Preview is one of Apple's quiet masterpieces. It opens PDFs instantly, edits Markup beautifully, and signs cleanly. The thing it doesn't do — and where most people get stuck — is changing the actual words in a PDF.
What Preview does brilliantly
Open the markup toolbar (briefcase icon). You get: text annotations (add text boxes on top), shapes (rectangles, arrows, circles), highlights (3 colours), notes (collapsible), signatures (trackpad or camera), and a free draw tool. Sidebar handles page management — drag to reorder, delete pages, rotate.
For 80% of the things people call 'editing a PDF', Preview is the right answer.
Where Preview stops
Existing text in the PDF — text that's part of the document, not added via annotation — can't be edited in Preview. Highlight it, copy it, but not change it. A typo, a wrong date, a name to update: Preview shrugs.
That's the gap Flint fills. Tap text, type new text, save. Browser-based, no install. Pair with Preview's annotation tools for the complete workflow.
Preview tips most users miss
Show thumbnails: View → Thumbnails. Drag pages between open PDFs to combine them. ⌘A in markup selects all annotations. ⌘Z undoes (works deeply). Inspector (Tools → Show Inspector) shows PDF metadata and lets you edit it.
Use Preview's strengths fully; switch to Flint only when needed.
Sharing the edited PDF
Once edited (in Preview, Flint, or both), share from Finder or Preview's share button. AirDrop, Mail, Messages all work the same. For big edited files, compress in Flint first.
FAQ
Can I edit form fields in Preview?
Preview fills standard PDF form fields (text, checkboxes, dropdowns). It doesn't create new form fields or edit existing field structure. For form editing beyond filling, Flint helps with overlay edits.
Does Preview save edits back to the original file?
Yes — ⌘S saves changes to the same file. Preview also auto-saves frequently. For a fresh copy, use File → Duplicate before editing.
What about Preview's redaction?
Preview's redaction adds a black rectangle over the text. The text is still there underneath — searchable, copyable. For real redaction (text removed from the file), use Flint's redact tool.
Preview for markup, Flint for text edits. Together, you've got a full PDF toolkit on Mac.