A professional PDF program lets you turn out productivity and meet up to your needs. Except for versatile tools, a qualified PDF suite ensures stable performance and a reasonable price. Based on these standards, we present the nine best PDF editors for Windows, Mac, and Online users.
Check the list of reliable PDF software online and offline:
- SwifDoo PDF: The top user-friendly PDF editor for Windows
- Systweak PDF Editor
- Adobe Acrobat (Windows)
- PDFelement (Windows)
- Skim (Mac)
- PDF Expert (Mac)
- DocFly (Online)
- PDFSimpli (Online)
- Canva (Online)
The 9 Best PDF Editors for Windows/Mac/Online
Here are the 9 PDF editor software available for different operating systems. Based on the features, affordability, and compatibility, you can choose an ideal one to edit PDFs on Windows or other operating systems. Let's check them out!
SwifDoo PDF
SwifDoo PDF is an all-in-one PDF editing program. It stands out as one of the best PDF editors for Windows that provide a full range of PDF managing capabilities, easy navigation, and seamless processing performance. Besides, it is a lightweight application that consumes minimum system resources, making it run smoothly even on an old computer.
This PDF program allows you to edit, annotate, convert, and perform other things related to PDFs. For example, you can add new text to update your file content without conversion, change font size in your PDF form, or remove watermarks from a PDF. SwifDoo PDF offers a 7-day free trial that gives you access to all the paid tools. And the paid version is quite cost-effective for budget-minded users.
Pros:
- The best PDF editor alternative to Adobe Acrobat;
- Have a Microsoft Word-like UI;
- Allow you to edit, create, annotate, convert, compress, merge, and split PDFs;
- Transfer images into other formats and reduce their size using the built-in image converter and compressor;
- Convert a scanned PDF to a searchable and editable one with the OCR technology.
Cons:
- Only support the Windows system.
How to Edit PDF in SwifDoo PDF
If you are curious about how to master all the editing features of this best PDF editor for Windows. Download SwifDoo PDF on your computer or laptop and launch it. Let’s follow the guide below to edit PDFs on Windows seamlessly:
# Edit text
Drag and drop your file to the main screen to open it. To use this software to edit a PDF, tap “Edit All” under the Edit tab and all the editable text will be outlined in a gray box. Click on the text you want to edit and make changes. You can edit the original text with the same font, change the font style, or customize the text color. To insert new text, navigate to “Add Text” in the upper left and click on a blank space to add a text box. Then you can type on it.
# Add hyperlinks
Speaking of adding links to a PDF, choose “Link” and select “Add or edit link”. Draw a rectangle with your mouse and a window will pop up. Four options are available to insert hyperlinks to your PDF files. This best PDF editor software allows you to add a link that redirects you to a specific page of the same file, or to a web or new file.
#Edit images
For making edits to images, tap the drop-down arrow below “Edit All” and choose “Edit Image”. Choose your desired image and click the pencil icon. Then you can adjust the image size, rotate it, replace it with a new one, and perform more.
- Change PDF background color;
- Apply OCR to convert scanned PDFs to editable ones;
- Compress PDFs to reduce their file sizes.
Windows 11/10/8.1/7/XP
Systweak PDF Editor
Systweek PDF Editor is another best PDF editor for Windows users. It offers basic and advanced PDF editing tools that cater to your different demands. The program makes it easier to organize PDF documents, including merging multiple PDFs into one and rearranging the pages. It lets you add notes, highlight text, and conduct other tasks at your fingertips. This PDF editor helps you edit PDFs on Windows hassle-free.
Pros:
- Easy-to-use tools to review PDFs for better collaboration;
- Sign digital signatures to ensure the file integrity;
- Convert PDFs to other formats while maintaining the layout.
Cons:
- Cannot create or fill out a fillable PDF form;
- An error might happen when inserting images.
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is a widely recognized PDF program. This best PDF editor software provides cutting-edge PDF technology to edit PDF files, not to mention stable performance. You can remove the background from PDFs, sign digital signatures to protect your PDF contracts, and insert rich media (audio and video) to enrich your PDF pages. However, it falls short in a complex user interface and is expensive for individuals, students in particular.
Pros:
- Packed with various editing tools;
- Connect to databases, allowing you to insert new elements in a PDF form;
- Customize your toolbar and share it with others.
Cons:
- Sell at a high price;
- Hard to navigate to the target feature.
PDFelement
PDFelement is marked on its good ability to easily edit PDFs. It can streamline the process to make changes to your PDF and boost your productivity. The features are easy to use and it is well compatible with Windows. Besides being the best PDF editor for Windows, this PDF software lets you lock your PDF files and make fillable PDF forms.
Pros:
- Add shapes, text, and so on to edit your PDFs;
- Translate PDF to any language you like.
Cons:
- The OCR software can be only applied to a high-resolution scanned PDF;
- A little heavy and take up more hard drive space.
How to Translate a PDF with Online and Desktop Tools
Need to translate PDFs to another language so others can read them? Find out how to translate a PDF with online and offline tools in this post.
READ MORE >Preview
Preview is one of the best PDF editors for Mac users. As the innate PDF program developed by Apple, it allows its users to read, edit, and combine PDFs. It is easy to highlight, strikethrough, and e-sign PDF files without charge. 
Pros:
- Offer basic PDF editing options to make changes to a PDF for free;
- No need to download an additional application;
- Easily edit read-only PDFs when you forget the password.
Cons:
- Limited editing tools;
- Can’t edit existing text.
PDF Expert
PDF Expert is another useful PDF editing app for Mac. It helps you edit PDFs, rewrite PDF text, fill out PDF forms, and insert images. Being the best PDF editor for macOS paid users, it shares a similar UI with Preview so you don’t need to battle with a new user interface.
Pros:
- The best PDF editor software with fast processing speed;
- Support a one-time payment to unlock almost all features.
Cons:
- A little difficult to navigate to the feature you want;
- Require an annual subscription to access advanced features for new users.
DocFly
DocFly falls into the category of the best PDF editor software online. You can use it to edit your PDFs for free, including erasing unnecessary text, adding watermarks, and inserting images. Apart from editing PDFs, it lets you password-protect your PDF and convert PDF to other formats.
Pros:
- Support Dropbox and Google Drive to upload your PDF without downloading;
- Available via Chrome, IE, Firefox, and Safari;
- Automatically delete your file in 24 hours.
Cons:
- Only allow 3 free tasks per month;
- Take time to process large PDF files, conversion in particular.
iLovePDF
Many users must have known about iLovePDF. It ranks as one of the best PDF editors to edit PDF documents online. This PDF software enables you to handwrite, add shapes, and add new text to the current PDF file. Free users can enjoy its features without registration and it has stable performance.
Pros:
- Simple UI that lets you easily navigate to the feature you want;
- Respond fast and no need to wait long for the final result;
- Import your PDF from Dropbox and Google Drive.
Cons:
- 1 task a day for free users;
- Limited editing tools.
Canva
Canva is an online graphic design platform that also serves as the best PDF editor software. It makes editing your PDFs as designing photos with readymade font styles, lines and shapes, and images. You can add text boxes, insert photos or images, and adjust the page order.
Pros:
- Convert, compress, edit, and share your PDF;
- Attractive and interactive UI;
- Good for sharing and teamwork;
Cons:
- Signup is required;
- Limited features for the free version.
Conclusion
This article picks the nine best PDF editors to help you handily process and organize PDFs. With these candidates, Adobe Acrobat is no longer the only choice. You can have more selections to choose the one that satisfies you most. For Windows, we recommend SwifDoo PDF as your best bet to utilize the right PDF editing tools at your fingertips. The top-of-the-line PDF editor with a cost-effective price can get your money's worth.
