Watch video Adobe Reader for Mac is an essential application for reading, printing, marking up, and commenting on PDF files. Good functionality: With Adobe Reader for.
Adobe's free PDF reader has long been a standard for handling its extremely popular document format, but you aren't limited to using it to view your PDF files. Let's take a look at five of the most popular PDF readers.
Original image by iowa spirit walker.
Last week we asked you to share your favorite PDF reader, and now we're back to share the results.
Advertisement
Best PDF Reader?
PDFs have become quite a mainstay in the document world, with a plethora of readers having cropped…
Read more ReadA note about pricing: Every basic package offered by the companies included in today's Hive is free. Among those offering paid upgrades, we selected the upgrade directly above the basic package for our price inclusion. Make sure to check out the company sites for additional information and to see which, if any, of the upgrades is necessary for your needs.
Advertisement
The test document we used is the D*I*Y Planner 3.0 Handbook, an excellent resource of organization-related printouts.
Sumatra PDF (Windows, Free)
Advertisement
Sumatra PDF is an ultra-lightweight and open-source portable application. The emphasis with Sumatra PDF is not on the number of features and the wide-ranging abilities of the application, but instead on speed. It loads almost instantly, renders pages extremely quickly, and thanks to a huge number of keyboard shortcuts, you can zip through nearly any document with ease. Sumatra PDF, thanks to a lack of frills and extraneous features, is a great candidate for a portable drive or for in-browser use for someone who wants quick-loading PDF files without the lag caused by features they won't ever use.
Preview (Mac, Free)
Advertisement
Preview is Apple's free PDF viewer, built into OS X. It's no mystery many Mac users have no need to step beyond the built-in tool. Preview has quite a few features often only found in commercial PDF software, like the ability to drag and drop pages between documents, page extraction, encryption, and text annotation. In addition to viewing PDF files, Preview can display over two dozen other file formats, making it quite a versatile little viewer.
Foxit (Windows/Linux, Basic: Free/Pro Pack: $39.99)
Advertisement
Foxit is a polished Acrobat-alternative that, on top of cleanly displaying PDF files with a minimal interface, also has a host of handy features—all packed into a lightweight 6MB package. Foxit loads immediately, without any splash page or lag from plug-ins loading. Reading PDFs is just as snappy, and in-text pictures and charts render quickly. When filling out PDF forms, you can save your progress in the form and return later to finish filling it out. While both the free and the Pro version allow you to annotate text, insert graphics and drawings, and insert links, the free version adds a Foxit stamp on each page you annotate; the pro version removes the marking. Foxit is available as a portable application.
Adobe Acrobat (Windows/Mac/Linux, Basic: Free/Pro: $299)
Advertisement
Adobe Reader is Adobe's default offering for viewing PDFs. Acrobat enjoys widespread popularity as a result of being offered by the company that created the PDF. For light PDF users, it's a more than adequate tool, although frequent users may seek to try a lighter alternative to get rid of the long load times and the lag that can occur when Acrobat loads within a web browser pane. You can attach sticky notes to pages and highlight text for your own review. More advanced features, like PDF creation, saving PDFs in other formats, and the ability to merge PDF files, are only available with an upgrade to Acrobat Standard for $299.
PDF-XChange (Windows, Basic: Free/Pro: $34)
Advertisement
PDF-XChange is another Adobe-alternative in today's Hive that boasts snappy load times and basic functionality that outpaces the basic functionality of Adobe Reader. With PDF-XChange you can open and browse PDF documents, perform simple page annotations with drawings and text, and type outside of preset form boxes by using the PDF-XChange typewriter tool to place text wherever you want. Advanced features like reorganizing pages and text extraction are only available with the Pro upgrade. PDF-Xchange is available as a portable application.
Now that you've had a chance to look over the candidates—and hopefully get a chance to test them out, since so many are conveniently portable!—it's time to cast your vote in the poll below:
Advertisement
Which PDF Viewer is Best?(survey software)
Love a PDF application that didn't make the cut? Have a trick for making Adobe Acrobat load faster? Share your PDF tips and tricks in the comments.
Advertisement
This app is only available on the App Store for iOS devices.
Description
Adobe Acrobat Reader is the free global standard for reliably viewing, signing, and commenting on PDF documents.
VIEW PDFs
• Quickly open and view PDF documents.
• Search, scroll, and zoom in and out.
• Choose Single Page or Continuous scroll mode.
ANNOTATE PDFs
• Comment on PDFs using sticky notes and drawing tools.
• Highlight and mark up text with annotation tools.
• View and respond to annotations in the comments list.
• Use Apple Pencil with iPad Pro for exceptional commenting precision.
WORK WITH OTHERS AND SHARE PDFs
• Quickly access documents shared for viewing, review, or signature.
• Collaborate with others by adding your comments to PDFs sent to you for review.
• Receive activity notifications for files you’ve shared for viewing and review.
• Track pending actions on documents shared with you.
• Easily share PDFs with others by creating a links you can send by email.
WORK WITH SCANNED DOCUMENTS
• Easily access scanned PDFs that you’ve captured using the free Adobe Scan app.
• Open your scans in Acrobat Reader to fill in, sign, review, and share.
FILL AND SIGN FORMS
• Quickly fill out PDF forms by typing text into fields.
• Use your finger or Apple Pencil to e-sign any PDF document.
STORE AND PRINT FILES
• Sign in to your free Adobe Document Cloud account to store access files across devices.
• Connect to your Dropbox account and access other storage providers including iCloud Drive, Box, Microsoft OneDrive, and Google Drive.
• Print documents from your device.
IN-APP PURCHASE
For even more PDF power, subscribe to Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, Adobe PDF Pack, or Adobe Export PDF. Subscriptions work across desktop, web, and mobile.
ACROBAT PRO DC
• Organize and edit PDFs.
• Create PDF files from documents or images.
• Export PDFs to Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
• Combine files into one PDF.
• Send documents to others for review.
ADOBE PDF PACK
• Create PDF files from documents or images.
• Export PDFs to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or RTF.
• Organize and combine files.
• Send documents to others for review.
EXPORT PDF
• Export PDFs to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or RTF.
IN-APP PURCHASE DETAILS
• An Acrobat Pro DC subscription is US$24.99/month (includes Acrobat Pro DC software plus PDF Pack).
• A PDF Pack subscription is US$9.99/month (includes Export PDF).
• An Export PDF subscription is US$23.99/year.
• Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase.
• Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period.
Terms & Conditions: Your use of this application is governed by the Adobe General Terms of Use (https://www.adobe.com/legal/terms-linkfree.html and the Adobe Privacy Policy (https://www.adobe.com/privacy/policy-linkfree.html).
What’s New
IMPROVED:
• Performance and stability.
Have feedback? Contact us at https://www.adobe.com/go/acrobatiosfeedback
Finally , I find the best PDF files app that suit me
I had tried a few different PDF files and Acrobat is the best so far . It has all the features and functionalities in helping me creating , editing PDF files ; it has very simple interface and tools in guiding me to finish my works. with the Scan file app , it add more useful functions in creating PDF files ; the Acrobat cloud allows me to access my files from everywhere ; and upload to cloud to store my files securely . and Sharing the files easily to anyone .
On the other hand , I find the app a bit of confusing in some area . the default language is English (UK) ; the app i was downloaded for my iphone , I can not use the app to edit or fill the files . and it require Window or Mac Version of the app to edit or fill my files. Why can the app tell me before I purchase it ? lastly , I cannt download the finished the files to my iphone or my icloud
Latest updates killed me
I use this app primarily for work purposes. I save all my service receipts to this app and also fill out and submit safety and order forms daily. The recent update changed alot of things. First of all, the new design I don't like. That I can get used to but it's made it more difficult to use in my opinion. Some of the buttons are not labeled now, they only have icons so I have to guess what they do until I press them and find out if I'm right or wrong. More importantly, there are functions/operations that changed. For example, sharing a file through email no longer takes the file name and automatically makes it the subject line of the email. Also, when you sort by name,files with letters now follow files with numbers. I have to scroll through a hundred files (which have dates) to get to my template (which starts with letters). So I had to through a random zero at the beginning so it's at the top. There is more I could write but I think you get my point. I realize it may sound like nitpicking but when you use the app as much as I do it becomes very annoying. I am disappointed you made such a big change and it doesn't seem to be for the better. Let's get some of this fixed so I can change this back to 5 stars.
What happened
As a subscriber of the Adobe creative cloud I am very displeased to see the industry standard for PDF software become practically unusable! In fact Adobe Acrobat no longer works on my iPhone XS! When I choose to download or simply view a pdf file, Adobe Acrobat nor the Adobe Creative Cloud app appear in the list of apps to choose from in the iOS share to/open menu! I tried a workaround by saving the PDF file to 'files' both locally and via iCloud drive then attempted to open the saved PDF file via Adobe Acrobat which incredibly failed to open with a message stating 'File type unsupported'... This is unacceptable! Can't open the very file format Adobe Acrobat is meant to not only open but create and manage! Wow just wow! Not sure what is going on but Adobe is slacking with other apps as well! I'm contemplating canceling my CC subscription since $50 a month is a price only worth paying for the best and I am literally seeing more and more apps that offer more! The mobile apps are terrible besides a select few! Out of all, I never thought Acrobat would ever lose the crown but here I am having to find an alternative in order to save the PDF I need! Verbal apologies won't change the fact that I'm dishing out money for software that isn't working properly!
Developer Response,
Hi -
The symptoms you are describing sound very much like you don't have a PDF or the PDF you are trying to open is invalid. This would explain both why it wouldn't appear in the share menu and why it fails to open from files. The things you are describing are intended to work. If you are having issues, please reach out to us at https://www.adobe.com/go/appstoresupport We'd love to hear more about how you are trying to open the file and get a copy of the file itself. Thanks!
Information
Requires iOS 11.2 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
English, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish
Free Pdf Reader For Mac
- PDF Pack - Doc Creator$9.99
- Adobe ExportPDF$23.99
- Adobe Acrobat Pro$24.99
Supports
Free Adobe Reader For Mac
Family Sharing
With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.