PDF Editing Software

By: Steve Wilkinson
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PDF Editing Software
SoftwareWindowsMacLinuxNotes
Adobe Acrobat Pro (external website)YesYesNo​Industry standard
axesCheck (external website)YesYesYes​Web version of PAC 2024 (10MB file max), free
AxesPDF (external website)YesNoNo​Recommended by Dax Castro and Chad Chelius – does tables easier than Acrobat Pro
CommonLook PDF Validator (external website)YesYesNo​Allyant’s (external website) Adobe Acrobat Pro plugin, free
CommonLook PDF (external website)YesYesYes​Allyant’s (external website) PDF Remediation Software
Equidox (external website)YesYesYes​Software as a Service PDF remediation software and browser-based, it will fix all issues except Color Contrast
Foxit PDF Editor (external website)YesYesOnline​Free online PDF editor that can edit text, add comments, annotate, fill and sign forms
Foxit PDF Editor (external website)+YesYesOnline​Supported on iOS and Android too. Foxit PDF Editor can absolutely help remediate PDFs so they pass the PAC 2024 Accessibility Checker
Grackle GO (external website)YesYesYesGoogle Workspace Add-on, free
GrackleDocs (external website)YesYesNoUsed by GrackleDocs to remediate documents commercially for customers
Inkscape (external website)YesNoNoSVG editor with pdf export capabilities, not a native PDF editor
Omni Tools (external website)YesYesYesRuns in Docker - VM on Windows and Mac, has PDF tools, PDF manipulations like annotation, form-fill, highlight, split, rotate, compress, protect, merge etc. No Accessibility Checker – I’ve raised issue on GitHub
PAC 2024 (external website)YesNoNoPDF checker, runs on Windows desktop, free. Industry standard
PAVE (external website)YesYesYesOnline software that makes PDFs accessible, free (5Mb maximum file)
PDFix (external website)YesYesYes
  • Desktop Lite, free – PDF Viewer and Accessibility Checker
  • Desktop Pro – remediates documents, uses AI
PDFgear (external website)YesYesNoAlso available for iOS and Android. Edits, converts, merges, and signs PDFs. Cannot remediate documents
PDFSam (external website)YesYesYesCannot be used for remediation
SimplePDF (external website)YesYesYesBrowser based PDF editor, does not have an accessibility checker built in, nor allows editing PDFs at the tag level. These features are not planned at the moment.
Scribus (external website)YesYesYesNot a PDF editor - for precise positioning of text for printing
Stirling PDF (external website)YesYesYesContacted Stirling but not heard anything yet
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Please contact us if you find any other PDF editing software that is not listed.

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