Preview on a Mac
PDF markup is adding notes, highlights and drawings on top of a PDF without changing its text. Most people do it to leave feedback or to remember something. There are two jobs here: marking up a PDF yourself, and getting someone else to mark up yours. This page starts with the first.
Preview, the app on your Mac, marks up PDFs with no extra software. Apple's guide says you cannot edit the text of a PDF in Preview, but its markup tools are built for feedback.
- Open the PDF in Preview.
- Click the Markup button if the Markup toolbar is not showing.
- Pick a tool. Apple's guide lists Sketch, Draw, Shapes and Text, and separate pages cover highlighting, underlining and striking out text, and adding notes.
- Choose File > Save, File > Export or File > Export to PDF to keep the markup editable later.
Choosing File > Print, then Save as PDF, flattens the markup so it can no longer be edited. The Draw tool appears only on Macs with a Force Touch trackpad. See Apple's guide to annotating a PDF in Preview.
Free Browser Editors
Adobe's free online PDF editor adds sticky notes, highlights, freehand drawings, lines, shapes and text boxes. Adobe asks you to sign in with a free Adobe account, at the latest to download or share the marked-up file, and the free version cannot change the existing text.
Smallpdf has a PDF Annotator on its free plan, with a daily download limit and a 7-day trial of its paid plan. Foxit PDF Reader is free to read and annotate PDFs on a computer.
Paid PDF Editors
A paid editor earns its price when the job is bigger than markup: changing existing text, comparing versions or signing. Adobe Acrobat is the best known, on a yearly plan whose price shows in your local currency, so check Adobe's own pricing page. Foxit PDF Editor is $129.99 a year, or $209.99 once for Foxit PDF Editor 14. Foxit lists full commenting and drawing tools, and Acrobat lists annotating and commenting.
Options
The tools below differ in the markup they give you and in what they cost. The first three are for marking up a PDF yourself. The last three are for getting someone else to mark it up from a link.
| Tool | Markup you get | Cost, one person |
|---|---|---|
| Preview | Highlight, notes, text, shapes | On your Mac |
| Adobe free editor | Notes, highlights, drawing | Free Adobe account |
| Foxit PDF Editor | Full commenting and drawing | $129.99 a year |
| Frame.io | Arrows, boxes, free draw | Free, or $156 a year |
| Dropbox | PDF annotation, comments | $180 a year |
| Loop | Pen, highlight, arrow, text | $49 once |
These are US dollars for one person, billed yearly, before tax. Frame.io is the Pro plan, which adds branded shares, and Dropbox is the Standard plan, which adds branded transfers. Foxit is its cheapest yearly plan. Foxit's price is from an archived US copy of 23 October, Frame.io's was read in mid-October and Dropbox's is from an archived US copy of 23 October.
Frame.io lists annotations and document markup on every plan, and its share links do not need an account, and the viewer is asked for a name and email after their first comment. Its free plan covers 2 members and 2 GB, and Pro is $156 a member a year. Dropbox lists PDF annotation and comments, and Standard at $180 a year is the plan that adds branded transfers.
Loop
Emailing a marked-up PDF back and forth is where feedback goes wrong. Each person adds their own copy, the changes cross, and nobody can say which page a comment belongs to. Loop is a Mac app that turns a file into your own branded link, so everyone marks up the same PDF in the same place.
- Export the PDF. Save your design or document as a PDF or a picture.
- Check Feedback is on. It is on by default, and it is a switch on each link: notes and emoji for you, and drawing on the pages, which everyone with the link sees.
- Send the link. The person opens it in any browser with no account and picks the pen, highlight, arrow or text, in six colours.
- View the drawings. In Loop, View Drawings shows what each person drew, and Download Drawings gives you a copy with the drawings on the pages.
For design rounds with named approvers, see our guide to design proofing, which compares the review platforms.
Your own branded link, with notes on the exact second. $49 once.
Limits
Loop is for getting someone else's markup on your PDF. It is not a PDF editor, and these gaps matter:
- You cannot mark up your own file in Loop. Only the person opening the link can draw. To mark up a PDF yourself, use Preview or one of the editors above.
- No underline, strikethrough or sticky notes seen by others. A note and an emoji are seen only by you.
- No form filling, redaction or editing the text of a PDF.
- Everyone on one link sees every drawing. Send one link per person.
- A downloaded copy has the drawings on the pages. It is not a set of annotations you can edit in Preview.
- We have not tested drawing on a phone.
- Mac only on your side. The person marking up opens the link in any browser.
Cost
Preview is on your Mac, Adobe's free online editor is free with an Adobe account, and Foxit PDF Reader and Smallpdf's free plan cost nothing. Foxit PDF Editor is $129.99 a year, Frame.io Pro is $156 and Dropbox Standard is $180. Loop is $49, paid once, with a 14-day free trial. The yearly prices come back every year, while Loop does not renew.
Loop includes a 14-day free trial that starts on first run, and Loop asks for no payment to begin it. During the trial a small "Shared with Loop" badge shows on the pages your clients see, and it goes with a licence. Your files are stored in your own Cloudflare account, and Cloudflare may ask for a card when you switch storage on.