Adobe Acrobat is a popular example of a robust PDF editor app. You can also create PDFs and forms from scratch in a PDF editor app. PDF editor apps allow you to change anything in a PDF. Preview on Mac, PDF Expert, and most mobile PDF apps are PDF annotation apps. You can add as much to the document as you want, but you can't change the core, original PDF text. PDF annotation apps let you add comments, rearrange pages, add shapes, and insert new text blocks and images. Examples of these include Adobe Reader, Apple iBooks, and Windows Reader. PDF reader apps help you read PDF files, allowing you to do things like flip through pages, search for phrases, highlight text, and perhaps sign digital forms. Here's a quick overview of the differences between PDF reader apps, PDF annotation apps, and PDF editor apps. PDF editor appsīefore we dive in, let's clarify one thing: PDF editors aren't all the same. The best PDF editor appsĪdobe Acrobat for comprehensive PDF editing and collaborationĬloudConvert for converting PDFs to other file formats Here's a roundup of the six best PDF editor apps we've used and enjoyed. And I've asked coworkers about their favorites. I've tested a lot of different options-free and paid-throughout my career. Nowadays, the best apps let you easily edit every element of a PDF, including text and form fields, and convert files into other formats like. PDF editor apps have come a long way since then.