When Apple announced the iPad, I immediately imagined that it would be a superior way to read PDF books in a tablet-style format. On the Apple iPad Specs page, there is a single mention of PDF support for the iPad – in the Mail application as an attachment. However, there must be a way to view PDF files on the iPad natively, right? Let’s walk through two main ways currently available to view PDF files on the iPad.
Transfer PDF to iPad without iTunes, You can use DropBox instead. It is a free app for Mac, Windows and Linux computers, which allows you to share your photos, music, movies and documents anytime and anywhere you like even without the Internet connection. PDF is such a popular documents format, almost all iPad users would find it in their daily use of the iPad. Many websites offer PDF tutorial or manual downloads.
Built-In PDF Viewing
Mail Application – The iPad supports viewing PDF files that are sent as attachments via email in the Mail application. Simply download the attachment, click to launch, and you can view the PDF.
![Download A Pdf To Ipad Download A Pdf To Ipad](/uploads/1/2/4/3/124380900/931372589.png)
Safari Web Browser – Also, selecting a link to a PDF file in the Safari web browser will also allow you to view an image inline.
In both cases, notice that there is a border around the pages in the PDF content. I would prefer to have the content take up more of the screen. No problem – just pinch and zoom in to hide the borders. This choice is remembered as you navigate to subsequent pages.
There are limitations to the built-in support, however. If you reopen a PDF file, it does not maintain the last read page location. And if there are clickable links in the PDF, such as in the Table of Contents, you cannot click on them. So, you’re stuck scrolling down potentially hundreds of pages to get to the location you want.
Ideally, I would like to see Apple include their Preview application on the iPad. Even if it was only a PDF viewer and did not allow changes to PDFs, being able to jump directly to a particular page and use general PDF navigation would be helpful.
PDF Viewing with Good.iWare’s GoodReader
As Doug mentioned yesterday, Good.iWare has released GoodReader for iPad. GoodReader was available the first day the iPad launched after having already been available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. GoodReader is available in the iTunes store for and introductory price of $0.99.
GoodReader offers a lot of additional functionality when dealing with PDF files. It supports large PDF files, text files, and also Office, iWork, images, audio, and video files. In addition, it allows you to transfer files in a variety of ways, including:
- MobileMe iDisk
- box.net
- MyDisk.se
- Dropbox
- WebDAV servers
- Google Docs
- Transfer from your computer via Wifi
- Transfer directly in iTunes
I store all of my PDF eBooks in a Dropbox folder. Copying my files over to the iPad was as easy as entering my Dropbox credentials and then clicking on files.
These files are then stored in a local library specifically for the GoodReader application and they persist until you remove them. In addition, GoodReader stores the location in the document where you were reading, so you can pick back up where you left off.
When you click on a document to view it, you are presented with a fairly clean interface, including some buttons for navigation. You click at the top and bottom of the page to move between pages within the document.
GoodReader also has experimental PDF reflow support, which allows you to view the text in a PDF and automatically word wraps. This keeps you from being limited to a constrained page size. Clicking on a document in the middle dismisses the navigation, and touching again toggles the controls back on.
Just like the built-in PDF functionality, you can zoom in to hide more of the margins and view more of your content. You can scroll to any location in the file quickly via the scrollbar on the left. GoodReader also has jump to page, quick access to Table of Contents, and text search, among other features. It also allows you to click links within the document to jump to another section. Basically, most features you would expect on a competent PDF viewer are available in GoodReader.
There are other PDF viewer applications available for the iPad as well, though GoodReader has an excellent feature set with a very reasonable price. I do hope Apple builds in native PDF viewing via Preview, but until then, GoodReader meets my needs for reading my large library of PDF files!
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A friend of mine has a jailbroken iPad. He can drag-and-drop PDF files right into his iPad and don’t use iTunes. I don't want to jailbreak my iPad. Is there some similar way to transfer PDFs to iPad without going through iTunes (which I find to be a hassle).
There are so many people asking the question 'how to transfer PDF to iPad without iTunes' at discussions.apple.com. If you also have the same problem, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we will offer you three approaches to put PDF to iPad without using iTunes, which is not user-friendly nor simple to use.
The three solutions are:
Each of these methods has its good points and is appropriate to different kinds of scenarios; you can choose the one meets your needs as perfectly as you want.
Part 1: EaseUS MobiMover Free iPhone Data Transfer Software
EaseUS MobiMover Free is an all-in-one iPhone data transfer and management tool to import/export videos, music, contacts, messages, photos, notes, books, Safari bookmark, and so on from computer (PC/laptop/Mac) to iPhone/iPad or in the vice versa, or from one iOS device to another. We're pretty sure you will like this easy-to-use software once you've tried it.
- It can seamlessly integrate with both Windows and Mac computer.
- It is compatible with all the iPhone and iPad models running iOS 8 or any later version.
- It is known as the only one 100% free data transfer tool between the iOS device and computer or between two iOS devices.
- It is iTunes-free. You can use it to transfer files from PC to iPhone without iTunes anymore.
- It is clean and safe when transferring data. It won’t cause previous data wiping or lost.
Now, click the button below to safely download and install EaseUS MobiMover Free on your computer, then follow the steps to learn how to transfer PDF to iPad with MobiMover quickly. (Go to MobiMover Free user guide to learn the information on another three data transfer type. For example, how to transfer text messages from iPhone to computer for free.)
Step 1: Connect your iPad (running iOS 8 and later) to your computer (Mac/PC), run EaseUS MobiMover, and go to [your device name] > More. (You can also use the 1-Click Transfer feature to transfer PDFs from computer to your iPad.)
Step 2: Since you want to copy books from computer to your iPad, click Transfer to This Device in the options. (As you can see, you can transfer your iPad PDFSs/ePubs to computer by clicking Transfer to computer or sync books from one iOS device to another by tapping Transfer to Other Device.)
Step 3: Then a new window will appear, in which you need to select the PDF files you want to copy to your iPad. After choosing the items, MobiMover will start transferring PDFs from computer to your iPad immediately. When it has finished, go to check and view the books on iPad in the Books app.
Part 2: AirDrop
If you want to sync PDF from Mac to iPad without iTunes, AirDrop is a wirelessly and direct way you can check. You can AirDrop photos, videos, contacts, books, and notes between Mac and the iOS device without a USB cable.
If you have both Mac and Windows computer and want to transfer PDF from Windows PC/laptop to your iPad, you can get back to the Part 1 and use MobiMover to do it possibly.
Step 1: Go to Settings on your iPhone and make sure AirDrop is switched on.
Step 2: On your Mac, go to Finder and click on AirDrop. Pick your iPhone from the list of devices with AirDrop nearby.
Step 3: Choose PDF and begin to transfer with AirDrop. When the process finishes, the PDF will show up in the iBooks app on your iPad.
Part 3: iCloud
If you have set up the iCloud for Windows or iCloud on Mac, you can share the PDF on the computer to iPad without using iTunes.
Step 1: Run iCloud on your Windows or Mac computer, and sign up with your Apple ID.
Step 2: Find iCloud Drive and open it.
Step 3:Drag & drop your PDF files in there.
Step 4: Go to Settings on your iPad, tap Your Name, go to iCloud and enable it. After a while, open the iBook app on your iPad to check the PDF.
The final words
As you can see, if you want to share PDF from Windows PC to iPad without iTunes most efficiently, you are highly recommended to use MobiMover Free iPhone data transfer in Part 1. For sharing PDF from Mac to iPad without a USB cable, you’d better use AirDrop in Part 2. Of course, iCloud is a good choice in Part 3, but if the PDF size is over 5 GB, this one is unavailable due to space limits. In general, EaseUS MobiMover is the best one to meet the needs after many comparisons. Don’t hesitate and give it a try.