Adobe Acrobat Pro — Mac download

Adobe Acrobat Pro is for anyone who needs to do more than just read a PDF. You'll find it in the workflows of project managers, legal teams, and administrators who edit documents, gather approvals, and collect digital signatures across devices.

Edit a block of text in a PDF

Stop recreating documents from scratch. Open any PDF, click 'Edit PDF', and adjust text or images directly in the file. The text reflows to match the original font and layout.

Collect everyone's feedback in one file

Send a single PDF link for a group review. Reviewers see each other's comments, can @-mention colleagues to resolve conflicting remarks, and you get notified when the document is updated or signed.

Convert a PDF to a live Office document

Turn a static PDF back into a working Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file. The formatting carries across, so your tables and bullet points stay intact and editable.

First two hours checklist: set your default PDF viewer

A checklist for the first two hours after install.

• Set your default PDF viewer. Go to any PDF in Finder, press Cmd+I, and set Open With to Acrobat Pro. Click Change All. The Preview-to-Acrobat shift is the single biggest friction point removed.
• Pin your three key tools. Right-click the toolbar and drag Edit PDF, Combine Files, and Organise Pages into the Quick Tools bar. You'll use these daily; stop hunting through menus.
• Turn on single-key accelerators. Preferences > General > Use single-key accelerators. Press E to jump into Edit mode, H for Hand tool, G for the Select tool.
• Link a scanner profile. If you handle paper contracts or signed forms, create a scanner preset once in File > Create > PDF from Scanner. Set 300 dpi, greyscale, auto-deskew. Every scan after that is two clicks.
• Check your colour output intent. Acrobat defaults to sRGB. If you work with print-ready PDFs, go to Preferences > Colour Management and set the working space to match your print shop's profile. Fix it now, not when a deadline is looming.

Beginner missteps

Editing scanned pages without running OCR first

Acrobat opens a scanned document and shows a blank page mask. New users click Edit PDF, try to select text, and get nothing. The scanner produced a flat image. Run Scan & OCR > Recognise Text first. Then edit.

Dragging images to resize instead of using the Object tool

Grabbing a corner handle in Edit mode distorts the proportions unless you hold Shift. Better: right-click the image, pick Edit Using > default image editor, adjust there, save. The PDF updates automatically.

Sending a 40 MB file for a single signature

Acrobat's Request E-signatures tool sends a link, not the file. But if you attach the PDF to an email instead, you're clogging inboxes. Use the Share > Request Signatures workflow inside the app. Recipients sign in a browser.

Forgetting to flatten comments before archiving

Sticky notes and highlights remain editable for anyone who opens the file. Before you archive a final version, Print to PDF or use Preflight > Flatten comments and form fields. The markup becomes part of the page.

Shortcuts and conveniences you'll miss

• Quick compare. View > Compare Files. Drop two PDFs and Acrobat highlights every difference—text, images, annotations. Priceless for contract version tracking.
• Right-click to convert. In Finder, right-click any PDF, choose Quick Actions > Convert to Word/Excel. Acrobat handles the conversion without opening the full interface.
• Redact properly. Don't draw black boxes. Use the Redact tool under Tools > Protect. It removes the underlying text and metadata, not just the visual layer.
• Tab order preview. If you build forms, open Prepare Form mode, then View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panels > Fields. Drag fields in the list to set the tab order. Test with Tab on your keyboard.
• Measure tool. Hidden under Tools > Measure. Click two points on a floorplan or technical drawing and Acrobat calculates distance, perimeter, and area with the scale embedded in the file.
• Export PDF to JPEG per page. File > Export To > Image > JPEG. Every page becomes a separate image file. Useful for slide decks built from PDF portfolios.

A typical session: stakeholder review of a contract

09:00. Legal sends a 12-page draft as a Word file. Open Finder, right-click the .docx, select Quick Actions > Convert to PDF. Acrobat creates a formatted PDF in the same folder.

09:05. Open the PDF. Click Share > Request Feedback. Tick 'Allow comments in a single file'. Paste the email addresses of four reviewers. Add a deadline for 14:00. Send.

11:30. Three reviewers have added comments. Open the file, open the Comments panel. Two reviewers flagged the same clause with contradictory notes. @-mention the legal lead in a reply: 'Can you arbitrate this?'

11:45. Legal replies with a resolution. Click the checkmark on the comment thread to mark it resolved.

14:00. The fourth reviewer sends their feedback late—via email attachment, not the link. Their PDF is a version behind. Open View > Compare Files. Drop the late PDF against the live reviewed version. Acrobat shows one added paragraph and three missing comments in red. Merge the missing feedback manually into the master file.

14:20. All comments resolved. Run Tools > Protect > Redact to strip internal notes from the margins. Save as a flattened copy. File name: Contract_vFinal_signed.pdf.

14:25. Click Request E-signatures. Add the two external signatories. Drag signature fields onto the last page. Send.

14:30. Move to the next task. The notifications will come to you.

• Security mitigations for vulnerabilities listed in the latest Adobe security bulletins.
• No new product features in this release.

• macOS 12 or later
• Works on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs