Which one: PDF Expert, GoodNotes or Notability to doodle,highlight and annotate PDFs?

[devnull]

I will purchase an iPad Pro 12.9" soon.

What I want to do is simply to edit PDFs (scanned books mostly) so that I can underline them, make small annotations on the margins and highlight certain paragraphs.

Which app would be better for my needs?:

(ratings from the AppStore)

- PDF Expert - rated 4.6 - 10,99 €
- PDF Viewer - rated 4.6 - Free
- Noteshelf 2 - rated 4.3 - 10,99 €
- GoodNotes 5 - rated 4.4 - 8,99 €
- Notability - rated 4.0 - 10,99 €
- others?

[Marinolino]

Foxit Mobile PDF --- free
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/foxi...?platform=ipad


GoodReader
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znnlb05a4V4

five pdf editors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BR3sBTXDcA

[hapmas77]

I propose XODO Pdf Reader

https://itunes.apple.com/id/app/xodo...805075929?mt=8

[Dylrob]

Notability is more of a note taking app. A very powerful one actually. I use it all the time in my classes because it can can voice notes and sync to the written/typed ones. I sometimes use it for PDFs, however keep in mind that it has to import the PDF into its native note format first. (you can export it back into a PDF, but I imagine you’ll lose certain things like TOC)

GoodReader has been my go to PDF app since I first bought a generation one iPad. It's basically a advanced file manager with PDF functionality on top of it. TBH though, while it was vital to me in the early days, as iOS’s file management has improved in recent years, I find this program to be increasingly cumbersome. If I could find another program that lets me crop out the margins in the same way this one does, I’d probably switch.

Now as for a simple PDF editor, the native Files app technically qualifies. You can very easily make highlights, comments, and hand-written notes. The only major downside to the Files app is that it doesn’t have any way to bookmark or remember the last page you were on.

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

GoodReader has been my go to PDF app since I first bought a generation one iPad. It's basically a advanced file manager with PDF functionality on top of it. TBH though, while it was vital to me in the early days, as iOS’s file management has improved in recent years, I find this program to be increasingly cumbersome. If I could find another program that lets me crop out the margins in the same way this one does, I’d probably switch.

If GoodReader had a free trial, I'd try it. Given that I don't know how it crops margins, Bookari allows for cropping margins and has a free version. I can't tell the difference between the paid and free one and it's not a very good ereader on IOS (I like the Android version, though), but it works nicely cropping margins in pdf's for me.

[Marinolino]

Originally Posted by peaceridge

If GoodReader had a free trial, I'd try it. Given that I don't know how it crops margins, Bookari allows for cropping margins and has a free version. I can't tell the difference between the paid and free one and it's not a very good ereader on IOS (I like the Android version, though), but it works nicely cropping margins in pdf's for me.

All better (free of charge) iOS pdf viewers should have all the basic zooming and cropping options fully covered, let alone charged one's.

Unlike with eink readers I don't usually use cropping on tablets because quick pinch-zooming, with or without the zoom locking, and double-tapping is usually good enough for me.

Here is GoodReader manual (Tips for reading, scrolling and zooming link / and / Crop margin link)

https://goodreader.com/gr-man-view-pdf.html

[Dylrob]

I know a lot of PDF readers let you automatically crop out margins, but while this will account for pre-defined margins, it won't work for scanned pages, nor will it let you crop out headers and footers. What I like about GoodReader is that it lets you manually define the area you want to crop out.

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

I know a lot of PDF readers let you automatically crop out margins, but while this will account for pre-defined margins, it won't work for scanned pages, nor will it let you crop out headers and footers. What I like about GoodReader is that it lets you manually define the area you want to crop out.

I just tried it on a scanned book in Bookari and it does allow manually cropping of scanned pages and cropping of headers and footers. The link to GoodReader seems to show the same functionality (after cropping double tapping to zoom in and out). I'm not suggesting Bookari over GoodReader, just thought you might like another option.

[Marinolino]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

I know a lot of PDF readers let you automatically crop out margins, but while this will account for pre-defined margins, it won't work for scanned pages, nor will it let you crop out headers and footers. What I like about GoodReader is that it lets you manually define the area you want to crop out.

Zoom-locking should work on scans also, either on the scanned pages without ocr layer or with ocr layer behind the page image (so that text can be highlighted, copied and searched).

E.g. In older versions of Foxit we can use zoom-locking only in vertical continuous scrolling mode, first we use pinch-zooming with two fingers to zoom in at a desired margin width, takes about 1/2 second or less, and then we have to choose zoom-lock in the menu, to lock the zoom for all the (vertically scrolled) pages.

I don't mind using pinch-zooming for zooming-in on every (scanned) page, because it takes me just 1/3 of second or less, but those who want to also get rid of headers and footers should use the crop-mode instead (by adjusting the rectangle box), this is also the way to keep the same zooming level during the horizontal page flipping in older Foxit and similar pdf readers that do not keep the same zooming level for the next page.

In Goodreader, newer Foxit etc. we can crop margins separately for the odd and even pages, which is useful for the scanned pages.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by Marinolino

Zoom-locking should work on scans also, either on the scanned pages without ocr layer or with ocr layer behind the page image (so that text can be highlighted, copied and searched).

E.g. In older versions of Foxit we can use zoom-locking only in vertical continuous scrolling mode, first we use pinch-zooming with two fingers to zoom in at a desired margin width, takes about 1/2 second or less, and then we have to choose zoom-lock in the menu, to lock the zoom for all the (vertically scrolled) pages.

I don't mind using pinch-zooming for zooming-in on every (scanned) page, because it takes me just 1/3 of second or less, but those who want to also get rid of headers and footers should use the crop-mode instead (by adjusting the rectangle box), this is also the way to keep the same zooming level during the horizontal page flipping in older Foxit and similar pdf readers that do not keep the same zooming level for the next page.

In Goodreader, newer Foxit etc. we can crop margins separately for the odd and even pages, which is useful for the scanned pages.

Thanks, Foxit has everything what I want!

(Although I see its one of those apps that uses a shared codebase for iOS and Android... teasing me with a a volume button page turner that Apple would never allow. )

[rfog]

My main PDF app in iOS is this one:

https://apps.apple.com/app/pdf-viewe...120099014?ls=1

It is free for the basic and synchronizes reading position across devices, and supports iOS Files App in full.

[Marinolino]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

Thanks, Foxit has everything what I want!

(Although I see its one of those apps that uses a shared codebase for iOS and Android... teasing me with a a volume button page turner that Apple would never allow. )

Or using it for zooming in/out, if our fingers are greasy I guess

Those who'd still like to use their pdf viewers despite them not being as good at cropping the margins, double-page scans or displaying multiple 3/4/5 column documents (it is usually the case with eink readers only) can easily and quickly do that on their laptops beforehand (takes a few minutes for an average pdf book, with some practice) using free tools such as Briss, k2pdfopt, pdfscissors etc.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...56&postcount=3

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...98&postcount=5

[jasjones845]

1. PDF Viewer
2. Foxit PDF Reader

These two are the best for mobile phones.

[johnnyb]

Give Readdle Documents a try. Many of PDF Expert’s basic features (good for highlighting and reading) in a free app that also lets you view a host of other formats.