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Skim

Skim is a PDF reader and note-taking application for macOS. It provides annotations, highlighting, and notation tools for PDF documents, allowing users to mark up PDFs. Skim also enables searching PDF documents and works well with large PDF files.

What is Skim?

Skim is a PDF reader and note-taking app designed specifically for macOS. It provides a clean, uncluttered interface and fast performance for working with PDF documents.

Some key features of Skim include:

  • Annotations - Skim allows you to highlight passages, add text notes, draw shapes and lines, and more to annotate PDFs.
  • Text highlighting - Easily highlight passages of text in multiple colors.
  • Sticky notes - Add text box notes that function like physical sticky notes to call out sections.
  • Shapes and lines - Draw circles, rectangles, lines, arrows, and other shapes for marking up PDFs.
  • Outline view - See an outline overview of long PDF documents for quick navigation.
  • Tabs and splits - Open multiple PDF documents in tabs and view PDFs in splits side-by-side.
  • Presenter display - Use special presenter display view for slideshow-style presentations.
  • Sync notes - Sync highlights and annotations via Skim Library for access across devices.
  • Search - Built-in searching helps you quickly find words or passages within PDFs.
  • Lightweight - Skim uses minimal system resources for smooth operation.

If you regularly work with PDFs on a Mac, Skim provides an efficient way to read, review, mark up, and manage PDF documents.

The Best Skim Alternatives

Top Apps like Skim

Adobe Acrobat Reader, SumatraPDF, PDF-XChange Editor, Master PDF Editor, Drawboard PDF, Flexcil, Okular, Foxit Reader, Xodo, MarginNote, Xournal++, Evince, MuPDF, Preview, Butterfly, PDFpen, Google Docs Viewer, RepliGo Reader, MJ PDF Reader, Icecream PDF Editor, TagNotate, Lumin PDF, PDF4QT, Paperboy, pdfDocs, PDFlite, PDF Previewer for Windows 8, ePapyrus PDF-Pro, PDF Reader Air, VuDroid, PDF Reader Online, Sioyek, PDF Assistant are some alternatives to Skim.

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