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How to open the same pdf file side by side?

H

hajime

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
7,951
1,315
Hello, I went to an Apple Store and asked two guys. They could not answer these questions satisfactory:

1. I want to open the same pdf file side by side. How can I do that without duplicating the file and changing the file name? One use is that in long pdf version of textbook, latter parts often refer to equations several pages before. I don't want to scroll back and forth. It would be idea to have the document displaced side by side so that I can have the equations in former pages on one side and the contents of latter part (the one I am reading on the other side)

2. After this is achieved, if I annotate one side of a document, the document on the other side (supposed to be the same document) automatically get updated.

3. Unlike Question 2, I annotate on one side but the document on the other side do not get updated. In this case, do I have to duplicate the original file first?

Thanks.
 
It's not a full solution, but you can hit Cmd-P and select PDF>"Open PDF in Preview" for a second window.
 
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hobowankenobi said:
Wishful thinking?

You really think you can view the same document in two places at once, and edit one, and not the other?

What are you smoking?!
Click to expand...

He tried to open the same pdf file in iBook twice but it did not work.
We think duplicating the file and storing them in different locations is needed.

However, I recall reading a review of some pdf annotation apps mentioning that one app (don't recall the name) does not modify the original pdf document. Instead, it creates a supplement file that stores the highlighting and notes made by the user. So, I think that might solve the problem.
 
Last edited:
I did some more looking...and Adobe Acrobat CAN do this.

1. Open the PDF. First view.
2. Select Window > New Window.

Second window opens with another view of the same document. Impressive!

You can drag the second window tab over to the tab bar of the first window, and one window, two tabs, same document.

• I made a test comment in the first tab, and it is there on the second tab.
• I made a test edit in the first tab, and it is there on the second tab.

The magic here is that it is two VIEWS of the same file, not opening it twice. So all changes are identical on both sides. No way not to be. But the good news is, you can be on different view attributes (page number/location, zoom, etc.) on each view.
 
hobowankenobi said:
I did some more looking...and Adobe Acrobat CAN do this.

1. Open the PDF. First view.
2. Select Window > New Window.

Second window opens with another view of the same document. Impressive!

You can drag the second window tab over to the tab bar of the first window, and one window, two tabs, same document.

• I made a test comment in the first tab, and it is there on the second tab.
• I made a test edit in the first tab, and it is there on the second tab.

The magic here is that it is two VIEWS of the same file, not opening it twice. So all changes are identical on both sides. No way not to be. But the good news is, you can be on different view attributes (page number/location, zoom, etc.) on each view.
Click to expand...

Do you mean I have to open and view the same file within Acrobat? I plan to annotate using PDF Expert.
 
hajime said:
Do you mean I have to open and view the same file within Acrobat? I plan to annotate using PDF Expert.
Click to expand...

I was just confirming that Adobe Acrobat does in fact let you view the same PDF in more than one view and edit or annotate, fitting #1 and #2 requirements.

Acrobat is an expensive, powerful tool...if you don't already have access to it. Perhaps other tools have this dual view feature as well. Even the tip above seems to work well with getting two views in Preview, although I don't see a way to share a single window, or a way to annotate live, like I did in Acrobat.

Hopefully other less expensive tools have similar dual live view functionality. PDF Pen might be worth looking at to. Free demo.
 
Using the Acrobat View>New Window method mentioned above, you can avoid switching between Tabs by selecting View>Split in Acrobat which will display both tabs on the screen at once (essentially the same "Split View" in PDF Expert. For real fun, View>SpreadSheet Split - named for obvious reasons once you see what it does.
 
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