Editing PDF's with external applications on IPad (PRO).

[Arvid455 3]

Using Evernote to save newspapers and articles online, and as a student to register all my notes, agenda and academic papers which all goes perfectly well on Imac and other windows devices, I noticed significant restrictions while using an Ipad. Starting the new academic year, I intended to use Evernote on the Ipad (PRO, newer version) and noticed the, for a student a core function, annotating articles was not possible.

Usually I store my papers and books I need to read on Evernote and would highlight and comment on it using other devices. On the Ipad, however, only the annotation function of Evernote functions which is unattainable to use for multiple pages. Other, external apps as PDF expert or FoxIT, do not work together with Evernote, thereby, disabling highlighting of PDF's.

I was wondering if there are alternative ways to counter this problem and what ways around this might be. More importantly, I would like to see an update which enables me to work on PDF's on my Ipad without any problems.

 

[PinkElephant 8,171]

I am not sure why you mean that using the annotation tool would be unattainable for multiple pages.

It works on multipage pdfs as well as on single paged ones. The solution is not super accurate, because it still lacks a Zoom function in annotation mode - but it is working.

What is still not working is an integration with other apps, tried with PDF Expert. It shares OK to the other app - but it does not allow to save the result back. This works better on the Mac client, where changes are saved back to the original notes attachment when closing the editing window.

[Arvid455 3]

Thank you for your response, in brief, in my opinion the annotating function Evernote is too limited in tools and is too time consuming to use on the IPad. Compared to other PDF editing software, it does not auto select/highlight text which makes it too time consuming to be productive using this device and make the highlighting appear chaotic. These missing features are for me, and I think for other students, basic necessities to use Evernote effectively for university work on the IPad. More importantly to me, the combination of the ability to store, highlight efficiently and quickly find papers is the core reason for using Evernote.

And indeed, for me the main problem is the inability to automatically save pdf’s in external applications, this single feature would solve my problem.

 

[PinkElephant 8,171]

EN offers a set of tools for pdf annotation that will do. They have their limits, as any tool has. You can promote a change, but for now it works as it is.

The annotation is not meant for pdf EDITING. You mentioned PDF Expert, that is an app build for that job.

You can share any pdf to an external app on the iPad, and you can share it back. What does not work on the iPad is to „open“, edit and „save“ the pdf back to the same note. You have the edited file in a new note.

This editing by an external tool works on the Mac, with the Preview app build into MacOS. Probably it is one of these IOS limits that prevents a similar workflow on the iPad.

[Arvid455 3]

To clarify, even though I mentioned foxIT and PDF Expert, the sole function I am looking for on my IPad, is the ability to auto-highlight text in a pdf format which I consider a more important function than taking notes on Evernote since reading papers is one of the core things students do. 

At the moment of writing, I am indeed exporting the pdf, edit it, to consequently export it again to Evernote. Even though this works, it is anything but convenient, time consuming and annoying to say the least.  

Therefore, I do advocate for a new feature which enables IPad users to seamlessly edit and save (for me highlighting) pdf’s in Evernote, whether by external applications or otherwise. As I see more and more IPad’s and mobile devices being used at the campus, I think it would be beneficial to many students.

[PinkElephant 8,171]

What you mean is a highlighting that works on the text level of the pdf. 

The tool EN is using internally is taken from Skitch, an app EN acquired years ago and still offers (for free) for iOS and Mac. It is a plain pixel tool, even the annotation text (as we recently discovered in another thread) is pixel based, no vector font.

These tools work on the picture layer of the pdf. It has no text, it has white, dark and color dots and lays translucent paint on top of it.

You are right, the ability to select chunks of text would be more precise than painting a part of the document.

The export to another tool works seamlessly on the Mac, and opens the Macs Preview app by default. On iOS there is nothing similar.

You can send a feature request as well by using the feedback function build into your clients.