iSkysoft PDF Editor 6 Professional review: A low-cost, cross-platform editor

When it comes to editing PDFs on a Mac, there aren’t many robust options outside of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. But one of the best cross-platform options—and least expensive—is iSkySoft’s PDF Editor 6.

PDF Editor 6 Professional has a straightforward split-pane interface, with a tool bar running along the top containing basic functions for navigating, editing, organizing, reviewing, converting, and protecting your PDFs. Clicking on any one of these reveals a submenu of related tools. The left pane, which allows you to navigate recent PDF files or pages within a single PDF can be hidden to expand the main pane.

There’s a standard set of tools for creating and modifying PDFs, including text editing, cropping, watermarking, Bates numbering, and even changing the background to another color or an image. When it’s time to review PDFs, you have a full-set of markup options—from highlighting to sticky notes to freehand drawing—and stamps at your disposal. PDF Editor 6 Professional allows you to add your signature, too, in the form of typed text, images, or mouse drawing.

This review is part of our best PDF editors roundup. Go there to learn about our testing and how all the competitors performed. 

Michael Ansaldo/IDG

Safegaurding sensitive data from unauthorized eyes is required in most business settings. PDF Editor 6 Professional offers a few ways to do this. You can encrypt PDF files with a password or restrict printing and editing with a permissions password. You can also redact specific text, images, or entire pages.

PDF Editor 6 Professional can convert PDFs to Microsoft Office formats, several image types, HTML, rich text, plain text, and in the Mac version, Apple’s Pages. You can convert one file at a time or batch-process an unlimited number at once. It consistently converted documents with original formatting intact in our tests.

PDF Editor 6 Professional is available for Mac or Windows for $100. A Standard version that doesn’t include batch processing, Bates numbering, or redaction and OCR support is $60. A free trial is available for both versions. Currently, iSkySoft doesn’t offer a mobile app version of PDF Editor 6.

Michael Ansaldo/IDG

Bottom line

Don’t let the fact that iSkySoft’s PDF Editor 6 Professional has been overshadowed by its bigger-name competitors make you overlook it. It’s an excellent desktop PDF editor capable of handling personal and business PDF needs with a small learning curve and a reasonable price.