Am I doing this right? Storing PDFs on the device.

It is personal for everyone how well it works for them--just individual situations. I have a friend on the west coast that travels almost every week and she's been lucky to get some flights with onboard wifi making things so much easier. Laptops are s pain traveling but guess things just won't work out for you yet to jettison yours.

 

Could I jump in here with a question without creating a tsunami? I spent a pretty sizable chunk of change on my iPad (64 gig, etc) only later to find the same problem that Nate describes. I know many of my friends describe a similar frustration with their device.

I know, I know (how well I know) it is not a computer! Neverthess, the problem is there, for many of us, as 1941-C4 describes. There is no "universal" place to store files that each app can access. My question: Is there any tablet out there today that has a repository where all files can be copied and accessed from any/all apps? I would give my iPad to my wife in a heart beat if I could find one that provides file structure and accessibility from all apps. She loves the games as well as the Photo features.

Jer

 

You folks need so lessons in how PDFs work.

And yes I can share annotations between devices and platforms.

The best tools are
DropBox
GoodReader
IAnnotate
Jolliprint (used from Safari).

Adobe's Acrobat Reader X on windows 7

Preview in OS X

Other lesser tools
Notability
Pages
QuickOffice

Don't fool with too many PDF tools on the iPad or you will run into OPEN WITH... Problems.
I think the limit is ten.


Annotations are stored in a second hidden file that must be transferred. Barring that the only other choice is to FLATTEN THE PDF to send device independent markup and high lights. Some poorly written schemes flatten PDFs by creating images of the Annotated PDF - bad news if you need to work with text.


Here is some info from iAnnotate update


What's New in iAnnotate
Posted by Dev Team on 07 January 2011 09:13 PM


Version 1.4 of iAnnotate adds:

Annotation
Typewriter annotations: add editable text notes directly on the PDF page. adjust font, size, color, justification, and rotation
Typewriter w/Today's Date: instantly insert the text for today's date (for example, for signature forms)
Includes the ability to create stamps out of typewriter annotations
Thickness and transparency for Ink annotations (allows free-form highlighting non-OCR documents)
Vector eraser for Ink annotations
Ability to view several more kinds of existing annotations (including callout, line, caret, etc)
Ability to directly import image files into the stamp library
Interface
Single-Page mode: optional setting to display only one page at a time (similar to iBooks), with swipe/slide or tap to turn pages
Improved Document search: proper handling for phrases, punctuation, and even regular expressions.
Page scrollbar now available in Go-To-Page (useful for large documents)
Integrated dictionary, Wikipedia, and Google lookup of selected text
Forward/Back navigation (esp useful in a document with links)
Next/Previous annotation, bookmark, and outline element toolbar buttons
Fit-to-width and fit-to-height toolbar buttons
Ability to drag/move the popup annotation editors
General
Improved handling of existing annotations (most existing annotations are now editable)
Improved handling of multi-column PDF
Many bug fixes and minor interface improvements
NEW: Experimental Features
These are high-demand features that we have developed for the iAnnotate user community to try!
Still in a "beta" phase, so some unusual or unexpected behavior may occur. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Ability to save a webpage as a (vector) PDF file: store webpages for later reading, searching, and markup
Ability to import Word (DOC/DOCX) and PowerPoint (PPT/PPTX) documents as PDF files








Version 1.3.2 of iAnnotate adds:

Updated for iOS 4.2
In-app printing support


Ability to "Flatten" annotations into PDF page content, including end notes for all text popups/comments


Ability to email only annotated pages of a document (in flattened or normal form)



Significant improvement in handling drawing and processing of very large PDF files

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

Yeah...any of the android based tablets let you drop files onto the sd card if the sd card slot is implemented...lol.

I do not know how RIM handles this.

The Xoom seems to be the best contender as far as usability and smoothness but it is way over priced and not proven yet. I played with one for about an hour and liked it but can't say it was a betterbexperience than the iPad. But it will be a while before the sd card slot is implemented. So I am not ready to put my eggs in that basket yet. But I am getting the bacon ready...lol. The wife said she would take my iPad off my hands if I decide to go that route.

Nate

 

So...you going to give us that lesson or you keeping it a secret?

Nate

 

The way iOS currently handles files, a single file can be opened in multiple apps, but only be edited in one of them. Otherwise you won't be able to open the updated version in all files.

The closest you will get is by editing PDF's in Goodreader and then opening the PDF's in other apps using the Open in... button. Since any edits outside Goodreader will not be synced back, you would have to reimport the edited file into Goodreader, be it through iTunes, Email or Dropbox or perhaps an Open in... function, though PDF Expert does not seem to support this.

 

Thanks Nate for the info. While I would not consider my self an expert, I have been working with PDF files long enough (both on my desktop [Adobe] as well as most of the PDF apps that are supposed to work with iPad) to know my way around with how they react with or without annotations.

Probably a lot of people will now explore some of the other options (pads/slates) if they allow for some sort of file structure or file manager.

I had read some of the reviews, but, don't want to start a firebrand here on an iPad forum. I really appreciate the iPad for what it can do. I just need something that goes a little farther. So the wife may get the iPad after all. Just wish I had purchased one of the le$$er versions.

Jer

 

Back to the topic at hand...if Goodreader would allow editing of input cells I could narrow this project down to one app. I think I'll post a suggestion to their site and cross my fingers.

Or if PDF Expert would improve their navigation I could use it. Or if Apple would update their iBook app....

If all three would get in a room together I bet they could has it out in an hour and give us a true solution. Lol

Nate

 

There are lots of tablets out there running Windows, which will do everything requested. HP will even sell you one of those tablets Balmer showed off, if you ask loudly and often.

They have been tried and found lacking. The business users I support have been overwhelmingly happy with their iPads. Most users don't want four programs for one file type many would happily use one program for everything if they could.

 

And now another irritating experience with the iPad. After reading 4phun's post...it seemed like he knew something I didn't so I tried out his recommendation of iannotate. Cost 9.99. The description says it allows you to fill out forms. I thought that meant form fields. Nope. It doesn't do form fields. Therefore it doesn't do anything that good reader doesn't do. Wasted another ten bucks. No refund since it does what it says it does but I failed to read the detail. Damnitalltohell!

Oh well...I came out of is with a little more knowledge. More data to make the ultimate decision. That's always a good thing. LOL

Nate