Skim for Mac

Free Skim Mac Version 1.5.6 Full Specs

Editors' Rating:

Excellent

Average User Rating:

32 User Votes

4.2

out of 32 votes

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Editors' Review

by Download.com staff / February 17, 2013

Finding a low-cost program that can edit or add notes to a PDF file can be hard. Finding one that can collate all of the changes as well seems almost impossible. However, Skim For Mac might be able to solve your dilemma, as it allows users to place marks and notes into PDF files and save all of those adjustments separately as well.

Skim For Mac allows for a variety of marking and annotations to be inserted into PDF files. This free program includes movable text boxes for notes as well as highlighting, underscoring and strike-through functions. You can even change the color of the different editing marks and the notes. Hiding the marks can be done easily and can be undone just as quickly. Notes and marks can be saved as separate text files which can be useful for editing and studying. The program also allows for text searches within the PDF file. Extra tools are available to help with reading longer PDF files, including bookmarks and reading lines. The interface is easy to use but lacks a comprehensive toolbar, so you are forced to use the drop-down menus at times.

Overall, Skim For Mac seems to be a useful tool for annotating and editing PDF files with few limitations and many options. This program would be suitable for both students and personal use with editing, noting and reading PDF files.

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Editors' Review

by Download.com staff / February 17, 2013

User Reviews

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4.2
out of 32 votes
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2 stars

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"Depends on what you need it for"

anlee2017 July 23, 2015 / Version: Skim 1.4.12

2015-07-23 16:14:22 | By anlee2017

Pros

- lots of options to annotate
- like that you can choose more than 5 colors (vs. preview)

Cons

- for those multi colored highlighter users this can get quite annoying, you cannot just select a color and then highlight. and then choose another color to highlight other areas. Instead you set a default highlight color and every time you want a section of document to be in another color you have to select that individual section and change the color (quite annoying for me as I use ~4 different colors, all mixed interchangeably in the same document, when highlighting to mean different things) - there's no way to mass edit your previous annotations (can't select multiple lines/highlights and change their color or move them to a different location in the document) you have to select each individual line and move/change it one by one (REALLY annoying for the "diagrams" I make to add in the side of the documents I edit)

Summary

useful for some people I'm sure, the options seem limitless, but the more you use it the more you realize how annoying little things are that should be simple. Like the fact that you can't select multiple annotations or that you have to click the object and then click the color you want for EVERY line. Tried to write a recommendation about fixing these features and got a seemingly rude response about my suggestion. Overall, I'm not very happy, so I'm on the search for something better.

5 stars

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"One gem of a software"

souliloquy March 08, 2014 / Version: Skim 1.4.8

2014-03-08 03:23:39 | By souliloquy

Pros

1 Skim has by far the best annotation tools&management in the PDF reader/editor spectrum, and this is including the really pricey apps (My work involves a lot of pdf-reading, note-taking, annotation and form-filling, used to do it mostly on PDFPen Pro and still own the latter, but Skim has pretty much become my default reader/editor, unless I need abstruse PDF-creation functions.
It is the ONLY mac app that allows dealing with annotations in bulk. Annotation/form filling capabilities have never given me any problem, and I filled a good deal of state/tax etc forms.
2 it is LIGHTNING fast, a lot faster than any of the contenders.
3 I don't know about earlier versions, but the versions I've used on Mac since mid-2013 have all been quite stable and reliable, more so than commercial alternatives
4 The interface though not stunning, it stays out of the way , various sidebars on either side of the screen can be used for practical reasons, or turned off with a click for full-screen reading

Cons

Doesn't have detailed PDF creation/bulk-editing tools, not a replacement, say, for pricey publishing-oriented software, but if your PDF-use revolves around reading and typical annotations, that won't be restrictive. All 'core' functions, like printing customization, or dictionary-integration, are there and work like a charm.

Summary

I've been using Skim since late 2013 , and in that period it was regularly updated and I never encountered any error, or problem with forms/annotations etc.
I'm ever surprised by that Skim hasn't gone immensely popular already, as I can't think of a second software that I could recommend this easily (excepting, maybe, Pythonista on iOS)

5 stars

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"Copy text correct when Preview can't or give gibberish"

semema September 28, 2013 / Version: Skim 1.4.4

2013-09-28 13:02:12 | By semema

Pros

Option to Export pdf + notes

Cons

Very very limited note formatting

1 stars

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"Does NOT work for 10.5"

spinkat January 19, 2013 / Version: Skim 1.4.1

2013-01-19 13:49:48 | By spinkat

Pros

Not sure as I am still using 10.5

Cons

AS mentioned, it will not load in 10.5. Gives the message "Will not work with this OS version"

1 stars

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"Unreliable: Does NOT save forms"

Diskonaut September 21, 2012 / Version: Skim 1.3.22

2012-09-21 04:40:01 | By Diskonaut

Pros

Good for annotating etc.

Cons

Does NOT save text you have written in forms. No warning is given.

Summary

I used to like it for annotating, but it destroyed today's work for me because it didn't save text in forms. There was no warning, nothing. Uninstalling, and will not recommend Skim.

4 stars

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"useful application for annotating pdf files"

prudd1 March 21, 2012 / Version: Skim 1.3.20

2012-03-21 09:27:09 | By prudd1

Pros

simple
useful

Cons

no link to filing system
limited annotation options

4 stars

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"almost perfect"

peter L July 23, 2011 / Version: Skim 1.3.16

2011-07-23 11:48:10 | By peter L

Pros

free - shows the pdf exactly as it is.
updates are easy

Cons

copy paste could be improved, but hey, it's free, who am I to criticize. I can't even write a small app!

4 stars

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"I like it very much"

peter L May 25, 2011 / Version: Skim 1.3.14

2011-05-25 13:11:19 | By peter L

Pros

very fast loading, original formatting kept

Cons

copy/paste is a bit cumbersom

Summary

you should get it too

4 stars

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"Bye bye adobe.Welcome Skim."

peter L February 28, 2011 / Version: Skim 1.3.12

2011-02-28 22:12:26 | By peter L

Pros

fast loading - no too steep learning curve - excellent helpfile

Cons

not yetfound

Summary

Skim is now set as my default app for all PDF's

5 stars

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"Excellent Application, Hats off to Developers"

ceopawankumar February 11, 2011 / Version: Skim 1.3.10

2011-02-11 06:03:23 | By ceopawankumar

Pros

Excellent Software
Available for free

Cons

None, It is just Superb

Summary

Thanks for providing this Application

Results 1–10 of 32

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Full Specifications

What's new in version 1.5.6
Choose favorite colors from contextual menu. Add search history to PDF search field.

General
Publisher	Skim
Publisher web site	http://skim-app.sourceforge.net/
Release Date	January 28, 2020
Date Added	January 28, 2020
Version	1.5.6

Category
Category	Educational Software
Subcategory	Science Software

Operating Systems
Operating Systems	Mac
Additional Requirements	macOS Catalina macOS Mojave macOS High Sierra macOS Sierra OS X El Capitan OS X Yosemite OS X Mavericks OS X Mountain Lion OS X Lion OS X Snow Leopard

Download Information
File Size	5.96MB
File Name	Skim-1.5.6.dmg

Popularity
Total Downloads	41,966
Downloads Last Week	3

Pricing
License Model	Free
Limitations	Not available
Price	Free

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Skim for Mac

Skim for Mac

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Full Specifications

What's new in version 1.5.6

General

Category

Operating Systems

Download Information

Popularity

Pricing