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iAnnotate PDF Vs. GoodReader for reading and annotating
- Thread starter j-a-x
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I use Notability quite a lot for note taking, and I would say it's primarily that - a note taking app rather than a pdf annotation app. It's a great app, though, and you can do quite basic pdf annotation on it. iAnnotate and PDF Expert have more features, such as underlining, highlighting that 'follows the lines', more navigation features, possibility to add notes, and much more.
In your shoes, if my primary need was pdf annotation I'd buy iAnnotate or PDF Expert and only have it on my iPad, rather than spending money twice on Notability for both iPad and iPhone.
Exactly, It depends on what you need. PDF Expert gives you much more than just annotations.. Page management, forms support, signatures, cloud storages 2 way sync, etc etc
Notability is not a true PDF annotation tool. It just marks over top, no form fill and no detection of text in the PDF. I use Notability for my notes and PDF EXPERT for all things PDF.
But with the introduction of REMARKS for iPad (made by Readdle same as PDF expert) I will be switch to that application as it is a true annotation tool and also does notes. I will be waiting till it updates with Dropbox support as like PDF Expert I will be able to edit the PDF were it lies in Dropbox and not have to import it into Notability as a different format and then back it up again to Dropbox. With PDF Expert, and 10-14 days Remarks, I will be able to save PDFs in my school Dropbox folder and edit them from that same spot without an import and export, reducing file redundancy and making my notes viewable from work PC and my home Mac. Not sure if the above makes sense to anyone but notability will back up my notes as PDF, or other formats but not to different folders so all classes get backed up to a different spot than where I have the original PDFs, PDF Expert and Remarks will sad over the original file with the added, and editable, annotations.
Sorry, but I'm a bit confused. What's the point of getting PDF Expert if Remarks does the same thing? Or you're suggesting to get both programs?
Isquare, PDF Expert and Remarks are essentially different and can be used together. Well, I use them together. I blogged here why: http://readdle.com/blog/?p=1263
They are very similar at the roots. I just bought Remarks yesterday and have been using it in all my classes.
PDF Expert so far has one key feature that Remarks does not and that is the ability to fill in the forms that are formatted with the blanks, not sure what that is called but it is a great feature when needed...oh and PDF Expert has stamps.
Remarks is very new and need some polishing in my opinion, more color options and more shapes, like a fill color for the shape. Add stamps or other icons. give it the ability to fill forms like Expert has. and of course a Dropbox sync, preferably a bit more automatic that Expert
PDF Expert can do everything that Remarks can do,except create new documents (just keep a plank pdf as a template and that fixes it), Remarks can do some of the note taking things slightly easier. Like handwriting has a better interface a features in remarks.
It is my hopes that Remarks improves in the few small areas it lacks as it does have abetter looking interface.
At this point if you need real 100% pdf - adobe pro features get PDF Expert. But if you want the better handwriting options to also take notes get Remarks.
Check out PDF Forms
PDF Forms application is a new great app for filling in PDF forms, annotating and commenting on PDF documents. The HUGE plus is that the application is very simple to use. It also allows you to organize your files in folders and the file manager is extremely convenient. Oh, and the Dropbox support is also there. And it's cheaper than PDF Expert and iAnnotate.
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PDF Forms application is a new great app for filling in PDF forms, annotating and commenting on PDF documents. The HUGE plus is that the application is very simple to use. It also allows you to organize your files in folders and the file manager is extremely convenient. Oh, and the Dropbox support is also there. And it's cheaper than PDF Expert and iAnnotate.
I have one feature i would use alot and that is highlight PDFs and would like to know which on has the best UI and workflow for making super fast highlights and been able to have a summary file of all the highlights, Maybe highlight summary export or something
So which one has the best workflow for making highlights and making summaries of the highlights ?
So which one has the best workflow for making highlights and making summaries of the highlights ?
iannotate. i like goodreader a lot, but in just about every way, iannotate is better.
PDF Expert for iPad has just been updated to version 4.0.
The update is free and we hope you will enjoy it, guys.
Your feedback is appreciated!
![PDFexpert-ad-banner-2-480x360-1.png]()
The update is free and we hope you will enjoy it, guys.
Your feedback is appreciated!
PDF Expert does all that you are looking for. The only drawback I see in PDF Expert is that to change colors it takes another step, not a huge deal but not real intuitive.
PDF Expert has a simple. Interface for the highlights and sending or saving the highlight/underline/strike through summary
i think iannotate has the most features, and i highly recommend it. in my informal tests it is also the fastest to render pages, in some cases more than twice as fast as pdf expert.
but, pdf expert is a solid product with enough features to meet most needs. goodreader is quite nice as well, and even though the interface could use some updating, it is straightforward and dependable
compared to the android marketplace, where there is pretty much only one solid app (i have tried most of the major ones), we are lucky to have so many great ones available to us.
but, pdf expert is a solid product with enough features to meet most needs. goodreader is quite nice as well, and even though the interface could use some updating, it is straightforward and dependable
compared to the android marketplace, where there is pretty much only one solid app (i have tried most of the major ones), we are lucky to have so many great ones available to us.
i think iannotate has the most features, and i highly recommend it. in my informal tests it is also the fastest to render pages, in some cases more than twice as fast as pdf expert.
but, pdf expert is a solid product with enough features to meet most needs. goodreader is quite nice as well, and even though the interface could use some updating, it is straightforward and dependable
compared to the android marketplace, where there is pretty much only one solid app (i have tried most of the major ones), we are lucky to have so many great ones available to us.
That's funny I haven't tried iAnnotate recently but i have followed its updated and such and I feel like it has the ugliest interface of the three. And right now I use PDF Expert for everything and have some graphic intense PDF and I never see even a slight hesitation on page rendering. Are you using and iPad 1, 2, or 'new'? I use a 2 and no hesitation at all. But like I said PDF Expert has some UI shortcomings.
i annotate used to have a pretty ungainly interface, but it is much improved. the reading interface is superior to the others, in my opinion, but the library screen is a little difficult to navigate.
pdf expert is nice, but i am surprised to hear you say there is not hesitation on page rendering. all of my pdfs, from small files to large ones of scanned art books have some hesitation. in many cases it takes several seconds for a page to render. the same was true on the ipad 2 and now on the ipad 3.
i should say that page renders are faster than android products, and definitely faster than some other products that can take as long as a minute or so to render (yikes!).
Just did some timing of a 543 page college text book and it took just under 4 seconds. I guess maybe I figure since my computer can't even open it that fast it was slow at all. All other file safe under 2 seconds from the Time of tap to viewing the text. Of course my textbooks and all my files have a bunch of high listing and underline ing so maybe that adds to tit, either way I wouldn't call it slow at all. I have wanted to buy iAnnotate to give it a try but just not worth it right now.
I have started an excel spreadsheet of the features each app has compared to the rest but with a full time job and 12 credits and 3 kids it isn't getting done fast enough.
Can I ask you one thing, how does the Dropbox integration for iAnnotate work?
I've also found some hesitation on pdf expert, but I haven't compared it to other apps. Otherwise, I think it's very good.
Hi. I don't mean the initial display. I expect that to be a bit slow. Page turns are slow. Slide over to page 150. It should take a couple of seconds to render. iAnnotate seems to handle these hesitations better. They're both fast, but in my informal tests, iAnnotate is faster.
Dropbox integration is fine in iAnnotate. Personally, I think it is a little easier with GoodReader, because (as I recall) it automatically includes new additions into Goodreader while I have to select the files to input into iAnnotate each time I put something new into my Dropbox folder. It's no big deal to me, but it could be to others.
good question. as far as i know, goodreader is the only one that will access icloud.
great thread guys. Would any of you have any comments/recommendations re: annotating with a stylus and the above mentioned apps?
Also, I was reading http://www.tcgeeks.com/best-ipad-pdf-markup-apps/ and it mentioned that the key advantage of iAnnotate is the ability to save the edits into the native PDF format so it can be read on normal PDF readers (e.g. Acrobat Reader, Preview). Is this not the case for GoodReader edits?
Also, I was reading http://www.tcgeeks.com/best-ipad-pdf-markup-apps/ and it mentioned that the key advantage of iAnnotate is the ability to save the edits into the native PDF format so it can be read on normal PDF readers (e.g. Acrobat Reader, Preview). Is this not the case for GoodReader edits?
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