Powerful & Versatile

Reading and Navigating

Page Management

iAnnotate lets you add, remove and rotate pages in your PDFs. To do this, tap the navigation box, found in the top right of your document next to the magnifying glass. To view the navigation box in full screen, tap “Full” in the top right. Then, find the page number where you want to add, remove, or rotate a page, and tap and hold that page to get a context menu with these options. You can also tap “Edit” and these option will appear at the bottom of the box. 

You can also change page order from the navigation box. Simply hold down on a page you’d like to reorder, then drag and drop it to your preferred location. 

Saving your work

When you close an unsaved file, you'll be prompted to save your work first. You’ll have the option to choose a location to save to,  or to discard the document.

If you save, iAnnotate will show you the list of locations in your library. Navigate to the appropriate folder and tap save.

If the document is already in your library, you will not see these options. Instead we'll automatically backup your annotations to that same location. Or, you can manually save to a new location by tapping the filename in the tab.

Tap the gear button in the top right corner in the library view and choose Auto-Backup Location to set your preferred location where each incoming file you bring into the app will be automatically saved to.

Reviewing your Documents

iAnnotate brings a paper-like reading experience that's both quick and natural. The next time you open a file in iAnnotate, scroll to see how quickly you can move through your document. Want a closer look? Just pinch in-and-out to zoom! This is great for adding annotations in tight spaces.

Menu getting in your way? You can show or hide this with gestures! Tap the page with one finger to hide your tabs at the top, and tap one time to show them again. Use three fingers to show or hide all menus (tabs + toolbar).

Selecting Text

To select text, press down until the chosen text becomes highlighted. Adjust the handles at either end to select more or less text. You may also see a list of options (speak, dictionary, etc.) appear when you select text. The features you see may vary, depending on what your IT policy is. Go ahead and select some text in this guide, then adjust the handles and try out some of the options you see.

Search and Review

Tap the search button (magnifying glass) in the upper right corner to open the search panel. From here, you can quickly find results within your document, and tap them to jump to their location. 

You can also tap the full library search option at the bottom of the panel to find your search results across your full file library.  

Working with Tabs

Need to work on several documents at once? iAnnotate lets you open them all in tabs, so you can jump back and forth between your documents. You can also manually save, create a copy, open in two-document view and more just by tapping the tab.

Each tab includes the document name, and displays an asterisk when it has not been saved. Open as many tabs as you'd like. Reposition them by pressing down and dragging, and close them by pressing the 'X' button.

Note: The iPhone version features consolidated tabs, that look slightly different, to fit the screen size. Try it out!

Managing Files

Adding Connections

When you first download iAnnotate, you’ll be asked where you want to store your files. Select one of these options to start or go tap the orange + button in the bottom right corner at any time to add another connection. You can add OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, iCloud Drive, or even a WebDAV connection. You can also add Local Files that save only within iAnnotate (files saved here will be deleted if you uninstall iAnnotate).

You can also add multiple accounts for each connection type (for example two different Dropbox accounts).

Creating Folders/Files

Tap into a connection, then select the orange + sign and choose the Create Folder document to create a new folder within that connection. You can also choose to Create Blank PDF if you need to take notes on a fresh document.

Document Scanning

Use our built-in document scanning features to transform physical files into digital ones! Tap the orange + sign, choose Scan Document, then simply hold your device above the sheet of paper until you see an orange outline around the perimeter. Once you are ready, snap a picture!

You can choose to discard, retake, rotate, add another page, or save it. Once you hit Save, your new document will show up in a tab.

Sharing Your Work: Annotated vs. Flattened

Choose how you’d like your recipient to interact with your annotations. By sending your document as an Annotated PDF, anyone who you share with can use another PDF viewer to edit the annotations that you’ve made.

Or, choose to share as a Flattened Document to bake all annotations onto the document itself, so that they can’t be edited. This is a great option when adding a signature annotation to a document, for example.

More Control

iAnnotate allows granular control over what you decide to share. If you tap Advanced in the Share Options popup, you see that you are able to send a summary of the document. This means that you can share an annotation summary via email to give recipients a quick view of the annotations you’ve made in the document. You can send this as a text, or PDF summary.

Also under Advanced, is the option to share a select range of pages. If you have a document with a preface or appendix that you don’t want attached, you can adjust this here. You can also choose to send just the annotated pages only. It’s all up to you!