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For anyone on a Mac: all of these features in the screenshot are free with Preview. I assume OP is not, but something people should keep in mind.

by SllX 4y ago

sys_64738 4y ago
This ^. Don't give Adobe money is my motto.
- brokenmachine 4y ago
  Mine is don't give Apple money.
unsupp0rted 4y ago
In Preview on Mac: CMND+R = rotate right CMND+L = rotate left
tjohns 4y ago
Preview.app is very underrated. It feels like a huge omission that other platforms don't have something similar built in. And if you need more editing features than Preview.app (which is already very powerful), PDF Expert [1] is my go-to on the App Store. [1]: https://pdfexpert.com/ https://pdfexpert.com/
marban 4y ago
Preview.app — Underrated since 2001.
- qubex 4y ago
  I distinctly remember a precursor of some sort being available on NeXTStep 3.0 in ‘95 or thereabouts.
  - SllX 4y ago
    I don’t know how much code is still left from back then but it’s the same application as NeXTSTEP’s, although strangely Mac OS X Ventura dropped support for rendering PostScript (there used to be an instant conversion process that would render the PostScript as a PDF even after Apple moved to Quartz from Display PostScript).
Etheryte 4y ago
I wish this got talked about more, Preview is both crazy good and free. You can split PDFs apart, merge multiple different ones into one file, use password protected files, edit and annotate them, add your signature, and so much more. Best of all, it just works, all the time.
- brk 4y ago
  What is the trick to merging multiple PDFs into one? That never seems to work for me.
  - function_seven 4y ago
    I open them both, then select and drag the pages from one to the other. (Left side bar where the page thumbnails are shown)
    - yamtaddle 4y ago
      As I just posted elsewhere, I do find I sometimes have to copy a PDF before it'll let me do this to it. I assume it's some kind of flag that isn't preserved through the copy and there's actually a better way to fix it, but my work-around is simple enough that I've never bothered to figure out what it is.
  - dagmx 4y ago
    Either drag between Preview windows or a simple copy paste works for me.
  - kevinconroy 4y ago
    Open up two docs in preview. Let's say Doc A is the one you want to merge into. Open Thumbnail view in each doc. Select pages in Doc B you want to merge over to Doc A (some or all). Drag and drop into thumbnails view in Doc A. Reorder as desired. Profit. Copy + paste also works.
  - wlesieutre 4y ago
    Been a while since I used it but IIRC you should be able to show the page thumbnails sidebar in each document and drag them from one window into another. Probably also accessible via Preview’s Automator/Shortcuts actions if it’s something you need to do frequently.
uniqueuid 4y ago
Stuff people don't know about Preview.app: - Paste images that were copied to the clipboard. Just open Preview and press CMD-N - Split, re-arrange and merge PDF documents. Just drag pages into the sidebar - Sign documents. Click the annotation button in the menu bar, sign either on touchpad, ipad or hold an ink signature on paper into the webcam. - OCR (new with macOS ventura). Just click/drag/double-click on text in images. What more did I forget?
- SllX 4y ago
  > Paste images that were copied to the clipboard. Just open Preview and press CMD-N This one is new to me. TIL. Thanks!
- dont__panic 4y ago
  You can remove white/back backgrounds from images as well, with the "Magic Lasso" selection tool. Adjust the selection level until it covers the object you want, cmd+c to copy that object out of the image, then cmd+n to create a new image from that selection.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  It's legit one of the reasons I'll have trouble ever leaving macOS. I've not seen anything as good at its particular niche. It's the perfect intersection of lightweight, snappy, reliable (so many other PDF tools are crashy or prone to getting in weird, broken states), and featureful.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- nathell 4y ago
  OCR works for me in Monterey.
- nabaraz 4y ago
  I recently had to crop a pdf, Export pdf to png, crop and save as pdf. All from Preview app.
sicp-enjoyer 4y ago
Preview is the best tool for working with PDFs I have used. Just being able to cut pages and reorder them is strangely difficult for everything else.
yamtaddle 4y ago
You can also use Preview to carve up PDFs and assemble new documents from the pages of multiple other PDFs. This is really handy for making e.g. custom bestiaries for RPGs, using pages from official books, since usually you use only a few beasts in a campaign, out of a set of potentially hundreds of first- and third-party ready-to-use beasts. Nice to have them all in one PDF, with nothing you don't need. And of course you can pdf-export whatever you like from your own documents and mix that in, too. For some reason I've never bothered to figure out, I do sometimes have to copy a PDF before it'll let me re-arrange or copy/cut individual pages out of it. But not always. I assume it's because of some kind of flag on downloaded files in macOS, but IDK.
riedel 4y ago
For anyone else I recommend pdf arranger [1] [1] https://github.com/pdfarranger/pdfarranger https://github.com/pdfarranger/pdfarranger
topicseed 4y ago
And you can easily edit password-protected PDFs by "Printing" as PDF and edit the "print out" PDF.
qubex 4y ago
Don’t forget that the whole macOS GUI is based on PDF.
aequitas 4y ago
Back when macOS was still called Mac OS X, (a subset of) PDF was the internal rendering format for Quartz rendering engine[0]. Their tech demo's also boasted about the ability to trivially edit PDF's. I don't know if any of that still remains in the current macOS versions, but I'm glad PDF editing and 'printing' (directory to PDF file or Preview as PDF) support was never dropped. Along with the excellent built-in screenshot and recording shortcuts. [0] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2000/05/mac-os-x-dp4/4/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2000/05/mac-os-x-dp4/4/
goosedragons 4y ago
There's a lot of free tools that will do this too on all platforms. Xodo is my go to on Windows/Android/iOS. On Linux evince and okular are both pretty good.
debug-desperado 4y ago
Had to uninstall Adobe Reader this week because it's become unbearably slow on my 2015 MacBook Pro. I'm talking it can't smooth scroll a 2-page resume PDF. Preview does the trick just fine.
guelo 4y ago
Preview is very capable but it's UI is so opaque. After years of use I still discover features accidentally, almost like easter eggs.
clnq 4y ago
And for those on Windows and Linux, a somewhat close alternative for Preview is Okular - https://okular.kde.org/en-gb/ https://okular.kde.org/en-gb/.
1letterunixname 4y ago
And guess who developed CUPS? :)
- SllX 4y ago
  Easy Software Products. https://web.archive.org/web/20070109004135/http://www.cups.org/book/intro.php https://web.archive.org/web/20070109004135/http://www.cups.o...

For anyone on a Mac: all of these features in the screenshot are free with Preview. I assume OP is not, but something people should keep in mind.

by SllX 4y ago

For anyone on a Mac: all of these features in the screenshot are free with Preview. I assume OP is not, but something people should keep in mind.

sys_64738 4y ago

This ^. Don't give Adobe money is my motto.

brokenmachine 4y ago
Mine is don't give Apple money.

unsupp0rted 4y ago

In Preview on Mac: CMND+R = rotate right CMND+L = rotate left

tjohns 4y ago

Preview.app is very underrated. It feels like a huge omission that other platforms don't have something similar built in. And if you need more editing features than Preview.app (which is already very powerful), PDF Expert [1] is my go-to on the App Store. [1]: https://pdfexpert.com/ https://pdfexpert.com/

marban 4y ago

Preview.app — Underrated since 2001.

qubex 4y ago
I distinctly remember a precursor of some sort being available on NeXTStep 3.0 in ‘95 or thereabouts.
- SllX 4y ago
  I don’t know how much code is still left from back then but it’s the same application as NeXTSTEP’s, although strangely Mac OS X Ventura dropped support for rendering PostScript (there used to be an instant conversion process that would render the PostScript as a PDF even after Apple moved to Quartz from Display PostScript).

Etheryte 4y ago

I wish this got talked about more, Preview is both crazy good and free. You can split PDFs apart, merge multiple different ones into one file, use password protected files, edit and annotate them, add your signature, and so much more. Best of all, it just works, all the time.

brk 4y ago
What is the trick to merging multiple PDFs into one? That never seems to work for me.
- function_seven 4y ago
  I open them both, then select and drag the pages from one to the other. (Left side bar where the page thumbnails are shown)
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    As I just posted elsewhere, I do find I sometimes have to copy a PDF before it'll let me do this to it. I assume it's some kind of flag that isn't preserved through the copy and there's actually a better way to fix it, but my work-around is simple enough that I've never bothered to figure out what it is.
- dagmx 4y ago
  Either drag between Preview windows or a simple copy paste works for me.
- kevinconroy 4y ago
  Open up two docs in preview. Let's say Doc A is the one you want to merge into. Open Thumbnail view in each doc. Select pages in Doc B you want to merge over to Doc A (some or all). Drag and drop into thumbnails view in Doc A. Reorder as desired. Profit. Copy + paste also works.
- wlesieutre 4y ago
  Been a while since I used it but IIRC you should be able to show the page thumbnails sidebar in each document and drag them from one window into another. Probably also accessible via Preview’s Automator/Shortcuts actions if it’s something you need to do frequently.

uniqueuid 4y ago

Stuff people don't know about Preview.app: - Paste images that were copied to the clipboard. Just open Preview and press CMD-N - Split, re-arrange and merge PDF documents. Just drag pages into the sidebar - Sign documents. Click the annotation button in the menu bar, sign either on touchpad, ipad or hold an ink signature on paper into the webcam. - OCR (new with macOS ventura). Just click/drag/double-click on text in images. What more did I forget?

SllX 4y ago
> Paste images that were copied to the clipboard. Just open Preview and press CMD-N This one is new to me. TIL. Thanks!
dont__panic 4y ago
You can remove white/back backgrounds from images as well, with the "Magic Lasso" selection tool. Adjust the selection level until it covers the object you want, cmd+c to copy that object out of the image, then cmd+n to create a new image from that selection.
yamtaddle 4y ago
It's legit one of the reasons I'll have trouble ever leaving macOS. I've not seen anything as good at its particular niche. It's the perfect intersection of lightweight, snappy, reliable (so many other PDF tools are crashy or prone to getting in weird, broken states), and featureful.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
nathell 4y ago
OCR works for me in Monterey.
nabaraz 4y ago
I recently had to crop a pdf, Export pdf to png, crop and save as pdf. All from Preview app.

sicp-enjoyer 4y ago

Preview is the best tool for working with PDFs I have used. Just being able to cut pages and reorder them is strangely difficult for everything else.

yamtaddle 4y ago

You can also use Preview to carve up PDFs and assemble new documents from the pages of multiple other PDFs. This is really handy for making e.g. custom bestiaries for RPGs, using pages from official books, since usually you use only a few beasts in a campaign, out of a set of potentially hundreds of first- and third-party ready-to-use beasts. Nice to have them all in one PDF, with nothing you don't need. And of course you can pdf-export whatever you like from your own documents and mix that in, too. For some reason I've never bothered to figure out, I do sometimes have to copy a PDF before it'll let me re-arrange or copy/cut individual pages out of it. But not always. I assume it's because of some kind of flag on downloaded files in macOS, but IDK.

riedel 4y ago

For anyone else I recommend pdf arranger [1] [1] https://github.com/pdfarranger/pdfarranger https://github.com/pdfarranger/pdfarranger

topicseed 4y ago

And you can easily edit password-protected PDFs by "Printing" as PDF and edit the "print out" PDF.

qubex 4y ago

Don’t forget that the whole macOS GUI is based on PDF.

aequitas 4y ago

Back when macOS was still called Mac OS X, (a subset of) PDF was the internal rendering format for Quartz rendering engine[0]. Their tech demo's also boasted about the ability to trivially edit PDF's. I don't know if any of that still remains in the current macOS versions, but I'm glad PDF editing and 'printing' (directory to PDF file or Preview as PDF) support was never dropped. Along with the excellent built-in screenshot and recording shortcuts. [0] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2000/05/mac-os-x-dp4/4/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2000/05/mac-os-x-dp4/4/

goosedragons 4y ago

There's a lot of free tools that will do this too on all platforms. Xodo is my go to on Windows/Android/iOS. On Linux evince and okular are both pretty good.

debug-desperado 4y ago

Had to uninstall Adobe Reader this week because it's become unbearably slow on my 2015 MacBook Pro. I'm talking it can't smooth scroll a 2-page resume PDF. Preview does the trick just fine.

guelo 4y ago

Preview is very capable but it's UI is so opaque. After years of use I still discover features accidentally, almost like easter eggs.

clnq 4y ago

And for those on Windows and Linux, a somewhat close alternative for Preview is Okular - https://okular.kde.org/en-gb/ https://okular.kde.org/en-gb/.

1letterunixname 4y ago

And guess who developed CUPS? :)

SllX 4y ago
Easy Software Products. https://web.archive.org/web/20070109004135/http://www.cups.org/book/intro.php https://web.archive.org/web/20070109004135/http://www.cups.o...