If you’re wondering how to save a file as a PDF on a Mac, then the preinstalled TextEdit application could be the solution. Simply open your document via TextEdit and select ‘Print’ from the ‘File’ tab. In the resulting dialog box, you will find a drop-down menu under ‘PDF’ – use this to save, fax, and send the document as a PDF. If you wish to encrypt the file, you will find various options when you select ‘Export’ from the ‘File’ tab.
Since Macs are shipped with this tool preinstalled, there is far fewer PDF conversion software available for macOS compared to Windows. Of course, Adobe Acrobat’s PDF programs include this feature, but the functionality goes far beyond just conversion, making these tools expensive. For simple file conversion, the built-in TextEdit is more than enough.