Apple Preview review

Preview is the viewer that comes with macOS, and for many people it is the PDF editor they already have. Apple's Preview guide covers filling out and signing PDF forms, and newer releases add AutoFill so personal details can be entered with a click. Markup tools highlight, underline and strike out text and add notes and speech bubbles. Preview can also combine PDFs, add, delete or move pages, crop and rotate, password-protect a document, reduce file size and export to other formats. That covers most household paperwork. Where it stops is editing: the guide lists no tool for changing the original text or images in a PDF, and it does not cover OCR, redaction or building fillable forms. When you need any of those, PDFgear is a free next step, and PDF Expert or UPDF add a full toolset. We include Preview as a baseline so you can judge what you are paying for.

Who it is for

Mac users who mostly fill out, sign and mark up PDFs.

Price

Included with macOS at no extra cost.

You can use Preview to fill out PDF forms and even add a signature.
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 10, 2026.

Key features

• Fill out and sign PDF forms, with AutoFill for your details
• Highlight, underline, strike out text and add notes
• Combine PDFs and add, delete or move pages
• Password-protect and reduce the size of PDFs
• Crop, rotate and export PDFs

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Already installed on every Mac
• Strength: Fast for forms, signatures and simple markup
• Strength: No account, download or subscription
• Weakness: Apple's guide lists no tool for editing a PDF's existing text
• Weakness: No OCR, redaction or form creation in the guide
• Weakness: Mac only, with no Windows version

Key facts

• Price: Included with macOS
• Forms: Fill and sign, with AutoFill
• Pages: Combine, add, delete, move
• Security: Password protection

Where it ranks

Apple Preview is No. 10 in our Best PDF Editors for Mac verdict.