How to Open and Annotate PDF Files on an iPhone: A Comprehensive Guide

In today's digital age, managing documents on-the-go has become essential, with PDFs being one of the most commonly used file formats. Whether you need to review a contract, fill out a form, or read an article, knowing how to open and annotate PDF files on your iPhone is crucial. The iPhone offers several user-friendly methods to access and manage PDF documents, ensuring you can easily read and manage your files anytime and anywhere.

Key Methods to Open PDF Files on Your iPhone

The iPhone provides versatile and user-friendly methods to manage PDF files. Here, we'll explore three methods to help you efficiently open and annotate PDFs:

Method 1: Using the Files App

Step 1: Save the PDF to your Files app.
Save the PDF from email, cloud storage (like iCloud Drive), or download it directly from Safari.

Step 2: Open the Files app.

Step 3: Navigate to the location where you saved the PDF. This could be iCloud Drive or On My iPhone.

Step 4: Tap the PDF file to open it.

Method 2: Using the Books App

Step 1: If you received the PDF via email or found it online, tap on the PDF link or attachment.

Step 2: Choose Copy to Books or Open in Books from the options. This will save the PDF in the Books app.

Step 3: Open the Books app and navigate to the library tab to find your PDF.

Method 3: PDFgear for iOS

For Basic PDF Editing on Your iPhone or iPad: The built-in Apple Files app works well for basic needs. However, for more advanced features like signing PDFs, organizing documents, and filling out forms, PDFgear is the ideal choice.

PDFgear has gained high praise on the App Store and is often discussed on platforms like Reddit, where it receives positive feedback for its functionality and user-friendly experience.

Key Features of PDFgear:

Page Editing: Users can easily combine, split, add, remove, and rearrange pages, providing quick and straightforward ways to update existing documents or create new ones. Annotation Tools: The app enables users to annotate PDFs with various tools including highlighting, underlining, strikethroughs, notes, and drawings. It is compatible with Adobe Acrobat and includes features for filling out forms, adding comments, stamps, and signatures. Flexible Reading Modes: PDFgear supports all major file formats and simplifies document navigation with features like recent files, text searches, and a dark mode. Users can choose between single-page or double-page views and toggle dark mode for comfort. Zooming in and out is seamless, making it easy to read and navigate, whether for work or leisure. PDF Conversion: Users can convert PDFs into various formats including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PNG, JPG, RTF, TXT, HTML, and XML. Additionally, it supports converting other document types such as Word and Excel into PDFs, and even capturing images to create PDFs directly from photos.

Step-by-Step Guide to Open and Annotate a PDF File with PDFgear on Your iPhone

Step 1: Open the PDF File on Your iPhone. Download PDFgear from the App Store or use the provided URL to install it. Once installed, launch the app on your iPhone (compatible with iPhone 13 and iPad). The home screen will display your most recent PDF files or allow you to access PDFs stored in iCloud.

Directly in PDFgear: Open the app, and use its interface to import PDFs from your device or cloud storage.

From Email or Safari: When you receive a PDF via email or find one online, tap on the PDF link or attachment. Choose Open in PDFgear from the share options.

From the Files App: If the PDF is saved on your device, open the Files app, navigate to the PDF location, and tap the file to open it in PDFgear.

Step 2: Annotate the PDF. To annotate the PDF, open the desired file and tap the Edit button. Tap the text to apply your chosen annotation.

Step 3: Save the New PDF. After making your desired changes, tap the Done button. To save your annotated PDF, tap the three dots in the upper right corner and select the option to save a copy from the expanded menu. You can also share or print the newly edited PDF directly from this menu.

Following these steps, you will be proficient in opening and annotating PDFs on your iPhone using PDFgear.