Dropbox
- iTunes:
- Price: Free
One option utilized by many people for a PDF Management app is Dropbox. The interplay between cloud storage, the iPad, and laptop/desktop is discussed at length in this article on Dropbox; there are a number of key features we will focus on here:
- Dropbox maintains a folder on your computer which is automatically synced over the internet to Dropbox. Anything placed in this folder such as PDFs, documents, photos is accessible using the free Dropbox app on your iPad.
- The syncing is bi-directional and carried out automatically meaning that if you add a PDF on your home desktop then it will be available for viewing on your iPad without any extra work. Similarly, if you upload a file into the mobile Dropbox app, then it will appear on your home computer again without any extra work.
- The mobile Dropbox app acts as a file viewer and can view many different file types–though, it has no functional ability to annotate files.
Another major strength of Dropbox is its ability to share files; it is possible to create a link to each file in your Dropbox folder which can then be shared with people via email or social media. If this link is clicked, then the user will have the option of downloading the file to their computer.
This makes sharing documents very straightforward and allows a method of adding attachments to emails (which is still poorly supported in the native mail app, even on iOS 5). Dropbox does not store the content of your folder locally, instead choosing to download each file from the ‘cloud’ as it is selected. Certain files can be added to ‘favorites’ which are accessible without internet connectivity although these cannot be sorted into folders (meaning a large number of ‘favorite’ documents can rapidly become disorganized).
The basic Dropbox system is free and adequate for many people; however, there are a couple of key reasons why it cannot be used alone as a PDF management app. These reasons are:
- Cannot annotate documents at all. Dropbox is purely a document reader although it can read multiple file types
- Does not store majority of content locally.
Dropbox IS an essential part of managing a PDF library. This, however, is due to its ability to sync files and folders automatically over the internet rather than its direct uses as a library management tool.
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Consider the free app neu.Annotate PDF; it has more of the features you mentioned that are missing from iAnnotate such as annotating–hence, the name, marking up, emailing and saving to Dropbox, YouSendIt, Blio, ACTPrinter, etc. I have the basic, free versions of Dropbox, Box.net, SkyDrive and YouSendIt. I prefer the latter cloud app by far. It has many more features than Dropbox, including some of the PDF-specific attributes you noted as missing from Dropbox. I use DocuSign Ink when my signature is required. I use all of these apps on my iPhone 4 that I use at home and work as a pharmacist at a federal teaching, healthcare agency.