PDF Files

[Pyrotechnic]

Apologise for this as it does seem to have been done to death. However, I have just got myself in the last 2 hours a 16GB Wifi iPad and I am keen to progress this part quite quickly.

One of the reasons I got the iPad is that it is easy to carry around and gives me the ability to read some study notes I have to learn over the coming months. The notes I have to study are split into about 20 PDF Files. Obvioulsy I would like to store these on the iPad (Not sure if this is possible), although I have read quickly that Readdle may allow me to do this. I have no issue in purchasing an app that would allow me to do this. I also notice that annotation is a nice to have, so this may come in handy.

Any hints and tips on this would be appreciated.

 

[MacDawg]

PDFs can be stored in iBooks as well

I also use GoodReader myself

 

[Pyrotechnic]

Thank you. Just reading about that. I guess ibooks is the basic way to do it and the Apps are the pro way ?

 

[Satori]

Thank you. Just reading about that. I guess ibooks is the basic way to do it and the Apps are the pro way ?

iBooks is fine as a PDF reader. Just drag your PDFs into itunes, sync and you're set.

 

[Fry-man22]

Thank you. Just reading about that. I guess ibooks is the basic way to do it and the Apps are the pro way ?

No real pro way and basic way, it's all just another app.

 

[Pyrotechnic]

The more I look into this. I think I need a nice way to store them organised into folders if possible and the ability to view them whilst not online as I do not have 3G, so they will have to be stored locally.

 

[palpatine]

iBooks is nice, but pales in comparison to some of the third party apps. i have always been impressed with goodreader, but to be honest, iannotate is a lot better. one of the coolest features is the global search--search all of your files all at once for a turn. pretty nice

 

[Pyrotechnic]

Goodreader seems to be a popular choice on here which is making me consider downloading it. I presume I can store the PDF files on the iPad with this one.

 

[palpatine]

Goodreader seems to be a popular choice on here which is making me consider downloading it. I presume I can store the PDF files on the iPad with this one.

sure. you can download it and easily move files into it. i think goodreader is the popular choice, because that is the one a lot of people started with, but i think you'll find iannotate to be far superior. i started with goodreader as well, but i barely use it at all anymore.

 

[Pyrotechnic]

What made you change to it from good reader. I am presuming this app will also let me store my PDF files locally on the iPad so I can read them when on the move.

 

[palpatine]

What made you change to it from good reader. I am presuming this app will also let me store my PDF files locally on the iPad so I can read them when on the move.

they both do a great job of reading and annotating. iannotate has a global search feature. it also has many, many more features. iannotate has really improved this year. goodreader is standing still (in my opinion).

 

[Pyrotechnic]

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. I will look into all the above and see which suits best. I probably have around a 100mb of PDF files that I would like to store on the iPad and carry around with me.

 

[palpatine]

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. I will look into all the above and see which suits best. I probably have around a 100mb of PDF files that I would like to store on the iPad and carry around with me.

100mb? i've got 20gb or so of pdfs on there right now.
it's great

 

[Pyrotechnic]

I've only got a 16gb ipad so I would be in trouble if I have that many lol

 

[palpatine]

I've only got a 16gb ipad so I would be in trouble if I have that many lol

actually, i have several hundred gigabytes of pdfs. discipline with data management + cloud services is the key. anyhow, i'll get a 16gb ipad 3 when that comes out.

 

[ravenvii]

Also check out PDF Expert.

And PDF Converter if you want to "print" to PDF (print webpages to PDF, save stuff as PDF, etc).

Those two are all you need as far as PDFs are concerned, IMO.

 

[palpatine]

Also check out PDF Expert.

And PDF Converter if you want to "print" to PDF (print webpages to PDF, save stuff as PDF, etc).

Those two are all you need as far as PDFs are concerned, IMO.

PDF Expert is nice. No doubt. But, it is much less feature-rich. iAnnotate does everything it does, but usually better (I can think of one specialized exception), and with more options.

 

[panamajack]

I've spent way too much time ...

... pondering the perfect PDF solution for my iPad since I bought it in the Spring. iBooks is an excellent starter app, but it's a far better ePub reader than PDF App; if annotating PDFs and having them synced with a service like Dropbox is important to you, then a 3rd party app is essential. I've literally tried all the major options. Goodreader seems to be the most popular, but it leaves much to be desired wrt it's UI. Same with iAnnotate and countless less functional apps. Granted, UI is a matter of taste, but if the free iBooks isn't good enough for your needs than I think it's worthwhile paying for a pleasant experience. Ugly buttons bug the heck out me ....

I use iBooks for PDFs I'm only planning on reading, but for research related reading where annotating / highlighting etc. is needed I've settled with Readdle's PDF Expert. It has a nice UI and an excellent feature set that basically allows you to do almost everything Preview / PDF-Pen on the Mac can do on your iPad (signatures, add pages, reorder pages within document, excellent annotation tools, etc.). At $10 it's definitely pricier than the others, but after trying them all I can tell you I think it's worth it (and I'm an Appstore Scrooge). ReaddleDoc's is only $5 and seems to have the same great looking UI, although they must have left out some of the more premium editing features out. Also, many Apps advertise annotation export support, but PDF Expert is the only one I've managed to get working reliably.

 

[jojoba]

I'm a relatively heavy pdf user at work and have tested out iAnnotate and PDF Expert since I got my iPad about six weeks ago. So far I find myself using mostly PDF Expert due to a much easier to handle interface than iAnnotate (although I do really like the latter, too). PDF Expert also seems to take much less space on my iPad. I have GoodReader as well but haven't really tested it out properly, as I was told by various people that iAnnotate and PDF Expert were superior apps for annotation purposes.