Stapl
PDF toolkit for macOS100% on deviceFree, including commercial use
Stapl: free PDF editor for Mac. Merge, split, compress, OCR & more.
Merge, split, compress, OCR, protect, redact, watermark, fill and sign. Seventeen focused tools in one Mac app, every one of them running on your device. Nothing is ever uploaded.
v1.6.0 · Apple Silicon & Intel · macOS 12+, including 27 Golden Gate · Signed & notarized by Apple · No account
01 Merge
Drag to set the order, then merge. Every page stays on your Mac.
02 Metadata
Edit or strip every metadata field. Title, author, keywords. Saves in seconds.
03 Watermark
Text watermark with live preview. Adjust opacity, size and angle before saving.
02 How it works
Open, pick a tool, done.
Open your PDF
Drag a file (or several) onto the window, or press ⌘O to pick them. Stapl shows page thumbnails instantly.
Pick a tool
Choose from seventeen: merge, compress, OCR, redact, protect and more. Each opens a focused workspace with exactly the controls it needs.
Save
Stapl writes the result wherever you choose and offers to reveal it in Finder. Every byte stayed on your Mac.
03 Features
Seventeen tools. One beautiful app.
Everything you reach for a sketchy web converter to do, except nothing is ever uploaded, and it's actually nice to use.
Merge & combine
Stitch several PDFs into one. Drag pages and files into the exact order you want, with live thumbnails the whole way.
Split, extract & organize
Pull out a range, delete, duplicate or reorder pages, and let Stapl point at the blank ones. Split a big document one page per file, into runs of a fixed length, after the pages you name, or by your own ranges, and see how many files that makes before anything is written.
Compress
Shrink heavy PDFs with clear quality tiers, and see exactly how much space you saved before you commit.
OCR your scans
Add an invisible, selectable text layer to a scanned document, so it becomes searchable and copy-pasteable, entirely on-device.
Redaction that actually redacts
Black out sensitive text and it's gone: Stapl rasterizes and rebuilds the page, destroying what's underneath instead of just covering it. Ask it to find the email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and card numbers for you, and it marks every one it can place and says plainly how many it couldn't.
Truly removed
Protect & unlock
Add an AES-128 password to a PDF, or remove one you already know. The password never leaves your device.
Watermark & number
Stamp a text watermark across pages, or add page numbers and Bates numbering for legal and business documents.
PDF ↔ Images
Export every page to PNG or JPG at the resolution you choose, or build a fresh PDF from a folder of images.
Metadata, crop & batch
Rotate pages, edit or strip all metadata, adjust page boxes with Crop (a live preview shows dark bands over the edges being trimmed), then run Compress, Protect, Strip metadata, Watermark, Page numbers, Rotate or Extract text across a whole folder of files at once, sorted the way you want and reported file by file.
Extract Text
Pull a PDF's selectable text into a plain .txt file, entirely on your device. If the PDF is a scan with no text layer, Stapl offers to open it in OCR first.
Fill & Sign
Type into a PDF's form fields and drop your signature onto the page, typed in a handwriting-style font or drawn with the trackpad. Resize placed stamps by dragging their grip handle, pick from four date formats, and add stamps in full-screen view from a floating dock without leaving the zoom panel.
100% on your Mac
No account, no cloud, no usage analytics. Working on your documents needs no connection at all. The only connection Stapl makes is the weekly update check. Your documents never leave your computer.
Signed & notarized
Opens with a normal double-click, no "unidentified developer" warning, no Open Anyway, no Terminal. Notarized by Apple.
No warnings
Built for everyone
Full keyboard control, VoiceOver labels throughout, automatic light & dark, and reduced-motion support. WCAG 2.1 AA-minded from the start.
13 languages
Stapl's interface is available in 13 languages, with an in-app picker to switch anytime.
Command palette & shortcuts
Press ⌘K to search every tool and action, ⌘O to open a file, ⌘S to save, and ⌘/ to see every shortcut.
Keyboard first
Drop a PDF anywhere
Drop a PDF on the window and pick what to do with it. Drop several and they go straight to Merge.
Recent files & tools
⇧⌘O reopens a recent file, even after a relaunch, and Home keeps the tools you used lately one click away.
Keeps your file dates
New files inherit the original Date Created and Date Modified. It is on by default, and one switch in Settings turns it off.
On by default
Undo & safe exits
⌘Z undoes in Organize, Redact and Fill & Sign. Leaving with unsaved changes asks first, and OCR, Split and Batch can be stopped mid-run.
Precise redaction
Open any page large to zoom in up to 8x and pan, cover a whole page in one click, search a phrase with Match case, or add a box by page and numbers.
Initials, dates & images
Add initials, a date or typed text, or import a picture of your signature and crop it. Place any stamp on every page at once, or Option-drag to duplicate it.
Watermark layouts
Run the text diagonally, centered or tiled across the page, pick its color, and set opacity from 10 to 100% with a live preview.
Page numbers your way
Choose plain, "1 of 10" or Bates. Number in one corner or several at once, drag each into place, start at any number, and add a Bates prefix with a six-digit counter.
Four compression levels
Pick Smallest, Balanced, High or Maximum, from 72 dpi for email to 300 dpi for print. Stapl remembers your choice.
Image sizes you choose
Export pages as PNG at 72, 150 or 300 dpi. Build a PDF from PNG, JPEG or WebP images at Standard, Print or Actual pixels page size.
Crop presets
Trim every page by a Tight, Medium or Loose margin, or set your own up to 600 points. Text stays sharp and selectable.
Sort by name
In Merge and Images to PDF, one click puts files in name order with numbers counted properly, so page 2 comes before page 10.
Lifts owner restrictions
Unlock also removes restrictions from a PDF that opens without a password, and tells you when there is nothing to unlock.
Protected files, handled
When a PDF is password protected, Merge, Organize, Rotate, Redact and Fill & Sign offer Open in Unlock instead of just failing.
Zoom & theme
Scale the whole window from 70% to 150% with ⌘+ and ⌘−, reset with ⌘0, and cycle light, dark and system appearance from the toolbar.
04 Everything in the box
Merge
Split
Organize
Rotate
Compress
OCR
Unlock
Protect
Watermark
Page Numbers
Bates
Crop
Redact
Metadata
PDF → Images
Images → PDF
Batch
Extract Text
Fill & Sign
06 Pricing
Free for everyone.
Stapl for macOS
Free forever
Personal and commercial use included
- The full app, every feature
- No account, no nag screens
- Free updates forever
- Personal and commercial use, no license required
07 Download & install
Get set up in seconds.
Download the app and drag it into Applications. That's it. No Terminal, no Homebrew, no sign-up.
Version 1.6.0 · Released October 14, 2026 · Free updates forever
macOS 12 Monterey or later, including macOS 27 Golden Gate · Apple Silicon & Intel (universal binary)
Everything Stapl needs (including the OCR and compression engines) is built right into the app. The same DMG runs natively on Apple Silicon (M1 or later) and Intel Macs. Nothing else to install.
Opens with a double-click
Stapl is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens cleanly the first time. No
Open Anyway trip through System Settings, no Terminal. Open the DMG, drag Stapl into Applications, and launch it.Check the file you downloaded
Stapl is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, and macOS checks that every time you open it. That is the check that catches a file altered on its way to you. To confirm it yourself, compare the SHA-256 of your copy with the one published for the
Stapl.dmg this page serves.SHA-256 checksum
Published checksum
Run this on your download and compare
shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/Stapl.dmg
Or have your Mac compare them for you: save Stapl.dmg.sha256 beside the download and run shasum -a 256 -c Stapl.dmg.sha256.
08 FAQ
Common questions.
Is Stapl free?
Personal use is free forever: all 17 tools, no account, no trial timer, no watermarks. It is free for commercial use at work too, with no license to buy and no account.
Does Stapl upload my PDFs anywhere?
No. Your documents never leave your Mac. Every operation runs locally, with no account, no cloud and no usage analytics. Stapl makes one kind of connection, and it does not involve your documents: a check with twoplus11.com about once a week for a new version, which sends the app version and can be switched off in Settings (installing an update then downloads it from us).
When I redact a PDF, is the text really gone?
Yes. Stapl doesn't just draw a black box over the text. It rasterizes the pages and rebuilds the whole document from those images, so the underlying text and images beneath a redaction are destroyed, not merely hidden. You can't select or recover what was under the mark. Because the rebuild covers the entire document, the redacted copy has no text layer at all. Keep your original, and redact a copy.
What encryption does Protect use?
AES-128. The password is set as both the user and owner password and never leaves your device. The Unlock tool removes a password you already know.
Will macOS warn me about an unidentified developer?
No. Stapl is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens with a normal double-click the first time. No Open Anyway dance, no Terminal.
Does Stapl run on Intel Macs?
Yes. Stapl is a universal binary: the same DMG runs natively on both Apple Silicon (M1 or later) and Intel Macs. No Rosetta, no separate download.
How do I update Stapl?
Stapl updates itself. It checks about once a week and, when a new version is out, shows you what changed and offers to install it. The download is signature-checked, and one that doesn't verify is refused. You can also check on demand, turn the automatic check off in Settings, or download the Stapl.dmg from this page and drag it into Applications yourself. Your settings carry over either way.
What do the Compress quality levels mean?
There are four. Smallest (72 dpi) suits email and the web, Balanced (150 dpi) is the recommended default, High (300 dpi) is for printing, and Maximum (300 dpi) is for professional print. Stapl remembers the level you last used and tells you how much smaller the file became.
Which languages can OCR read?
The built-in OCR engine reads English. It adds an invisible text layer to your scan entirely on your device, and you can cancel a long scan at any time with nothing saved.
Does Stapl change my file's dates?
No. By default, new files keep the original Date Created and Date Modified of the PDF you edited, in tools that transform a single PDF such as Compress, Crop, Rotate, Watermark and Redact. You can turn this off with the Keep original file dates switch in Settings.
What keyboard shortcuts does Stapl have?
⌘K opens the command palette, ⌘O opens a file, ⇧⌘O shows recent files, ⌘S saves or applies in most tools, ⌘↵ runs a batch, ⌘, opens Settings, ⌘Z undoes in Organize, Redact and Fill & Sign, and ⌘/ lists every shortcut.
Can Unlock remove restrictions as well as a password?
Yes. If a PDF opens without a password but carries owner restrictions, Unlock removes them and saves a clean copy. If it needs a password to open, enter it first. If the file isn't protected at all, Stapl tells you there is nothing to unlock.