Pixelmator Pro Adds Support for Editing Text in PDFs

[MacRumors]

Pixelmator Pro 3.5.8 has gone live on the Mac App Store, and the latest update to the popular image editing app brings the ability to edit text in PDFs, along with a handful of other notable additions.

Pixelmator recently added support to the app for vector PDFs, which allows users to import image, shape, and text elements in the portable document format as separate layers.

With the newest version, this support has been expanded so that users can edit imported text as regular text layers. In practice, this means existing text in PDFs can be more easily replaced, formatted, and styled using Pixelmator Pro tools. As the developers explain:

Typically, text in PDF documents is not directly editable. Instead, it's stored as vector shapes to keep documents looking consistent across various platforms and apps. To make text editable again, Pixelmator Pro extracts various embedded data from the original PDF, allowing it to recover the original text, fonts, and formatting. Even if some of these elements are missing, for instance, if the original font is not installed on your Mac, you can still import the text, select a different font, and continue with your edits.

In addition, the new text editing abilities mean users can seamlessly export Apple Keynote and Pages projects and continue editing them in Pixelmator Pro. All text remains fully editable in its original fonts, including the SF Pro font that is used throughout the Apple ecosystem.

Elsewhere in this update, the Style tool has been improved to simplify the creation of custom outlines around text layers. Users now have the option to add strokes inside, within, or outside of the text, choose from various stroke ends and corners, and also add dashed strokes.

Pixelmator Pro 3.5.8 also includes 12 new templates for web, social media, and more. All of the templates include a set of alternative color palettes for adjusting the theme to custom requirements.

Pixelmator Pro is available exclusively from the Mac App Store as a free update for existing users and $49.99 for new customers. A free seven-day trial of the software with no restrictions is also available on the Pixelmator website.

Article Link: Pixelmator Pro Adds Support for Editing Text in PDFs

 

[blazerunner]

Pixelmator and Affinity Photo will never get use from professionals until they figure out how to get compatibility with Photoshop's smart objects.

 

[MSKenyon]

The gift that keeps on giving.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Exceptional app. I used to be on the Adobe train but find that this covers the bulk of the Photoshop bases very well. And it just keeps getting better.

 

[Artsketch]

Excellent app! Pixelmator Pro, RawPower, VectorStyler and Amadine on the iPad Pro have replaced Affinity Photo and Designer 2.

 

[stainless]

At $60 a month for the Adobe suite, or $23 a month just for Photoshop… Pixelmator and Affinity Photo will be just fine and yes, eventually overtake Photoshop. The ONLY thing keep Adobe alive is Print (CMYK) and Enterprise, period. So many people are turning to other solutions and this will creep into enterprise eventually.

Fun opinion, Adobe should have NEVER been able to buy Macromedia!! That was THE WORST MISTAKE ever allowed!

 

[coffeemilktea]

I got Pixelmator Pro back when it first came out, and it's been one of the rare App Store purchases that I don't regret. I don't even miss Photoshop now.

 

[kagharaht]

I have been using Pixelmator from the beginning and continue to support it.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Would it make sense to use it as a standalone pdf editor you say? Replacing other options like pdf expert or sth

 

[DestructoTim]

I love the Mator apps. Elegant design, capable of pro workflow, one time payment and you own it. Hard to find software like that these days.

 

[Ursadorable]

Has anyone used both Affinity Designer and Pixelmator Pro? I'm curious how they compare.

I already own the Affinity suite, but am looking for a replacement after Affinity was sold off to Canva.

 

[hagar]

Can anyone recommend Photomator from the same devs? Been eying it but it’s quite expensive for my needs.

 

[spicynujac]

As soon as one of these Lightroom replacements incorporates both HDR and Panoramas into their software, I will buy. As of now, you need to buy multiple programs to do these tasks (I'm looking at you, Pixelmator, Affinity, DxO Photolab, ACDSee, Luminar, and OnOneRAW). Until then I'm on the last non-subscription version of LR.

 

[Erkinshadow]

I got Pixelmator Pro back when it first came out, and it's been one of the rare App Store purchases that I don't regret. I don't even miss Photoshop now.

same here

 

[MacRumorUser78]

I bought Pixelmator Pro a while back as a PSE replacement.

Anyway I opened a multipage document and it only "imported" one page and no option to save as pdf. The page was editable, but based on the headline I expected to open and save as pdf.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Has anyone used both Affinity Designer and Pixelmator Pro? I'm curious how they compare.

I already own the Affinity suite, but am looking for a replacement after Affinity was sold off to Canva.

First of all, Designer is a Vector based app akin to Adobe Illustrator. I'm using both. Affinity Photo is far more robust than Pixelmator Pro.

 

[DestructoTim]

I bought Pixelmator Pro a while back as a PSE replacement.

Anyway I opened a multipage document and it only "imported" one page and no option to save as pdf. The page was editable, but based on the headline I expected to open and save as pdf.

I just opened a multi-page PDF in the new version of Pixelmator to verify what you are saying. When you first try to open a PDF in Pixelmator, it has you select which page of the PDF you want to edit. I tried multiple ways to select more than one page at once, but as far as I can tell, that isn't and option. That is a major bummer as most PDFs I have worked with are multi-page. However on the second part of your issue, I did not have the same experience. I chose "File" in the top menu, and then "Export". In the export menu it does allow me to export as a PDF.

So unfortunately it seems the only way this will work with multi-page PDFs, is to edit them all individually, then export them all individually, and then outside of Pixelmator recombine them all (probably easiest to do with Mac's built in "Preview" app.). Hopefully the ability to edit all pages at once will be added in the next or near future update, because as is, it is very impractical to use for document editing. Probably people who want to just pull graphics out of a single PDF page would find this useful for now.

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

The one must-have 3rd party app for mac

 

[DestructoTim]

Can anyone recommend Photomator from the same devs? Been eying it but it’s quite expensive for my needs.

I cannot give you a recommendation based on use, as I am not a pro user, but I have heard pro users saying it worked for them. As far as the price, look out for sales. They usually have back to school or Black Friday sales. I don't remember exactly what I paid, but I know it was nowhere near the $100 price they have it listed for. I can't recall but I might have even been grandfathered in from buying the iOS version. But anyway, don't pay $100. I am definitely happy having this software for a lifetime though.

 

[HarryPot]

Is Pixelmator a kind of mix between Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo?
I use Affinity Designer almost daily, and mostly to edit PDFs, so this feature sounds nice, I sometimes have some strange quirks with Affinity Designer when importing PDFs.

 

[JippaLippa]

Excellent app! Pixelmator Pro, RawPower, VectorStyler and Amadine on the iPad Pro have replaced Affinity Photo and Designer 2.

Are these all from the same developer?

 

[mdatwood]

At $60 a month for the Adobe suite, or $23 a month just for Photoshop… Pixelmator and Affinity Photo will be just fine and yes, eventually overtake Photoshop. The ONLY thing keep Adobe alive is Print (CMYK) and Enterprise, period. So many people are turning to other solutions and this will creep into enterprise eventually.

Fun opinion, Adobe should have NEVER been able to buy Macromedia!! That was THE WORST MISTAKE ever allowed!

The professionals I know are deep in PS and Adobe - it's not going anywhere. And even though it's not cheap, the monthly fee made the other Adobe products seem affordable.

As soon as one of these Lightroom replacements incorporates both HDR and Panoramas into their software, I will buy. As of now, you need to buy multiple programs to do these tasks (I'm looking at you, Pixelmator, Affinity, DxO Photolab, ACDSee, Luminar, and OnOneRAW). Until then I'm on the last non-subscription version of LR.

LR is a full DAM and develop solution. For people who don't want to build their own pipeline, it's going to remain the dominant solution. Adobe is also killing it adding features.

 

[richpjr]

At $60 a month for the Adobe suite, or $23 a month just for Photoshop… Pixelmator and Affinity Photo will be just fine and yes, eventually overtake Photoshop. The ONLY thing keep Adobe alive is Print (CMYK) and Enterprise, period. So many people are turning to other solutions and this will creep into enterprise eventually.

Fun opinion, Adobe should have NEVER been able to buy Macromedia!! That was THE WORST MISTAKE ever allowed!

I own Pixelmator, Photomator and Affinity Photo after using Lightroom and Photoshop for years. I mainly use Photomator these days and occasionally Pixelmator and Affinity for something requiring more power. They work well for my current needs. However, the idea that they will eventually replace Adobe will not be for a long, long time - if ever. The current market share of these competitors is a minuscule slice of the market and doesn't look to be changing any time soon. People have been predicting the demise of Adobe since they switched to the subscription model and it just isn't happening. In fact, their revenue continues a very robust growth trajectory.

 

[vanc]

Anyway I opened a multipage document and it only "imported" one page and no option to save as pdf. The page was editable, but based on the headline I expected to open and save as pdf.

It only allows you to import a selected page. Just one page at a time. It should be by design. It's not a real PDF editor anyway/

After editing, just export to PDF again.

In order to replace the original page, you can use the System Viewer. Select and delete the original page and insert from the exported PDF file.

 

[CoreForce]

Bought Pixelmator Pro but still prefer original Pixelmator, because what I do is editing images.