PDF (acronym for Portable Document Formats) is an ideal format to share data and information across multiple platforms. There are many applications of PDF, including publishing electronic documents, creating interactive forms, protecting information from unauthorized editing, copying, or viewing, and more. PDF documents can easily viewed on various platforms, such as Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, iOS, etc. However, you may come across several situations that require you to convert your PDFs to a different format in order for enjoying greater flexibility and ease of use when handling a specific piece of information. 
Why PDF Files Need To Be Converted
? PDF files require you to get an external application (like Adobe Acrobat Reader) to view content. Image files have an edge over PDFs when basing opinion on this very thought. Images do not pose the need of an external application as opposed to PDF documents.
? When viewing content on browsers, a PDF document would require a plug-in or external application to be pre-installed, which is certainly not the case with images.
? Given that PDF documents require an external application, it usually leads to more overhead when loading these documents. On the other hand, images can be easily streamed without any additional overhead.
? MS Office users are more inclined to work with images than PDFs as these applications handle images more effectively. For instance, a PowerPoint presentation will load faster than a PDF document.
Considering a Real-Life Scenario
Sometimes, a situation may call for extracting a specific piece of information from a PDF document. In this case, you do not require the full PDF document, but only a part of the document. To cite an example, suppose you need to prepare a project presentation for an official meeting. For this, you require a few images from a PDF document. In order to get this job done on an urgent basis, you may consider converting your PDF file to multiple images. Those images can be embedded in your presentation to complete the designated assignment before the deadline.
Converting PDF to Image Files on Mac
In order to convert a PDF document to image files on Mac, you can use the built-in image and PDF viewer tool named ‘Preview’. To do so, follow the below mentioned procedure:
? Start Preview. Navigate to the ‘File’ menu and click ‘Open’. A dialog box appears on your screen. In this dialog, locate and select the PDF file to be converted.
? Go to the page in the opened PDF file that you need to convert to an image. Using ‘Preview’, you can export the selected page.
? Go to the ‘File’ menu again and click ‘Export..’. A Save window will be displayed to you. In this window, specify a location to save the resulting image file. In the same window, specify the desired image format to which you need to export the page in the ‘Format’ menu.
? You can also choose the desired output quality of the image file by setting various options below the ‘Format’ menu, such as compression quality and resolution. These options will be displayed based on the image format you selected.
Using Photoshop on Mac to Convert PDF to Image Files
You can also use Photoshop tool to convert your PDF to image files on Mac. To do so, follow the given series of steps:
? Launch Finder and click on the desired PDF file for conversion. Do not open the file.
? Go to the ‘File’ menu and click ‘Open With >’. You will be presented with a choice of applications installed on your computer that can open a PDF file.
? Select the desired image editing program from this list, i.e. Adobe Photoshop.
? Choose ?Images? option and select the image you need to import.
? Click ?OK?. After it is opened, you can perform the desired task (cropping, editing, or saving) as per your requirement.
Conversion with Stellar Converter for PDF
If either of the above method does not serve your needs, you can use a commercial tool ?Stellar Converter for PDF for Mac?. The software provides an easy platform for converting pages in your PDF file into standard image file formats, including JPEG, BMP, PNG, and TIFF. In order to perform a safe conversion using Stellar Converter for PDF for Mac, follow the given procedure:
? Launch Stellar Converter for PDF. On the main interface, click ?Select File? to select the desired PDF file to be converted. You can also click ?Find File? to search for PDF documents in your system, and then select the desired PDF from the output list for conversion.
? In the ?Output Options? section on the same screen, choose an output format for the converted images. Next, choose from ‘Even Pages’ and ‘Odd Pages’ to convert all even pages or odd pages in the selected PDF respectively. Click ?Convert? at the bottom to initiate the conversion process.
? After completion of the process, the software displays the output images in the main interface for preview. Click ?Save? to save these images to a desired location.
Stellar Converter for PDF performs flawless conversion of PDF files to images without making the slightest modification to the original document.
