iPad PDF viewing on iPad

Mr. Goodbar · 04-03-2010, 02:06 PM

For those of you that have received your iPads, how is the pdf viewing? I have a couple of magazines that I like to read and they are published as pdf files. They don't work well on most of the ereaders since they are very picture intensive and most of the ereaders don't have the horsepower. Typical file sizes are around 50MB.

Is there a way to load pdf's on the device other than through email? Can you copy them over via itunes? Will your reading place be saved when moving out to another application? Is it similar to reading a book in iBooks with pages or is it more like viewing a file with continuous scrolling? Thanks for any insight.

pilotbob · 04-03-2010, 02:07 PM

I'd like to hear this too... however, since Safari supports PDF internally I expect it is possible to view them. My question would be... how do you get to them. Will you need to set up a web server with your PDFs on it so that you can access them with the Safari on the iPad?

BOb

Mr. Goodbar · 04-03-2010, 02:29 PM

I know there are some iphone apps that basically include a webserver that will let you copy from you pc to the iphone over a wifi network. I'm just not sure how well they will work on the ipad or if any of them have been optimized yet for the ipad. I was also curious whether the Kindle app will support pdf viewing. Hopefully someone will be able to give some answers as they play with their new ipads.

leebase · 04-03-2010, 03:50 PM

There's a free pdf viewer that I've yet to download. Why don't you send me a link to a pdf that you might worry would have issues -- and I can check it out for you.

Lee

Graham · 04-03-2010, 04:13 PM

I'm interested here too. Having to view a pdf served from the web was one of the criticisms levelled against the JooJoo vs the iPad. I'd be surprised if the iPad has the same issue.

The Old Man · 04-03-2010, 04:26 PM

I have not yet been able to load a pdf from my computer to the iPad. I have iBooks and the iPDF app installed. In one attempt iTunes crashed. If anyone finds out how to do this please let us know.

ePub transfer has been trouble free.

Graham · 04-03-2010, 04:31 PM

I daresay it'll be in a future iTunes/iBooks release if it isn't there now. The conduit's there. Someone else said that iTunes was seeing pdfs as albums by Unknown Artists at the moment.

pilotbob · 04-03-2010, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Old Man

I have not yet been able to load a pdf from my computer to the iPad. I have iBooks and the iPDF app installed. In one attempt iTunes crashed. If anyone finds out how to do this please let us know.

ePub transfer has been trouble free.

Can you view a PDF with the browser that is online?

BOb

The Old Man · 04-03-2010, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Can you view a PDF with the browser that is online?

BOb

Yes. And you can copy that pdf as a bookmark to the home screen but it is not on the iPad, simply a link the file so if not wifi connected - too bad!

cjs703 · 04-03-2010, 04:52 PM

So far the easiest and best solution to reading a PDF on the iPad for me has been to buy GoodReader. I paid $1, but apparently that is a special price. It has the capability of saving the PDFs locally on the iPad and will let you download them from your Dropbox, from the web, or by uploading them over WiFi. It's really a bummer that I can't just drop a PDF into iTunes and read it that way. The other way is to either browse over the web in Safari, or email a PDF to yourself and view it in mail.app.

JoeC · 04-03-2010, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Old Man

I have not yet been able to load a pdf from my computer to the iPad. I have iBooks and the iPDF app installed. In one attempt iTunes crashed. If anyone finds out how to do this please let us know.

ePub transfer has been trouble free.

If you transfer an unencrypted ePub book does in show up in the same place as if you purchased an encrypted ePub book from Apple?

sciredz · 04-03-2010, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjs703

So far the easiest and best solution to reading a PDF on the iPad for me has been to buy GoodReader. I paid $1, but apparently that is a special price. It has the capability of saving the PDFs locally on the iPad and will let you download them from your Dropbox, from the web, or by uploading them over WiFi. It's really a bummer that I can't just drop a PDF into iTunes and read it that way. The other way is to either browse over the web in Safari, or email a PDF to yourself and view it in mail.app.

I have used Goodreader on the Ipod Touch. Does Goodreader run
perfect on the Ipad with no course resolution in the images?

sachinwalia · 04-03-2010, 06:01 PM

I downloaded goodreader PDF reader for iPad ($0.99) and is amazing. it even reflows pdf although it says its experimental. although if you have a PDF file with lot of white space around all the four corners I'd recommend you to crop it to make the experience better. Adobe acrobat does that but I don't know of any other tool. On the side note goodreader also allows you to download docs from most of the cloud service like google docs, box.net, dropbox etc and some more. overall I am more than happy with my iPad. with every minute I am discovering something amazing about the device.

here is the link:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goodr...363448914?mt=8

lilman · 04-03-2010, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachinwalia

if you have a PDF file with lot of white space around all the four corners I'd recommend you to crop it to make the experience better. Adobe acrobat does that but I don't know of any other tool.

You can use ImageMagick (free program) to crop white space from a pdf. The command is something like:
convert -fuzz 15% -bordercolor white -trim input.pdf output.pdf

Or if you want to crop a lot of pdfs at once, copy all of them to another directory, open a command prompt in this new directory and run:
mogrify -fuzz 15% -bordercolor white -trim *.pdf

Fat Abe · 04-03-2010, 07:28 PM

There is a list of 41+ questions and answers on this site:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/art...ions-answered/

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/art...ions-answered/

Both documents are a bit old, but it seems like Apple desires to sell you Pages or the iWork suite to interchange documents between your computer and iPad.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pages/id361309726?mt=8

Beware the one-way street features of the above.

In a few days, we'll see what alternatives people come up with. I'll wait for the jailbreak solution, if there are no low cost apps to view and modify certain folders in the iPad filesystem.

04-03-2010, 02:06 PM	#1
Mr. Goodbar Wizard Posts: 1,005 Karma: 98078 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Mini 4	PDF viewing on iPad For those of you that have received your iPads, how is the pdf viewing? I have a couple of magazines that I like to read and they are published as pdf files. They don't work well on most of the ereaders since they are very picture intensive and most of the ereaders don't have the horsepower. Typical file sizes are around 50MB. Is there a way to load pdf's on the device other than through email? Can you copy them over via itunes? Will your reading place be saved when moving out to another application? Is it similar to reading a book in iBooks with pages or is it more like viewing a file with continuous scrolling? Thanks for any insight.

04-03-2010, 06:01 PM	#13
sachinwalia Connoisseur Posts: 74 Karma: 26 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, CA Device: iPhone 4, iPad, Kindle Fire, Kindle SO	I downloaded goodreader PDF reader for iPad ($0.99) and is amazing. it even reflows pdf although it says its experimental. although if you have a PDF file with lot of white space around all the four corners I'd recommend you to crop it to make the experience better. Adobe acrobat does that but I don't know of any other tool. On the side note goodreader also allows you to download docs from most of the cloud service like google docs, box.net, dropbox etc and some more. overall I am more than happy with my iPad. with every minute I am discovering something amazing about the device. here is the link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goodr...363448914?mt=8 Last edited by sachinwalia; 04-03-2010 at 06:04 PM.

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04-03-2010, 02:07 PM	#2
pilotbob Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,832 Karma: 11844413 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tampa, FL USA Device: Kindle Touch	I'd like to hear this too... however, since Safari supports PDF internally I expect it is possible to view them. My question would be... how do you get to them. Will you need to set up a web server with your PDFs on it so that you can access them with the Safari on the iPad? BOb

04-03-2010, 02:29 PM	#3
Mr. Goodbar Wizard Posts: 1,005 Karma: 98078 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Mini 4	I know there are some iphone apps that basically include a webserver that will let you copy from you pc to the iphone over a wifi network. I'm just not sure how well they will work on the ipad or if any of them have been optimized yet for the ipad. I was also curious whether the Kindle app will support pdf viewing. Hopefully someone will be able to give some answers as they play with their new ipads.

04-03-2010, 03:50 PM	#4
leebase Karma Kameleon Posts: 2,960 Karma: 26738313 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: iPad Mini, iPhone X, Kindle Fire Tab HD 8, Walmart Onn	There's a free pdf viewer that I've yet to download. Why don't you send me a link to a pdf that you might worry would have issues -- and I can check it out for you. Lee

04-03-2010, 04:13 PM	#5
Graham Wizard Posts: 2,742 Karma: 32912427 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: North Yorkshire, UK Device: Kobo H20, Pixel 2, Samsung Chromebook Plus	I'm interested here too. Having to view a pdf served from the web was one of the criticisms levelled against the JooJoo vs the iPad. I'd be surprised if the iPad has the same issue.

04-03-2010, 04:26 PM	#6
The Old Man Fanatic Posts: 546 Karma: 1337413 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Keene, New Hampshire Device: iPad Mini	I have not yet been able to load a pdf from my computer to the iPad. I have iBooks and the iPDF app installed. In one attempt iTunes crashed. If anyone finds out how to do this please let us know. ePub transfer has been trouble free.

04-03-2010, 04:31 PM	#7
Graham Wizard Posts: 2,742 Karma: 32912427 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: North Yorkshire, UK Device: Kobo H20, Pixel 2, Samsung Chromebook Plus	I daresay it'll be in a future iTunes/iBooks release if it isn't there now. The conduit's there. Someone else said that iTunes was seeing pdfs as albums by Unknown Artists at the moment.

04-03-2010, 04:52 PM	#10
cjs703 Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 488 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Pocketbook 360	So far the easiest and best solution to reading a PDF on the iPad for me has been to buy GoodReader. I paid $1, but apparently that is a special price. It has the capability of saving the PDFs locally on the iPad and will let you download them from your Dropbox, from the web, or by uploading them over WiFi. It's really a bummer that I can't just drop a PDF into iTunes and read it that way. The other way is to either browse over the web in Safari, or email a PDF to yourself and view it in mail.app.

04-03-2010, 07:28 PM	#15
Fat Abe Man Who Stares at Books Posts: 1,824 Karma: 10606722 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: 50th State, USA. Also, PA, NY, CA, and elsewhere. Device: All of the Above	There is a list of 41+ questions and answers on this site: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/art...ions-answered/ http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/art...ions-answered/ Both documents are a bit old, but it seems like Apple desires to sell you Pages or the iWork suite to interchange documents between your computer and iPad. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pages/id361309726?mt=8 Beware the one-way street features of the above. In a few days, we'll see what alternatives people come up with. I'll wait for the jailbreak solution, if there are no low cost apps to view and modify certain folders in the iPad filesystem.

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