iTunes U/annotating PDFs on iOS

mpw_amherstmpw_amherst
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited September 2015

I'm about to begin a PhD and want to find a simple, convenient and (preferably) Apple way to sync and keep together all my PDFs and documents, allowing me to annotate and/or highlight them on my iOS devices. A friend has recommended Mendeley and I know I can highlight and annotate in iBooks on the Mac. However, I don't seem to be able to annotate or highlight PDFs, at least, in iBooks in iOS. I understand I might be able to in iTunes U in iOS but for that it would seem I need to be enrolled on an iTunes U course.

 

Any suggestions?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    mpw_amherstmpw_amherst Posts: 563member



    Any suggestions? Or should this be in another forum?

  • Reply 2 of 3
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    I noticed that iBooks didn't support the same functions with PDFs as the ebooks. The ebook text selection works really well and that's essentially the method I'd like to see them use to copy/paste content on iOS instead of the selector handles. There's no way round it but to get an app to make up for the lack of functionality. You might be able to still sync PDFs via iTunes and then use the share sheets to open PDFs in apps that can annotate them when you need to. They might not open at the same page if you read them in iBooks though so you'd be better reading all PDFs in the annotation app too and just syncing via iTunes. Adobe has an app for working with PDFs:

    https://itunes.apple.com/app/id469337564?mt=8

    There are more listed here but Mendeley looks like a good option:

    http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/pdf-annotation

    Some apps show up in iTunes where you can drop files into them so that's one way you can copy files directly into the app through iTunes, see the file sharing section here:

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201301
  • Reply 3 of 3
    mpw_amherstmpw_amherst Posts: 563member

    Thanks Marvin, all really helpful and much appreciated. Today I've also been recommending Zotero. I don't know if there's anyway I could find some buying advice/review of these various products?

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