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Download PDFUnlimited.dmg from the download page, double-click it, and drag PDF Unlimited into your Applications folder. That's the whole installer. It needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later and runs natively on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

The app is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens like any other Mac app. If macOS asks whether you're sure you want to open an app downloaded from the internet, click Open.

Download the latest version from the download page and drag it into Applications, replacing the old copy. Your saved signature and settings stay where they are.

Quit the app and drag PDF Unlimited from Applications to the Trash. Your PDFs are untouched; they were always just files in your folders.

In Finder, select any PDF and press ⌘I (File > Get Info). Under Open with, choose PDF Unlimited, then click Change All… and confirm. From then on, double-clicking a PDF opens it in PDF Unlimited.

To open just one file with it, Control-click the PDF and choose Open With > PDF Unlimited. The full walkthrough is in how to change the default PDF viewer on Mac.

Same steps, but pick Preview under Open with, then Change All…. Nothing else changes.

PDF Unlimited shows a lock screen for PDFs with an open password. Type the password to open it. If you want it to stop asking, choose File > Remove Password… and save. You need the password; the app doesn't guess or crack them. More in how to remove a password from a PDF.

If you've forgotten it, check the email the file came with (senders often explain the format) or ask for a new copy.

"Is empty" means the file has zero bytes, usually a download that didn't finish. Download it again.

"Isn't a PDF" means the name ends in .pdf but something else is inside. Open it with the app that made it.

"Too damaged to open" means the file is broken. Try another copy, or ask the sender to export it again. See what to do when a PDF won't open on a Mac.

Choose File > Print… (⌘P). Pages are scaled to fit the paper and rotated automatically. If the print dialog never appears, make sure the document isn't locked with a password, and that a printer is set up in System Settings > Printers & Scanners.

If form entries or markups are missing from the printout, use File > Export Flattened… and print the flattened copy. How to print a PDF on Mac covers double-sided printing and page ranges.

Run Tools > Make Searchable (OCR). It only reads pages that don't already have text, so if every page has text it will say the file is already searchable.

If it says it found no text, the page may be sideways or upside down. Rotate it with View > Rotate Left or Rotate Right, then run OCR again. Very faint, tiny or handwritten text may not be recognized. A cleaner scan at 300 dpi helps most. See how to make a PDF searchable.

If File > Export > As Text… gives you an empty file, the PDF is a scan without a text layer. Run Make Searchable first.

That's expected. PDF Unlimited doesn't edit existing text in place yet. Add a text box in Annotate mode, or cover the old words with a white rectangle and type on top. To remove sensitive text for real, use redaction.

Choose File > Export Compressed… and pick Low, Medium or High. You'll see the new size before you save. Details in how to compress a PDF on Mac.