Its App Store description sets the limit in two sentences: “It changes text that is already in the PDF, one line at a time. It does not add text boxes, move text from one line to the next or reflow paragraphs.” So there is no text tool to pick, no box to draw and no way to start a line where none was.
Why doesn’t PDF Textfix add text?
Every edit is a replacement inside a line that exists, and before it is applied the app checks that every other character on the page stays where it was and looks as it did. A text box has no line of the document to stand in, so there is nothing to hold it to.
The font is the other reason. PDF Textfix writes your words with the font inside the document, the one the line was set in. Text in an empty part of the page has no such font: it borrows one installed on your Mac, which rarely matches the lines around it.
Nothing moves to make room either. A PDF places each line at a fixed position, so a text box lands on top of whatever is at that spot and the lines around it stay where they were. Can PDF Textfix rewrite a paragraph or reflow text? explains why.
Can I make an existing line longer?
Yes, within the line. When the wider text would run into the words after it on the same line, PDF Textfix moves them by the change in width, and the bar under the pages says so: “The rest of the line moves to make room for the edit.” Keep Following Text in Place undoes that move, and Shift Rest of Line (⌃⌘R) turns it on or off by hand. When the words after your edit belong to another line, moving them does not make room, and an edit that would run into them is refused. The manual covers each case.
How do I add text to a PDF on a Mac?
Use Preview, which comes with every Mac. Apple’s guide starts from the same limit: “Although you can’t edit the text of a PDF in Preview, you can use the markup tools to provide feedback or write down something you want to remember.” The tool for new words is Text: “Type your text, then drag the text box where you want.”
- Open the PDF in Preview and show the Markup toolbar.
- Click Text, type, and drag the box into place.
- Set its look with Text Style, which lets you “Change the font or the font style and color.”
- Save. To fix the box to the page, Apple’s route is: “To save a PDF and flatten annotations (so that they can’t be edited), choose File > Print, then select Save as PDF.”
For a form, Apple suggests the same tool: “If a PDF won’t allow you to type directly into the form, you can add a text box instead.” Can you edit PDF text in Preview? walks through every tool, and PDF Textfix and Apple Preview sets the two apps side by side.
When the new text has to match the page, add it in the document the PDF was made from and export again. Once it is on the page and a word in it is wrong, that is the job PDF Textfix does: how to edit text in a PDF on Mac.
More questions about adding text to a PDF
Can I add a text box, a note or a signature with PDF Textfix?
No. It has no text tool, no notes and no signatures.
Can I type into a PDF form with PDF Textfix?
No. The Issues pane says “Form fields can’t be filled in PDF Textfix” and gives the next step: “Fill the form in another app, then edit its text here.”
Does a longer edit use more of the free version?
No. Each edited line counts once, whatever its length. Free to try. Your first 5 line edits save clean. After that, saved files carry a watermark until you buy once. Pricing has the rest.
