Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iAnnotate PDF Vs. GoodReader for reading and annotating
- Thread starter j-a-x
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Can PDF expert search the whole library?
Hello. I just bought an iPad 2 over thanksgiving. I'm also trying to decide which PDF app to use. Thanks for all the info in this thread. All three apps have so much in common. It's easy to get confused.
My question is: Can PDF expert search the whole library? I vaguely remebe4 reading somewhere that iAnnotate can search in the whole library, not just in a single file.
By reading the more recent posts on this thread, it seems like PDF Expert is gaining popularity because it's faster than iAnnotate? But I don't see the need to fill forms that much personally. I'm looking for one app that is good for thesis writing as well. Which one should I choose, iAnnotate or PDF Expert?
Thanks a lot for the help!!!
Hello. I just bought an iPad 2 over thanksgiving. I'm also trying to decide which PDF app to use. Thanks for all the info in this thread. All three apps have so much in common. It's easy to get confused.
My question is: Can PDF expert search the whole library? I vaguely remebe4 reading somewhere that iAnnotate can search in the whole library, not just in a single file.
By reading the more recent posts on this thread, it seems like PDF Expert is gaining popularity because it's faster than iAnnotate? But I don't see the need to fill forms that much personally. I'm looking for one app that is good for thesis writing as well. Which one should I choose, iAnnotate or PDF Expert?
Thanks a lot for the help!!!
i don't know about thesis writing, because none of these apps is good for writing.
as far as i know, iannotate is the only one with the global search feature. in practice, i have found it weak when searching for asian character strings. english language seems to do a bit better.
as much as i like goodreader, i think iannotate has surpassed it in many ways, and i strongly recommend it over goodreader.
as far as i know, iannotate is the only one with the global search feature. in practice, i have found it weak when searching for asian character strings. english language seems to do a bit better.
as much as i like goodreader, i think iannotate has surpassed it in many ways, and i strongly recommend it over goodreader.
Yes PDF Expert has global search and will referance words in all files and folders on the device.
I second the theis statement, non of these apps are for writing. Hey iPages as right now it has the best format retention compared to quickoffice HD and Documents To Go
I have all these PDF apps, I use PDF Expert for all my PDF needs. Any direct questions I will do my best to answer promptly, or DM me and I can text u on your iPad for free (iMessages)
Are you sure about this? PDF Expert apparently can search the name of files (I have never been able to figure this out), but I don't see a way to do a global search of the content.
Wow... Thanks for the quick replies!!! I understand that they are not used for writing. What I meant was to use these apps to help with literature review as part of the thesis writing.
This is a great forum, by the way. Thanks again.
hi. if you are doing a lit review, here are some suggestions.
1. get together with some others in your field, divide up the books and articles on your list (presumably, they need to read the important ones too), and scan/collect from jstor, projectmuse, etc. scanning books is a pain, but if you spread that pain out, it will be worth it. see my threads on digitizing stuff for ways to do this.
2. ocr everything you have scanned.
3. follow simple naming conventions: smithjohn1999a
4. use bibliographic software (refworks is online and will work with ipad).
5. hihlight and annotate the pdfs, and then export the information. it helps here to have an evernote account. i name the notes the same as the files and tag them "bibliography". this is so incredibly time saving and enjoyable that it more than makes up for #1 and #2.
6. if you get a premiumevernote account, move those pdfs into it. they are then searchable in one place with access anywhere and it frees up your ipad to hold more.
good luck!
Wow... Thanks for the quick replies!!! I understand that they are not used for writing. What I meant was to use these apps to help with literature review as part of the thesis writing.
I'm a researcher and using both PDF Expert and iAnnotate exactly for this purpose. I find myself using PDF Expert more than iAnnotate because its UI is a bit easier to deal with. I find that both are really good apps, though.
Are there any detail reviews out there comparing all of these PDF annotation software?
I'm going to be heading back to school in 2012 and I plan to scan and OCR a lot of documents with the help of Adobe Acrobat X Pro.
Will the annotations from either PDF Expert, iAnnotate, and GoodReader be saved correctly and readable on a computer with Adobe Acrobat X Pro?
Speed and simple UI is very important to me. Also, can any of these software search for words in OCRed PDFs?
I'm going to be heading back to school in 2012 and I plan to scan and OCR a lot of documents with the help of Adobe Acrobat X Pro.
Will the annotations from either PDF Expert, iAnnotate, and GoodReader be saved correctly and readable on a computer with Adobe Acrobat X Pro?
Speed and simple UI is very important to me. Also, can any of these software search for words in OCRed PDFs?
pdf expert, goodreader, and iannotate are virtually identical in their basic functionality. they all have easy-to-use annotation features. they all save correctly. they are all readable on a computer with adobe acrobat pro.
only iannotate has a global search feature. i have found this seems to work well with english language searches. not so well with asian language ones.
iannotate is by far the most feature-rich of the three. even though i find all three apps to be quite nice, with their own strengths and weaknesses, i prefer to use iannotate these days.
search everything at once. in other words, if you have 40 pdfs, instead of taking several minutes searching through them one at a time for something, you can search all of them instantly.
So GoodReader and PDF Expert lacks the ability to search all of the PDFs simultaneously?
Global search for PDF Expert will be added very soon.
That is good news. I hope that it will work better than iAnnotate's version, because in iAnnotate my searches for Asian characters do not return all of the results that they ought to.
Anyhow, PDF Expert has one of the cleaner user interfaces, and I am especially pleased with the annotation. I use it to comment and grade student essays, and I like the fact that it remembers the color and size of typed text. It is nice not to have to keep resetting that!
Global search for PDF Expert will be added very soon.
Will it be a free update?
Can you also confirm that Asian characters will work as well?
----------
I'm leaning on PDF Expert now that Global Search is imminent. It is kind of expensive at $10. Do you feel it's providing better value than the competition?
Also, are you using a pen to annotate your notes or you're using your finger?
iannotate provides the most functionality. i think even the pdf expert developers would have to admit that. on the other hand, their interface is clean and easier to use. goodreader syncs with sugarsync (the backup service i use), so that is a plus. they all have their weak and strong points. pdf expert and iannotate can claim better support, i think.
Yes, our updates are always free.
Well, it is now in testing phase, in theory, even Asian characters should work fine. I will be able to say more soon,
Well, it is now in testing phase, in theory, even Asian characters should work fine. I will be able to say more soon,
Last edited:
1. Would anyone know whether if the global search function on iAnnotate show results of the annotations made?
2. Does iAnnotate recognize handwritten margin notes?
3. I am also curious whether the search function will recognize pdf files that are self created. e.g. on MyScript Notes, Muji Notebook ... these apps are fantastic for taking notes and drawing diagrams, and the texts may not be properly aligned in a textbook fashion (may be slanted, or part of a diagram). These files are eventually saved as pdf files. Can iAnnotate's search function recognize the texts in these files?
2. Does iAnnotate recognize handwritten margin notes?
3. I am also curious whether the search function will recognize pdf files that are self created. e.g. on MyScript Notes, Muji Notebook ... these apps are fantastic for taking notes and drawing diagrams, and the texts may not be properly aligned in a textbook fashion (may be slanted, or part of a diagram). These files are eventually saved as pdf files. Can iAnnotate's search function recognize the texts in these files?
i don't know about the annotations in the search results. i haven't tried. i'll test it when i get a chance.
no recognition of handwritten margin notes, as far as i know. that seems unlikely for any pdf program on any device (computer or tablet).
iannotate does not "recognize" text. you need to do ocr (optical character recognition) on scanned material or create a pdf in the proper format out of typewritten text (usually automatic) for the text to be incorporated into the file and therefore readable by iannotate or any other program. search is a basic function available in every one of these apps. global search (requiring the program to index files first in order to do it) is unique to iannotate.
i don't remember ever seeing any sales for iannotate or pdf expert.