded up the very best to make your life easier.

PDF documents are designed to look and behave exactly the same way on any device. That makes it a brilliant format for sharing, but editing them is another matter. Most office software and photo editors let you export documents in PDF format, but editing requires a dedicated tool. That's because PDF was initially a proprietary format owned by Adobe, and it still owns some of the technologies associated with it. Other companies can license those technologies, but only for a fee that's usually passed on to you – the user.

There aren’t many free PDF editors, and even fewer that won’t leave your documents with unsightly watermarks. That's why we've hand-picked the very best free PDF editors, which offer all the tools you need and won't spoil your work with unsightly watermarks.

1. SmallPDF

Powerful range of tools
PDF to Word converter

SmallPDF is a cloud-based PDF editor, which means it can be used through any device using an internet browser.

It uses a simplified interface to make it easy to edit or add text, as well as drawings or images. Using drag and drop, you can add or remove content as required.

It also comes with a PDF to Word editor, which means if you need to make more detailed edits in a Word doc you can, and even better is that formatting should be preserved.

Uploads and edits are made securely via SSL, so you don't need to worry about third-parties accessing your PDF documents, which could be a concern if the information in them is confidential.

You can also use SmallPDF to fill in forms, esign, unlock, or protect a PDF. Files can be imported directly from online storage providers such as Google Drive and Drop Box.

Overall, SmallPDF is a compact but powerful PDF editor, that should be able to help you achieve most initial edits required, with the helpful doc conversion for more complicated edits.

While it's not free to use continuously, there is a 14-day free trial, which can be useful if you only need to get a few documents edited. After that, pricing begins from around $5 per month.

2. PDF-XChange Editor

Another superb tool for editing text in PDFs, with built-in OCR

Optical character recognition
Splits and extracts pages

If you need to edit the text in a PDF, PDF-XChange Editor is ideal. It lets you retype, delete, and reformat text, and adapts well if the document uses a font that isn’t installed on your PC. You can also attach comments, split PDFs, and extract pages.

One of PDF-Xchange Editor’s best features is the ability to use OCR to recognize text in scanned documents – ideal if you only have a printout rather than the original file (a handout from a lecture, for example).

Some of the features visible in the menus and toolbars are only available in the premium version of the software, PDF-XChange Editor Plus, but you can easily hover your mouse pointer over an icon to find out if it’s included.

If you go ahead and use a premium tool anyway (adding polygonal shapes or new text boxes, for example), your document will be watermarked. Look out for a warning message underneath the main toolbar before saving your work, just in case.

The paid-for downloads, PDF-XChange Editor costs $43.50 (£35) for the normal version, but for additional features such as form creation and use you will need to buy PDF-XChange Editor Plus, which costs $54.50 ($48).

3. Sejda

An online-only free PDF editor with a great choice of tools

Cloud storage

Free online PDF editor Sejda offers an excellent range of tools, with an added layer of security: all files are deleted from its servers after five hours.

You can add text, images and links, sign documents, add annotations, and insert ellipses and rectangles. There’s also a ‘whiteout’ option, though this simply draws a white rectangle – it doesn’t remove any data. There’s no OCR either, so you won’t be able to edit text in scanned PDFs.

When you’ve finished editing, click ‘Apply changes’ and you’ll be able to download the document, send it to Dropbox or Google Drive, delete it, or access a shareable link. The link will expire after seven days.

There are limits on the free service: every hour, you can process no more than 200 pages or 50MB data (whichever comes first) and perform no more than three tasks. That’s pretty generous, but if you need to perform more tasks, there are weekly, monthly and annual passes available.

At $5 (about £4, AU$7), a weekly pass would work out quite expensive over a long period, but is perfect if you’ll only be needing the full tool for a short time and don’t want to commit to a longer subscription.

4. PDFescape

A free online PDF editor that lets you add new text and images

Lets you add media

There are two versions of the PDFescape PDF editor: a free web app and a premium desktop program. Here we're using the online editor; if you download the desktop software, you'll only receive a trial of the premium edition. It's suitable for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari, and will probably work fine on other Chromium-based browsers too.

PDFescape's online editor lets you create new text boxes on the page, but unless you upgrade to the full desktop software there's no way to edit existing text either, you you can create simple geometric shapes and – as with Sedja, above – add white rectangles to obscure parts of the document when it's printed.

PDFescape lets you select a picture from your PC, then drag a rectangle to insert it. You can insert text fields too, enabling you to create simple forms – a rare and welcome feature for a free PDF editor.

5. Ableword

A word processor that's also a capable free PDF editor

No features locked-down

Best Pdf Editors For 2017

AbleWord hasn’t been updated since 2015, but it still gets the job done. This free software is primarily a word processor (as the name implies), but it also works well as a handy free PDF editor. Don’t be put off by its MS Word-style looks – just hit File > Open, select your PDF, and be amazed by its editing abilities.

Clicking a text box will cause it to turn white, but this only happens while you’re actively editing it; when deselected, it will return to its former color. Your PDF might not look exactly like it did originally, but in our experience any differences are very minor, and mostly relate to the different fonts available on different computers.

It’s a very impressive free PDF editor, but we haven't ranked it more highly due to its lack of recent updates, which could leave it open to security vulnerabilities. However unlikely, it's a possibility.

  • Check out our guide to the best free PDF to Word converters