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Preview vs Skim: catalog facts
Preview	Skim
Free Included with macOS at no extra cost.	Free Free and open source under the BSD licence.
macOS	macOS
Already installed on every Mac Handles both PDFs and images	SyncTeX integration makes it the standard viewer for LaTeX work Annotation and snapshot tools designed for reading academic papers
macOS only No advanced editing of PDF text or OCR tools like dedicated editors	macOS only Notes are stored in Skim's own format unless explicitly embedded
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Closed source	Open source
License: Proprietary	License: BSD-3-Clause
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.