Read PDFs on Your Phone With GoodReader
iOS: If Hell exists, I’m going to exhaust eternity being compelled to read PDFs on my phone. I’ll be pinching and zooming some D&D playbook or work fable, struggling to fit the total page on the conceal whereas making the text substantial enough to read, then doing the total factor over again on the subsequent page. And I received’t hang GoodReader, the highly fantastic and customizable iPhone app that makes PDFs less painful, for an inexpensive $5.
It’s Competent
GoodReader’s designers know that becoming a broadcast page on a phone conceal is a nightmare. So that you might perhaps be in a position to zoom in in your page, then swipe or faucet to scroll perfectly to the subsequent page, and GoodReader will preserve your zoom level. And whereas you get your perfect zoom, you might perhaps be in a position to lock the horizontal scroll so you’ll never accidentally swipe your page sideways. I in actuality feel tension leaving my shoulders correct typing about this.
GoodReader also remembers what fable you final had open, and the build you left off, even after you’ve closed the app. Right here’s a total feature lacking from many fable readers or file viewers. (Google Docs on iOS can jog suck a lemon.) This app correct feels competent and vivid in a system that so many cell apps don’t. It’s gigantic for Note doctors and text files too, if either of these provide you with issues in your customary viewer.
It’s Customizable
If the interface isn’t quite working how you admire, there’s a appropriate likelihood you might perhaps be in a position to fix it within the settings. You perchance can set minimal zoom sizes, disable your phone’s sleep mode, even turn off the “double faucet to zoom” fair. Mobile UI not regularly ever gets this customizable.
You perchance would perchance perhaps disable many of GoodReader’s appropriate functions. So if the automated watermark removal is screwing up your fable, correct turn it off. If the app is crashing on you, turn off the smoothing functions. If the tab bar gets within the model, turn it off. (Oh by the model, you might perhaps be in a position to hang extra than one paperwork open at the same time.) You perchance can also specify the time physique on your menu of “fair lately added” files. Every of these choices is outlined interior the meticulous settings menus.
The app can “melt” PDF files into cell-safe text that appears extra admire a web web site or Instapaper. The feature isn’t perfect, on the other hand it’s bizarrely customizable: As an alternative of picking about a vivid choices admire sad-on-white or maroon-on-eggshell, you regulate the text-mode colors along RBG sliders, as in case you’re coloration-correcting a picture. It’s trippy however tiresome.
It’s Highly fantastic
GoodReader has a huge choice of markup instruments admire highlights, comments, and drawing instruments. It’ll assign you your markup to the novel file or a new file. The app also incorporates a file manager for storing and syncing a whole library of paperwork in extra than one folders, plus extra than one import and export instruments supporting iCloud, Dropbox, Field, Google Power, OneDrive, and deepest servers.
Digging thru these menus and choices can get a exiguous sophisticated, in particular since GoodReader’s interface resembles a desktop app greater than a cell app. Fortunately the markup instruments hang clearly distinguishable icons, and the settings menus hang appropriate explanations. But the sheer form of choices technique in most cases you might perhaps like to dig to search out the one factor you mandatory to provide.
The file actions menu (which does batch tasks!) is extra wrong. The menu (hidden within the again of a screw-driver-and-wrench icon) presents a lot of text-most efficient buttons, so you’ll must be a exiguous extra cautious as you faucet your files to email, rename, export, delete, and so forth. But right here is nonetheless greater than apps that correct rename your files every time you touch the titles, or other poorly labeled “touch-native” functions.
It’s Now not the Best Just correct PDF App
There’s one form of PDF I don’t read on GoodReader: screenplays. These work best with Weekend Be taught, an iOS app by screenwriter John August. Weekend Be taught is made to particularly melt movie and TV screenplays into a cell-safe format. Which is important, due to the screenplay PDFs are extremely onerous to read on smaller telephones. Sadly, if your PDF is an picture of a printout and not correct baked-in text, you’re caught with GoodReader.
Needless to articulate you might perhaps be in a position to also open PDFs in Kindle, iBooks, Evernote, and so forth. But if any of these stay unsleeping annoying you, graduate to GoodReader.
