Scan the whole stack in one go.
Put an empty sheet between documents. Split Pages ▸ At separator sheets makes one PDF per document and removes the separators and blank backs.
Split Pages ▸ At separator sheetsEvery feature, honestly.
Everything PDFMate 1.5.0 does, and where to find it. If it is not on this page, the app does not do it.
Legend:macOS 26Apple IntelligenceTwo displays
Narrows the list as you type. Nothing is stored.
Clean up.
Blank, sideways and duplicate pages are found and badged on the thumbnails. Nothing is removed until you confirm, and every change can be undone.
Organize Pages ▸ Select ▸ Blank Pages
Name it by its own date.
Rename with Suggested Name… proposes “2026-10-14 project proposal.pdf”, using the date printed in the document, not the scan date.
File ▸ Rename with Suggested Name…
Capture Text and tables.
Drag over any area, scanned or digital, and the text is on the clipboard. Copy Table pastes into Numbers or Excel; Export Table writes a CSV in your Mac's regional format, so Excel opens it correctly.
Tools ▸ Capture Text from AreaStart and open
Open almost anything
Word, RTF, text, Markdown, HTML and images become PDFs as they open.Good to know: Drop several photos and PDFMate offers to combine them into one PDF.
- Recent and Starred lists on Home
- Open Quickly searches recent files by name
One window, nine modes
Reader, Comment, Organize Pages, Edit PDF, Prepare Form, Redact, Crop Pages, Split Pages and Protect behind a sliding pill.Good to know: Native tabs: one window per document, or all in one.
- ⌃1–⌃7 switch modes
- Mode bar labels in SF Pro Rounded
Home: Recent, Starred and Tools
A start screen with your recent and starred files, a drop zone and twelve one-click tool tiles.Good to know: Starred files are entries of the Recent list, not a separate library.
- Search matches file names and folders, ignoring case
- Grid or list layout, sorted by date or name
- Tiles: Convert, Create, Batch, Organize, Compare, Protect, Reduce Size, OCR, Watermark, Header & Footer, Bates, Flatten
Open Quickly
A floating search panel that finds files from your Recent list as you type.Good to know: It searches the Recent list, not the whole disk.
- Starred files come first
- ↑ and ↓ choose, Return opens, Esc closes
Read
Reading themes and paper styles
Twelve themes incl. textured Parchment, Kraft, Xuan, Linen and Fine-grained paper.Good to know: Themes tint only the screen, never the file or the printout.
- System follows the appearance
- Night inverts the page, hues preserved
Zoom and page display
10 % to 6400 %, ⌘ + scroll around the pointer; single page, continuous, two-up.
- Fit width / fit page
- Zoom field in the status bar
Read Aloud and Auto Scroll
Have a page read to you, or let it scroll by itself.
- Read Aloud turns the pages as it goes
- Auto Scroll stops at the end of the document
Selected-text menu
Right-click selected text to highlight, underline, strike through or squiggle it, add a highlighting note, look it up or hear it.
- A selection across pages becomes one undo step
- Look Up uses the macOS dictionary
Text-layer indicator
The status bar says Searchable, OCR text, Partly searchable or Scanned; click Scanned to run OCR.Good to know: On very large files the status is based on the first 60 pages.
- Page field accepts page numbers and printed page labels
- Zoom, page layout and reading theme menus
Slide show and presenter view
Present any PDF full screen with a laser pointer, pen and timer; the presenter view shows the next slide and your notes.Good to know: Pen ink is temporary, and there are no slide transitions.
- L laser, P pen, C clear ink, T timer, Esc ends the show
- Notes are the comments on the current page
Thumbnails
Page thumbnails that follow your reading position; drag to reorder and right-click for page commands.
- Page-check results show as amber badges
- A slider resizes the thumbnails
- Page labels under each page
Bookmarks and Generate from Headings
Edit the outline, or build a nested one from the document's headings in one step.Good to know: It needs real text: scanned files need OCR first.
- Skips running headers, footers and page numbers
- Append to or replace existing bookmarks, as one undo step
Go to Page and page history
Jump by page number or printed page label; Back and Forward step through the pages you visited.
- Up to 200 visited pages
- First, Last, Previous and Next Page
Find, Replace and Redact
Find with Match Case and Whole Words, replace across the document, or mark every match for redaction.Good to know: It finds text only: scanned pages need OCR first.
- Every hit is highlighted in amber
- Results list with page and context
Attachments
List, add, open, save, rename or remove the files embedded in a PDF.
- Document-wide and page attachments
- Every change can be undone
Organise pages and clean up scans
Blank, sideways and duplicate pages
Three checks mark pages with amber badges and change nothing until you confirm.Good to know: A page with any text, even a lone page number, is never called blank.
- Possibly-blank pages are never deleted unless you select them
- Each change is one undo step
Split at separator sheets
Scan a whole stack with an empty sheet between documents; get one PDF per document.Good to know: No preview in Batch.
- Removes separators and blank backs
- Name pattern {name}_part{index}
Crop Pages
Trim margins on one page or all, with a live preview.
- Reset Crop restores the full page
Organize Pages
Drag pages to reorder; insert, replace, extract, rotate, duplicate, reverse, exchange, move and resize them.
- Interleave merges separately scanned fronts and backs
- Page labels like i, ii or A-1
- Every page operation is one undo step
Split Pages
Every N pages, by file size, by top-level bookmarks, by page ranges or every page; the original stays as it is.
- Preview Parts lists every file first
- Existing files are never overwritten
Convert, compress and batch
Batch
One operation over many PDFs: Convert, Combine, Insert, Split or Remove Blanks. Originals are never overwritten.Good to know: Split at separator sheets has no preview in Batch.
- Output folder of your choice
- Per-file status with Done / error
- OCR can be added while removing blanks
Convert and export
Export to Word, RTF, text, HTML, Markdown, CSV, XML and images; create PDFs from blank pages, files, images or the clipboard.
- Combine files nests each file's bookmarks under its name
Reduce File Size and Flatten
Compress images, flatten comments and forms, or convert to an image-only PDF.Good to know: Image PDFs lose selectable text, by design.
- Low / Medium / High compression
Create and combine
Create PDFs from blank, lined, grid or dotted pages, from files, images or the clipboard; combine several PDFs.
- Nine paper sizes, portrait or landscape
- Combining nests each file's bookmarks under its name
Watermark, background, header & footer, Bates
One sheet with a live preview and templates, applied as vector content to the pages you choose.Good to know: A decoration becomes part of the page: only Undo takes it back.
- Page X of Y, dates, file name and title macros
- Bates numbers such as ABC000001
Compare PDFs
Two versions side by side, with word-level text changes and visual differences highlighted.Good to know: PDFs only, and there is no report export.
- Inserted and deleted pages are recognised
- Filters for insertions, deletions and replacements
OCR text recognition
Adds an invisible, searchable text layer to scanned pages, in every language Apple Vision offers on your Mac.Good to know: The text layer stores Latin characters only.
- Skip blank pages (on by default)
- Turn pages upright while reading
- One undo step
Capture Text
Drag over any area, scanned or digital, and the recognised text is on the clipboard.Good to know: Recognition is tuned for Latin-script languages such as English.
- A clipboard you changed meanwhile is never overwritten
- It never changes the document and adds no undo step
Copy Table
Copies a table from the page as cells that paste straight into Numbers or Excel.
- Cells that came back empty are read again one by one
- An editable preview lets you fix recognition slips first
Export Table as CSV
Writes a CSV in your Mac's regional format, with a byte-order mark, so Excel and Numbers open it correctly.
- Comma-separated, or semicolon-separated where the decimal mark is a comma
- Amounts keep the decimal mark they were printed with
- Cells a spreadsheet would run as formulas are made safe
Smart names and suggestions
Rename with Suggested Name
Proposes “YYYY-MM-DD topic words” from the document's own date and subject; never overwrites another file.Good to know: Model-based topic words need macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence; without it the subject line is used.
- Also offered on Save As for untitled or scanner-named files
- The model may only choose among dates found in the text
Suggested title, subject and keywords
Fills document properties from the first two pages, on your Mac.
- Always shown for you to confirm
Intelligence settings
One switch: Use Apple Intelligence for suggestions. Status line shows whether the model is ready.
- Nothing leaves the Mac either way
Save As name pre-fill
Raw scanner and camera names such as SKM_… or IMG_… are replaced by the suggestion when you save.
- A name you type yourself always wins
Redact and protect
Mark Sensitive Data
Pre-marks bank account numbers (IBAN, checksum-verified), card numbers, tax IDs, phones, emails, addresses and links.Good to know: Applying turns each marked page into an image. Name detection is experimental.
- Tax IDs from the US, UK, Canada, Australia and India, and VAT numbers from the UK and 14 EU countries
- Plain numbers only next to a label such as “SSN”
- Dates and Names optional
- Text stays until you Apply
Passwords and permissions
Open and owner passwords with eight permission switches.Good to know: Files are written with 128-bit AES; AES-256 files open.
- Remove Hidden Data
Digital signatures
Self-signed IDs (RSA 2048 / ECDSA P-256) or an imported .p12; visible or invisible signatures; verification banner.
- Warning before a save would break a signature
Mark and apply redactions
Mark areas or search results, review the pending marks, then apply: the marked content is removed for good.Good to know: Earlier versions of the file in backups or sync services are not touched; check them before sharing.
- Apply runs in the background with Cancel
- Annotations that overlap a mark are removed
Remove Hidden Data
Strips metadata, attachments and JavaScript, and on request comments, form fields, links and bookmarks.
- A summary lists what was removed
- Undoable
Comment and mark up
Over 25 comment tools
Notes, typewriter text, text boxes and callouts, four text markups, pencil, highlighter and eraser, seven shapes, stamps, signatures, attachments and links.
- Single keys switch tools: N T H U S P E R O L A K
- Saved as standard PDF annotations that other readers show
Stamps, stickers and signatures
21 standard stamps, your own text or image stamps, imported stickers and up to 20 saved signatures.Good to know: A placed signature is a picture, not a cryptographic signature (see Digital signatures).
- Revised, Reviewed and Received add the date
- Draw, type or import a signature
A highlighter that blends
A translucent marker that multiplies like a real highlighter, on text, scans and pictures alike.
- Shift or the Straight lines option draws straight strokes
- The blending is saved into the file
Measure to scale
Distance, perimeter and area in ten units, with calibration against a known length and snapping.Good to know: The value is shown while you measure and stored as text; no permanent caption is drawn on the page.
- Scale ratio and 0–6 decimal places
- Snap to endpoints, midpoints, intersections and paths
Tools remember their style
Colour, opacity, thickness, line style and font stay as you last set them, also after a restart.
- Reset Tool Defaults returns one tool to its factory style
- The style bar and the inspector mirror each other
Rotate, duplicate and arrange
Turn annotations in 90° steps, duplicate them across a page range, copy them between documents and re-stack them.
- Comments placed on rotated pages read upright
- Duplicate Across Pages takes ranges like 1-3, 5, 8-
Comments pane, replies and export
Every comment grouped by page, with threaded replies, search, filters, four sort orders and export to text or CSV.
- Replies are standard PDF replies
- CSV cells are made spreadsheet-safe
Edit
Text blocks
Click or drag to add a borderless text block, styled with six font families, bold, italic and alignment.Good to know: Text already in the PDF cannot be clicked into and retyped; use Find & Replace.
- Return commits, Shift-Return adds a line
- Double-click to change the text again
Images
Insert pictures, then move, resize, rotate, replace or extract them.Good to know: Only images inserted with PDFMate can be moved or replaced.
- Resizing keeps the proportions
- Insert Page from Image… adds pictures as new pages
Find & Replace page text
Replace a word or phrase in the document's real page text, on all pages, as one undo step.Good to know: A replacement can only use letters the embedded font already contains; not available for password-encrypted files.
- Match Case and Whole Words
- Skipped matches are listed with the reason
Links
Drag over an area to link it to a page, a web address or a file.
- Double-click a link to edit it
- Every change can be undone
Forms
Nine field types
Text, check box, radio button, list box, dropdown, button, signature, image and date fields, with automatic unique names.
- Drag to draw a field or click for the default size
- Radio buttons share a group and its export values
Field properties and calculations
Appearance, options per field type, and Sum, Product, Average, Minimum, Maximum or a formula.Good to know: Calculations are stored in PDFMate's own format and do not update while you type in Fill mode.
- Renaming a field updates every calculation that uses it
- Circular references are refused
Fill, Reset and Tab Order
Fill the form in place, reset it to its defaults, and show the keyboard order as numbered badges.Good to know: Tab order is shown, not editable.
- Reset Form is one undo step
- Highlight Existing Fields tints every field
Form data import and export
Exchange field values as FDF, XFDF, CSV or JSON.
- Import fills matching fields in one undo step
- Names the file has but the form lacks are listed
Settings, shortcuts and saving
Undo for every edit
Every change to a document can be undone and redone; multi-step actions are one step.
- Each document keeps its own history
- The menu names the action, e.g. Undo Rotate Page
Autosave and unsaved markers
Documents autosave in place; unsaved changes show a dot, and Quit asks before anything is lost.Good to know: Work on a copy if you need the untouched original; there is no Revert command.
- Signed files are never autosaved
- Your session reopens next time
Properties
Title, author, subject and keywords, plus security, fonts and structure, in one sheet.
- Saving the description is one undo step
- Remove JavaScript or sanitise from the Structure tab
Settings
Seven tabs: General, File, Appearance, Documents, Comments, Measuring and Intelligence; changes apply at once.
- Recent list size 5–200
- Default zoom, page display and navigator
Print and share
Print through the macOS dialog in the real colours, or share through Mail, Messages or AirDrop.
- Reading themes are never printed
- Unsaved changes are shared as a temporary copy
Privacy
Everything on your Mac
Documents are never uploaded. OCR, page checks, sensitive-data finding and suggestions run on your Mac.
- No account, no cloud, no analytics, no advertising
- Built only on Apple frameworks, with no third-party code
Update check
PDFMate checks pdfmate.org for a newer version about once a day and tells you; it never downloads or installs anything.
- On by default; turn it off any time
- Help ▸ Check for Updates… checks right away
- Sends no document data
Stored locally
Settings, the Recent list, stamps, signatures, templates and Digital IDs stay in your Mac's preferences and Application Support folder.
- Digital IDs are encrypted with your password
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