Many Mac users have Adobe Reader on their Macs so they can read and fill out PDF files. But macOS already has a very capable PDF app named Preview. Most people will find it more than capable for all of their needs, and perhaps a little faster and convenient. If Adobe Reader is set as your default PDF app, I'll show you how to switch back to using Preview.
You can also watch this video at YouTube.
Watch more videos about related subjects: PDF (18 videos), Preview (50 videos).
You can also watch this video at YouTube.
Watch more videos about related subjects: PDF (18 videos), Preview (50 videos).
Video Transcript
Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Do you use Adobe Reader on your Mac to view PDF's? Well, you probably don't need it at all. There's something better and you already have it.
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So if you ever need to open up, view, and even fill-out PDF files you may use an app called Adobe Reader to do that. It's a free app from Adobe and there's nothing inherently wrong with it. You can get it from Get.Adobe.com/reader. Download it and use it to view all your PDF's. But chances are you don't need it at all. I'm surprised at how many Mac users I come across think that they need Adobe Reader on their Mac to be able to view or fill-out PDF's. But in fact you already have a tool on your Mac that can do this. It comes as part of the Operating System. It's pretty much as capable as Adobe Reader. In some ways it works even better. If you've never installed Adobe Reader in fact it's the default app for opening up a PDF.
So, for instance, if I want to open up a PDF like this one I just double click on it and it opens up in Preview. So Preview is an app that is part of the Operating System. If you're using macOS you have Preview already. It's built-in. There's nothing to download. Nothing to install. Preview does all the basic functions you need with a PDF. For instance here I can just view this PDF very easily. I can even zoom-in and out. I can select and copy. All the basics for viewing. It handles multi-page PDF's great. On the left you can have thumbnails. You can turn the thumbnails On or Off. There's even a Table of Contents mode if the PDF has a Table of Contents. You can even do Bookmarks and Highlights. You can switch from a continuous scroll mode to a single page mode or even a two-page mode where you can view two pages side-by-side like this. If it is a form, like this, you'll find you can use Preview to fill it in. Just click on the field and type whatever it is you need to type. Now know PDF's have to be built with these forms in there. So this is something that depends on the PDF itself. But if it has got these form fields in there then fill it out in Adobe Reader or using Preview.
You could even sign with Preview. Click here and one of the options is Signatures. You can create a new signature here using your trackpad, your camera, or your iPhone. Once you have signatures you can select one, move it in place, resize it to sign documents.
Sometimes forms are built where you can't actually fill them in. Here there aren't actual fields here. Whoever created this PDF just made it as a form, I guess, that you're supposed to printout and then fill in. But you can use these same Markup Tools here, click here to add some text, then you can expand it, move it to where you want, type what you want, and fill the form in despite the fact that the PDF isn't built for that.
You can use these same tools to simply markup the document. So if somebody gives you a PDF for your review and you want to add changes you can add things like circles. You can add arrows. You could add Text boxes and describe what it is you want to see changed. Put these wherever you want, even draw right onto the document.
Chances are I've described everything you probably need to do with PDF's. Note that Preview, like Adobe Reader, is not a PDF creation tool. If you want to create documents that are PDF's you would use a tool like Pages on a Mac or even Word or InDesign or anything used to create documents. Instead of Printing you would simply export it as a PDF to create them. If you want to Edit a PDF the best way to do that is to go back to the original source document. So if somebody created a PDF using Word you would get that Word document, Edit it in Word, and generate a new PDF. Just like if they would give you a piece of paper and you wanted to make changes, you would get that Word document, make the changes, then print out a new sheet of paper. Now if you want to create special PDF's, things that have forms in them and other special features for PDF's then you would need a tool like Adobe Acrobat. That's a PDF creation tool which has all those special features in it and it costs something and it's a totally different thing than Adobe Reader.
Now if you've already installed Adobe Reader and you want to switch to using Preview, well you can open up any file in any app you want by Control Clicking it or right clicking on a mouse or two-finger click on a trackpad. This brings up the Context Menu and select Open With. This will show you all of the different apps you can use to open this type of document. At the top you'll see the default app and if you have installed Adobe Reader it may say Adobe Reader here at the top and Preview may be something down here further. You can select Preview. But you could also change your default to Preview. The way to do that is to select any PDF, then go to File, Get Info or Command i. Then in there go to Open With and you'll see here that same list of apps, the default one and others. You want to select Preview and then click Change All. That will reset your default app for all PDF's to Preview. There's nothing wrong with having both apps on your Mac so you don't necessarily need to uninstall Adobe Reader if you've switched to Preview.
Another thing to consider is you may not need to open any app at all because if you just view a PDF in the browser, like Safari, you'll find that you can do a lot of the things that you need to do right there in the browser. For instance, you can read the PDF. You also can fill in parts of the PDF in forms as well. So sometimes you don't even need an app.
There are many reasons why people end up with Adobe Reader on their Macs when all they really need is Preview. Maybe you downloaded something from a website and it said you needed Adobe Reader to open this. This is typical of older websites. Other times you may have come from Windows and maybe gotten used to using Adobe Reader there so you just downloaded it on the Mac to stick with the same experience. But now I suggest that you try Preview instead. Hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.
Currently use cnc machine and other tools that use pdfs to outline correct usage of machine. However if pdf is set to preview (default) will not open due to it is from an unrecognized developer.
Hi, I found this very useful, as every time I open up adobe, it slows down my computer.
Allen: Not sure what you are experiencing there. Preview is a default app that is part of macOS. You shouldn't run into any "unrecognized developer" errors when launching Preview. But it sounds like when you try to open a PDF it is trying to use a different app, maybe?
Thanks. For clearing this up. Appreciate it.
Great time saving and easy to use info
Thanks so much
It took awhile but I finally got my computer to get Preview as my default. I always wondered how Acrobat Reader became my default and this explains it.
Great video. Thanks Gary. If I already have Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.app; is it alright to delete it. If I can how to delete it?
Lali: See https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/uninstall-reinstall-acrobat.html
And to add to the confusion there is Adobe Digital Editions for accessing protected ebooks so they cannot be copied or used in any other app.
I was having issues with printing pdfs opened with Adobe Reader and was constantly having to manually select Preview - as the pdfs then printed no worries. Some issue with the printer perhaps. Anyway, this awesome advice has solved my problem. Really very much appreciated!
Thanks Gary. I didn't know that Preview offered all those PDF functions that I normally use Adobe to access. I especially like the editing functions that Preview provides for PFD forms that need to be printed before they can be completed. Really helpful. Cheers!
I had no idea Preview could do this. Very helpful! It's information like this that keeps me subscribing to MacMost.
Very good explanation. Only I am unable to print a pdf document in Greyscale.
One of my uses for Adobe Reader is proofreading PDF versions of books before printing. Two page mode is helpful for checking margins, etc. Is there a way for Preview to display a vertical line separating left and right pages, like one sees in Adobe Reader?
This video was eye opening and Preview will likely become my default PDF viewer. Thanks.
PS The Preview print function also seems to offer far better control than Adobe Reader.
Chris: I don't know of any way to put a vertical line there. But I haven't really looked so maybe explore a bit and see.
thanks Gary, a very helpful video Cheers !
Allen, you should contact the company that created CNC Machine and find out why. I saw that there are AppStore versions of some of their tools and perhaps those work properly (in case you aren't using those or you're on a website downloaded version). In any case, if they app was adapted for Mac use, this shouldn't happen.
Gary, I totally agree with you on Adobe Reader and even other of their products, I've had lots of design and a few security issues with their products on Windows as well.
NOTE: The ONLY Adobe application I've kept is Adobe Acrobat DC (the creation tool you mentioned) on my MacBook Air for only a few functions, when I need to modify a PDF (the structure, not for filling in), add form fields and create a fill in form. I'd love to know how to do these things and create fill-in PDF's with Pages or Word and get rid of it, as I've done so for other apps I used to use created by Adobe, which as I mentioned had various issues, also including slowing down my system.
Both Adobe Reader and Apple Preview have their strengths. Preview's greatest shortcoming is that it does not always handle forms well. Preview will often change the font and font size, and disregards many input rules established by Adobe Acrobat Pro. So, if you wanted a structured numeric response in a field, for example, Preview will let you type anything, ignoring the rules. Adobe Reader also brings up a handy calendar when using date fields, while Preview doesn't.
Gary, I have some pdf files that won't open with Preview but require Adobe Reader.
The Fincen Form 114 is one such. (see https://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/NoRegFBARFiler.html)
When I download the NFFBAR.pdf from the above site and try to open it with Preview, here is the message I get.
The document you are trying to load requires Adobe Reader 8 or higher. You may not have the Adobe Reader installed or your viewing environment may not be properly configured to use Adobe Reader.
Pathy: Not much you can do about that. Looks like whoever designed that document built it specifically to display that message if you aren't using Adobe Reader. Could be just a poor job on their part. Or, it could be that the document is using some advanced security or encryption features that really do need Adobe Reader. This kind of thing is why there is a "probably" in the title above.
Hi Pathy,
Yes, the only file I've ever needed that forced me to have an Adobe product is that form. Sadly, government hasn't updated use of other products to open that form (which we can suggest as Apple user to them, LOL!). I use Acrobat though, since it gives other functionality that is useful versus Adobe Reader. But, yes, like Allen there are these oddball PDF creators that may force you to use an Adobe product.
Avoided Adobe Reader on MacOS until last week. Financial firm revised their online documents, and I can only "print as image" in Acrobat Reader DC. The Epson driver/printer dialog does not provide this option, so had to use the advanced (printing) option in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. Multiple columns of data are blank when printed from Preview (which uses the Epson printer dialog). Newest Epson driver for Big Sur (newest OS supported for my mac).
I use Preview for opening PDF files but I use Adobe Acrobat Reader for when I make comments because of the possibility of sharing the PDF file with other people that are not Mac or iOS users.
Douglas: Markup you add to PDFs in Preview can be seen using any PDF reader, Mac or Windows.
I also use Preview to creat a new PDF from something I've copied to the clipboard (see MENU: FILE > NEW FROM CLIPBOARD). Very handy!
Bugs that haunts me: Often I annotate a PDF using a text box with colored text and then save the file. Later, when I reopen the file, the box will be background filled with the color of the text making it unreadable. Or the font size will have shrunk to the smallest size. Or the text box will have narrowed so that the text wraps. My formats change!
OMG! I had no idea how functional Preview is!!!!! As usual, AWESOME video.
Gary: I understand that the markup feature and its tools in Preview is similar to commenting and its tools in Adobe Reader but the way that Preview works is not consistent enough and they display differently.
Back to using Preview to print PDFs. Problem was with a recently replaced black cartridge. Adobe Reader appears to direct more ink to page with "print as image", which was compensating for poor ink flow from cartridge. Need to be sure to put new cartridges on probation for first few weeks after they are put in service.
I download all internet files and save to PDF in Preview but I have lost one important file. Is there a Preview history file that could show a PDF file, say from five weeks ago, like a history.db file for Safari? I realize that one can go to "recent Items" and click on 50 but I need to see further back like starting at 150...
Thomas: No, nothing like that. Search in the Finder for PDF documents and sort by date last opened.
Hi Gary, is there a way to make selected radio buttons on a PDF save when filled using Preview? Text boxes on form save fine, but radio buttons clear after saving/closing/reopening.
Joseph: Not sure why they aren't saving for you. Perhaps something to do with how that particular PDF was constructed? There's no setting or anything you can change though, so however it works for that document is all you can do.
Thank you!! I now use Preview to open PDFs!! When I opened a PDF with Adobe Reader, a pop-up banner ad for Acrobat Pro took over within 6 or 8 seconds every time. No way to close it or circumvent it. PDFs became literally useless. Preview has fixed that! However, I can no longer use the keyboard arrows to snap from page to page. How can I do that when using Preview?
Steve: Not sure what you mean by "snap." You can usually move between pages in a PDF with the up and down arrow keys.
Hi Gary, love to use Preview but I found color difference with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Preview color look dull. Is there a way to change some colour settings in Preview? (I made my PDF from Indesign) many thanks again.
François: Not sure why there would be a difference, but if you are concerned about exact colors then InDesign and Reader are both from Adobe which explains why they match. So maybe stick with Reader.