[OS X TeX] Best iPad PDF viewer for math?

Sat Aug 22 06:11:53 CEST 2020

All — Thanks all for the responses! Earlier today I downloaded the free version of PDF Viewer Pro and it does have more capability than the Books viewer.

Ross — it appears that you’ve created folders on your iPad to sort types of documents. How did you create the folders? It’s not obvious that that can be done from the Files app. As someone new to the iPad, the file system is a bit of a mystery.

I originally discovered the Books viewer when I emailed a PDF document to myself and brought it up in the iPad from Earthlink web mail. I somehow wound up opening it up in Safari, and from Safari I somehow associated it with the Books app, which displays the document in a fairly minimalistic but attractive way. With the Files app, I have not been able to find where that document is located. It’s as if it disappeared into a black hole. I again downloaded that file via the Earthlink web mail in Safari, and this time was able to direct it to the Downloads folder, which is the only folder in the file system that I’ve seen so far. When I double clicked on the document there, it opened in what I think Ross refers to as “the natural viewer that comes by accessing PDFs via the iPad's File System app.” This was definitely better than the Books version. Then I associated it with PDF Viewer Pro and tried it with that. Next up tomorrow I’ll look at the Adobe version.

I also got an Apple Pencil right away. It’s not only good for drawing and freehand writing, but also manipulating tiny elements on the screen when my fingers are clumsy at it.

By the way, I have discovered that some USB microphones work with the iPad Air via the lightning port to USB “camera adapter.” I have a desktop microphone (Fifine K670B) that I will be using for some video conferencing with the iPad, and the audio should be considerably better than the built in one. One worry is that the microphone will draw down the charge in the iPad faster than usual, but the adapter I have has a second lightning port in which you can plug the charger.

Richard

> On Aug 21, 2020, at 6:39 PM, Ross Moore <ross.moore at mq.edu.au> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
>> On 22 Aug 2020, at 8:38 am, Louis Talman <talmanl at gmail.com <mailto:talmanl at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> I use Notability.  In addition to the abilities you ask for, it allows one to write on PDFs, either those imported or those created by the app.  Inexpensive styli work, though for good resolution you will want to go a step up to Adonit’s Mark 4.  (In any event, use a capacitive stylus for economy.  I presume that an Apple Pencil or something of that ilk will work, but why spend the $$$!). You can also connect it to a projector, use it as a display in your classroom as you record what you write in class.  Then you can transfer the resulting PDF to a website where students can have access to it.
> 
> I use an iPad Pro with Apple pencil.
> This was purchased using funds not otherwise spent on travelling to TUG 2020.
> When we first went into lock-down mid-March, I ordered it all straight-away, as the need to deliver
> tutorials on-screen was so obvious. My Department/Faculty fast-tracked the approval to use those funds.
> 
> The natural viewer that comes by accessing PDFs via the iPad's File System app is fine.
> (I suppose this is a version of Preview for iOS.)
> 
> It supports the Apple Pencil, of course, and lets you zoom and navigate with gestures or move through pages
> via small icons for each page, down the right side. (Maybe it can be switched to left, I don’t know yet.)
> Basically there’s no obvious need for any other App.
> With AirDrop, I copy the TeX-produced PDFs from the MacBook to the iPad, and can place the result
> into appropriate folders for each class that I’m teaching. It’s all very, very convenient.
> 
> Using an HDMI cable, I share the iPad screen, to be shown in a Zoom session run from my laptop.
> Zoom can be run from the iPad itself, but the restriction to a single window/screen at a time makes that rather 
> clunky to control allowing students to join, and monitoring Chat contents, etc., at the same time as delivering 
> a lecture or tutorial class.
> On the other hand, I have frequently joined a Zoom session with the iPad as co-Host, giving a way to
> both see what students are seeing, and have the ability to share the iPad’s screen directly as a
> separate Zoom participant.
> (There is an issue, however, with Cloud recordings when there are 2 instances of the same login address.
>  Recording onto the local computer seems to be fine, though.)
> 
> 
> Adobe has a free reader:  Acrobat Mobile  for iOS. Again the Apple pencil is supported. 
> There’s a popup for Bookmarks, and a slider down the RHS for quickly flowing through pages. 
> In a sense this is nicer, as you are automatically in full-screen mode, unless bringing up 
> and using tools with appropriate gestures. Use gestures to smoothly resize/zoom in and out.
> 
> You can Save and Export in many different formats; but some features require an extra subscription
> — just like you don’t get in Adobe Reader everything that Acrobat Pro can do, without paying a little bit.
> 
> Acrobat Mobile also has a new experimental feature called Liquid Mode.
> However this is (so far) only used with small documents, of specific types.
> It doesn’t work with my teaching materials, as these are regarded as too large
> or complex for Liquid Mode. There’s no crash or anything, just the popup
> saying that the PDF isn’t suitable for that mode.
> 
> As with other iPad Apps, you can share a document to Acrobat Mobile.
> This then creates a second copy that is used privately by AM, after some initial scanning 
> and/or processing for suitability.
> Presumably it is at this point that it is determined whether Liquid Mode is appropriate for it,
> and whether all the specified fonts are available – in case any are not embedded.
> 
> Upon receiving a file via AirDrop, I can choose to associate the PDF to Acrobat Mobile.
> Or the association can be done at any later time, by sharing from whatever other App
> you may be using to view the PDF.
> 
> 
> I suggest you get the free Acrobat Mobile from the App store and see how you like it.
> I can see it only getting better, as Adobe does have a real commitment to improving
> the experience of reading PDFs.
> 
>> 
>> On Aug 21, 2020, 11:41 AM -0600, Richard Seguin <riseguin at earthlink.net <mailto:riseguin at earthlink.net>>, wrote:
>>> Skim does not make a PDF viewer for iPads. What iPad PDF viewer most closely matches the capability of Skim, especially in regard to math documents? I can view my PDF documents in the Books and Safari apps, but they don’t seem to give me the table of contents in a readily accessible sidebar, don’t have Back and Forward buttons (pages in order of viewing), can't navigate by logical rather than physical page, and don’t give a thumbnail of a \ref if I hoover the cursor over the \ref.
>>> 
>>> There are a bunch of these viewers available, and I’m hoping that someone has already done research so I don’t have to.
>>> 
>>> It would be wonderful to be able to be able to carry around 200 page math documents in a svelte one pound package like my iPad Air.
>>> 
>>> Richard Séguin
> 
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> Ross
> 
> 
> Dr Ross Moore
> Department of Mathematics and Statistics 
> 12 Wally’s Walk, Level 7, Room 734
> Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia
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