Preview for iPadOS 26 vs macOS Tahoe: Finally a good native PDF tool on iPad

AppleInsider

As part of making the iPad as powerful as the Mac, Apple has migrated Preview to iPadOS. Here's how it stands in iPadOS 26 versus macOS Tahoe.

Preview in macOS Tahoe [left], iPadOS 26 [right]

Mac users will be extremely familiar with the basic idea of the Preview app. In essence, if you have a PDF file, a document, or an image that you want to check out, it can be opened using Preview and quickly viewed.

This gave Mac users a lightweight app that didn't necessarily require the opening of other tools like Photoshop, or even needing to install an app to read PDF files.

The ease of opening apps can make it feel practically invisible while in the middle of a task, but the app does offer some more useful functionality for annotating and note-taking.

Before and with iPadOS 18, there was no dedicated Preview app. Since the operating system worked primarily from an app-first workflow rather than a file-first approach, you were typically already inside the right app before you opened the file.

As for the extended features that Preview on macOS brought to the table, the nearest thing on iPad was to use Markup while using the Files app, or to tweak PDFs in Notes.

With the introduction of iPadOS 26, that Preview app finally makes an appearance on the smaller tablet screen. In a productivity-extending operating system release, it's one that brings the iPad even more in line with the Mac for utility.

Preview iPadOS 26 vs macOS Tahoe - Appearance

The first big difference between the iPadOS and macOS versions of Preview is how you look at it when opening the app directly, without files.

The macOS version opens up with a dialog box to open a file that you wish to preview. This is very utilitarian in approach, but it doesn't really need to do more than that.

You can't bring up a dialog box like this in iPadOS, so the iPad Preview opens up with more of an app-based layout. The top third has "Preview" displayed, reminding you of what app it is, while the lower two-thirds consists of a pile of icons and thumbnails for files that you can open with the app.

Initially opening Preview for iPadOS 26

Neatly, there's a sidebar button that brings up more options, but also removes some of the filtering options from the top once enabled. This is a nice piece of tidying up with the iPadOS UI.

Of course, you can use Files and select to open a document in Preview instead of other apps that may be installed that could open it.

Once you open a file, you're greeted with pretty similar and minimalist interfaces in both apps. Each have a strip of feature icons along the top, above the content and out of the way.

Apple seemingly wants the main focus to be on the thing you're previewing for both apps, with the other features available but staying unobtrusive.

Preview iPadOS 26 vs macOS Tahoe - Features

The macOS original provided many ways to interact with a document, short of performing major edits. Instead, depending on the file in use, you can apply annotations to it.

For Mac users, a PDF could be highlighted and notes applied, drawn on in pen with a mouse, and various shapes can be added.

Annotating a document in Preview for macOS Tahoe

As expected, the iPadOS 26 app does the same things. There are some differences, such as positioning the feature icons in different places, but the things you can do are practically identical.

The real exception is when you want to markup the document as the Apple Pencil Markup tools can be brought up from the bottom of the screen. You could add items using this interface, such as text boxes and shapes, but the tools are also immediately presenting the opportunity to scrawl away on the document

Using an Apple Pencil to doodle places to edit on a photograph is much more intuitive than doing so with a mouse.

In the case of blank PDF forms to be filled in, both Mac and iPad have ways to fill them out. Both have a form-filling function that detects areas where it is expected for you to fill it out with some information.

Annotating a PDF in Preview for iPadOS 26

Each also has the ability to add in a signature to sign the form, which you will have premade earlier. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from signing it manually on the iPad version.

When it comes to UI, there's the Menu Bar to consider on macOS, which includes all of the features you may wish to carry out in Preview.

With iPadOS 26's changes, there's also a Menu Bar to use on the tablet, providing the same function. For Mac users who are starting to use the iPad, as well as productivity power users, this will be a very helpful addition.

Preview iPadOS 26 vs macOS Tahoe - Exports

While you can leave your annotated file in the original format, both iPadOS and macOS Preview apps have ample export options. All of which provide you with a good selection of document options.

For macOS, you can "Export As" PDF and EPUB formats. The full Export dialog includes XHTML and HTML, XML, and image formats such as JPEG, PNG, and WEBP.

Some of the export options in Preview for macOS Tahoe

On the iPad, the export options are in the share sheet as well as under Export in the Menu Bar. The options on the share sheet will vary by what other applications you have installed, with options to convert to word or open as PDF in Word being available alongside some Acrobat editing options.

The Menu Bar Export option lists HEIC, JPEG, PDF, PNG, and TIFF.

Exports in Preview for iPadOS 26

Looking at the file types available, it seems that the macOS version has much better coverage, at least in dealing with formats that aren't usually dealt with by the average iPad user. The iPadOS 26 version of Preview may not be as useful here as the Mac edition, but it still does the essentials.

A Preview in maturity

Preview on Mac was, and still is, one of the easiest ways to look at a document, saving users time and resources in not needing to open heavyweight apps for a quick peek.

This hasn't really been a concern on iPad, with its app-forward approach. Apple's solution wasn't great, but apps like GoodReader were. With iPadOS 26, Preview it is very useful when considering the filling out of PDF files and other documents with a quick return time.

While not as immediately useful as the macOS version, which is an essential tool, Preview on iPadOS 26 is still impressive in its own right. Something that should keep the most productive iPad users who want a more Mac-like iPad happy.

It's not necessarily the biggest improvement for iPadOS, but it does bring feature parity to the table in a fairly big way.



Read on AppleInsider

sflagel

The iPad should not be “as powerful as the Mac”; it should have been a different computing experience.  Now we even have menu items, towel thrown. 

Instead of a natural human experience using fingers, eyes, voice, and a pen, we have a substandard Mac with a detachable screen that you can scribble on. 

The “iPad experience” needed a lot more work annd imagination, and it would have turned into a useful magical third device. 

strangedays

sflagel said:

The iPad should not be “as powerful as the Mac”; it should have been a different computing experience.  Now we even have menu items, towel thrown. 

Instead of a natural human experience using fingers, eyes, voice, and a pen, we have a substandard Mac with a detachable screen that you can scribble on. 

The “iPad experience” needed a lot more work annd imagination, and it would have turned into a useful magical third device. 

Nah there’s nothing inherently wrong about lists of actions (a menu). Without such a thing apps could never be more than simple affairs. I don’t imagine menus on iPad will be unwieldy 

ihatescreennames

I’m curious, do signatures that were created on a Mac sync over to the iPad? If not, is there a similar “write your signature on a blank sheet of paper and hold it in front of the camera” way to get signatures into iPad Preview?

tht

What's the maximum number of Preview windows? 10? 20? 50?

mplsp

This is an awesome (if a bit overdue) addition to iPadOS. Preview on MacOS is an incredibly simple yet useful tool and was frequently one of the main reasons I had to use my Mac instead of my iPad. I doubt the more limited set of exports commented on in the article will be an issue for the majority of users and there exist dedicated apps for those who need the functionality. For most, Preview will more than fit the bill.

Does anyone know if the iPad version allows adding, deleting and reordering pages like the Mac version does?

StrangeDays said:

sflagel said:

The iPad should not be “as powerful as the Mac”; it should have been a different computing experience.  Now we even have menu items, towel thrown. 

Instead of a natural human experience using fingers, eyes, voice, and a pen, we have a substandard Mac with a detachable screen that you can scribble on. 

The “iPad experience” needed a lot more work annd imagination, and it would have turned into a useful magical third device. 

Nah there’s nothing inherently wrong about lists of actions (a menu). Without such a thing apps could never be more than simple affairs. I don’t imagine menus on iPad will be unwieldy 

it really depends on the implementation but I agree - one can only develop apps so far without some sort of menu structure.

ihatescreennames said:

I’m curious, do signatures that were created on a Mac sync over to the iPad? If not, is there a similar “write your signature on a blank sheet of paper and hold it in front of the camera” way to get signatures into iPad Preview?

Why not just write on the screen? The iPad touchscreen is built for this kind of input/interaction.

ihatescreennames

MplsP said:

Why not just write on the screen? The iPad touchscreen is built for this kind of input/interaction.

Well, obviously, but that isn’t always the easiest thing. For instance, we frequently get documents that need multiple signatures but not all the signees are there. For instance, if my wife is at work and I’m at home I can add her signature and return the document instead of waiting for her to get home and sign it herself.

charlesn

sflagel said:

The iPad should not be “as powerful as the Mac”; it should have been a different computing experience.  Now we even have menu items, towel thrown. 

Instead of a natural human experience using fingers, eyes, voice, and a pen, we have a substandard Mac with a detachable screen that you can scribble on. 

The “iPad experience” needed a lot more work annd imagination, and it would have turned into a useful magical third device. 

The world would beg to disagree with your assertion that the iPad has failed to turn into a useful third device. The iPad has been such a runaway success that it actually has no real competition in the tablet space. There's only iPad and everything else, most of which is unprofitable, forgettable or both. While I've never been a fan of iPadOS, I also don't confuse my personal opinion with how the product is performing in the marketplace. 

nubus

Nice to have this on iPad.

Preview continues to be oddly named. A preview is read-only.

The naming hides the capabilities available, and it seems to block Apple from doing a real Acrobat (semi-Pro) killer.
Users want to merge PDF-files (easy in "Preview"), redact, extract text/images, and comment. I'm sure Apple could make a "PDF Companion" tool, and it would much improve the value proposition of Mac + iPad as Acrobat Pro licenses don't come cheap. Professional designers might have other requirements but it would be the PDF tool "for the rest of us". Right now pdf24 is it - but Apple could make something more user friendly.