Last week we tried to figure who had the easiest way to turn our own documents into PDFs. But what if someone sends us one and -- even worse -- wants us to fill it out, sign it and send it back? Well, that'd be a whole 'nother kettle of digital fish, wouldn't it? Can someone scratch our PDF annotating itch?
PDF Expert ($9.99/iPad)
PDF Expert for the iPhone ($9.99/iPhone)
Readdle is clearly the name you have to think of yourself as going up against when you bring your document management software to the App Store. And here it's no different as the famed developer brings its PDF annotation software to iOS with this pair of pricey if hugely functional apps for the iPhone and the iPad.
The usual sorts of controls
Along the left hand side of the screen run your controls in the iPad version, while the iPhone flavor puts them at the bottom of the screen. In either case, they pack the same wallop. Tap the Documents folder to open a list of your docs. Tap Recents to see the last few docs you had open. Network gives you access to a host of cloud storage options (though as of this writing, the app was still offering up your MobileMe iDisk as an option). Settings lets you choose things like scrolling direction, to open the document the moment you finish downloading it, to lock the app with a passcode, and more.
Might be time to update some of that cloud storage there, Readdle
This is all pretty usual stuff. It's when you open the app that the magic really kicks in. Across the top of the app appear buttons to get annotating. Draw squares, circles, lines, arrows; highlight text or underline it or strikethrough. You can also add sticky notes or type directly on the document. Even more impressive are the stamps you can add to your document such as "Draft," "Final," "For Comment," "Sign Here," or even create your own custom stamps in four different colors.
Highlighting, typing, underlining, freehand, VOID stamp, form fields, this one does it all
Best of all for professional users, tap the fancy pen icon to open the signature panel. Sign at the bottom of the screen and PDF Expert saves your signature for later. Tap and hold on the document and the options menu that appears includes "Signature." Tap it and you can either put in your own by selecting "My Signature" or if you need someone else's tap "Custom Signature" for their one-time, not saved John Hancock.
Not my real signature; my handwriting's much worse
Finally, open a PDF that's been set up with form fields that you fill in and PDF Expert recognizes this complex format. Tap in the fields, up pops the keyboard, and you can fill in whatever the document requires. Type in the text fields, check marks in the boxes, and all the other features Adobe includes. Best of all, every annotation exports fully to Preview and Acrobat. It's this last feature that sets PDF Expert apart from other PDF annotators out there.
iAnnotate ($9.99/iPad)
Designed almost to look like Chrome, Aji's iAnnotate opens each document in its own tab. Seven buttons run across the app's top. The file cabinet takes you to your document management page where you can see recents, unread PDFs, tag and mail documents. A wrench icon allowed us to add toolbars, the gear took us to settings, and the Share button gave us multiple email options. Down and up arrows allow you to get documents into iAnnotate or out of it, though the app is limited in its access. The only web service built in is Dropbox or a WebDAV, though you can download from the web with the built in browser. We could get to box.net but getting a document out of it into the app was more tricky.
A very fully featured control panel hides in the filing cabinet
What's more, you'll have to know the name of the document when you pull up your cloud service, or you'll have to have a very organized folder system, as iAnnotate oddly uses a text document-like icon to indicate PDFs instead of the familiar red one from Adobe. To be fair, the developers probably didn't feel they needed official icons since PDFs are all this app opens.
Are those text files or PDFs?
Inside the documents themselves, though, iAnnotate is chock full of options. Tap the dialog balloon to leave a sticky note, the pencil to scribble across your document, the highlighter to highlight text, the underline button to do what you'd think, the typewriter to put font text directly on the document, and the pencil box to open up a toolbox packed with more. Here you can take screenshots of the page open, can share the PDF through email, set a photo on the document, and record an audio note up to sixty seconds.
Lots of good controls and tools to annotate your documents
These are amazing features and to some extent even outgun Readdle: 206 stamps to PDF Expert's 18 -- though to be fair, many of iAnnotate's are different colored versions of the same thing. Both allow you to create custom stamps, so ultimately it comes out something of a wash. However, iAnnotate failed with field forms in PDF format, as we opened a form to fill out and found our text and check boxes had disappeared.
It's fun to add an audio note, but it didn't show up once we exported from the app
GoodReader for iPad ($4.99/iPad)
GoodReader for iPhone ($4.99/iPhone)
We expected great things from Good.iWare Ltd's GoodReader, as it was one of the first document management apps we purchased back when it sold for just $0.99 and all we had was an iPhone. When we got our iPad, that version was among our first purchases. While attending college with a PDF heavy reading list, GoodReader was literally a lifesaver. It handled all the massive files we threw at it and great new features were ladled in nearly every month.
Lots of document management possibilities here
When they finally added in annotations, we knew we could use it to mark up our documents to our heart's content. You start in the My Documents screen and can add from your Dopbox, Box.net, SugarSync, WebDAV accounts, and the latest updates have added in iCloud access. A built-in browser can also take you to content. GoodReader even goes most services one better by allowing you to add your email account, giving you access to attachments deep in your archives.
GoodReader lets you dig deep and that doesn't even count iCloud
However you get your document into the app, your PDF is now yours for the mark up. The moment you open a PDF and the annotation tool, you are asked if you want to keep your original copy and make a separate annotated version. Whichever you choose, GoodReader then puts the tools in your hand. Draw lines, arrows, boxes, and circles; highlight, underline, squiggly underline, or strikethrough text. Tap the dialog bubble to add in comments or use the typewriter function to type directly onto the document. Every pen tool allows you to pick from millions of colors, seven thicknesses, and four levels of opacity.
Tools are very customizable, as you can see
All annotations are visible when you open your PDF in Preview or in Acrobat, and GoodReader's set of document management tools is still the one to beat with its use of optical character recognition to produce text-only views of the document (newer, native PDFs only), its adjustable brightness night view, a table of contents that includes bookmarks and annotations, and its wide range of other formats the app opens.
Typing -- or anything else -- is easy to move and readjust
If there's one place GoodReader stumbles, it's in the management of form field PDFs. Currently it can not recognize this element of PDFs and any signatures added would have to be done free hand every time. Unless you particularly find yourself needing this functionality frequently, it'd be hard to pass up an app with this much power. But until they can bring this function to the app, it's a glaring gap in GoodReader's
Sign on the dotted line
iAnnotate has some great things like a lot but the implementation can be confusing (it comes with a 52 page manual after all), but its not entirely a case of bigger is better. We'd gladly trade some stamps and photo embedding for field form completion and signatures. We love GoodReader and can't sing its praises high enough. It handles most common formats and allows for document annotation. Throw in field forms and at half the price of Readdle's it'd be our unreserved recommendation. But if you're looking for unparalleled annotation power, Readdle has the winner by a good stretch. Most annotations, once you get past note taking , highlighting, and underlining, are flash without much substance. Readdle clearly gets this and focuses their energy on the kinds of functionality power PDF users are really after. Toss in a companion iPhone app for total PDF annotation portability and there's really no competition.
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