PDF Reader

[justinjevans]

Forgive me if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it in the forums.

You added the ability to import PDFs into Accordance. I tried it with a couple of my files, and wasn't happy with the result. No complaints there, it is a tricky thing.

What about adding a PDF viewer into Accordance?

Since I have a sizeable library of PDFs that I've gathered over the years, it would be nice if I could include them all in my Accordance library. That way I could access and read them directly from Accordance.

It would be really cool if I could then download the PDFs into Accordance on iOS, to access through Accordance on my phone.


Not sure if that's doable, but I would love it.

[Donald Cobb]

Yes! this would be fantastic! pdf files can be opened in the browser but it's not very friendly, and I find that once the path gets a little complicated it breaks down pretty easily. Being able to put bookmarks in so that it opens up to the last place read would be a great plus.

[kcmizzou]

I too use a large number of PDF books and access the Internet while using Accordance and other software applications. My strong recommendation is to use Adobe's free Adobe Acrobat DC Reader for all PDF books and documents. Adobe provides maximum backwards compatibility for ancient stuff and a current bleeding edge feature set that is always up to date.

 

I keep many tabs open in Reader one for each book or document currently in use. Adobe Reader keeps track of my access history and bookmarks so I can quickly open any prior used resource when needed.

 

The free version has many markup, bookmark, and print capabilities. Because I subscribe to the full Adobe Suite I actually use the Pro version which has the complete set of PDF markup capabilities. The Pro version is available separately for a fee and essentially does everything that can be done with a PDF document including scanning, OCR, editing, conversion, and more.

 

My experience is that any developer trying to provide the feature set that Adobe gives away for free is going to fall behind and lead to user frustration.

 

If you are on the Apple Mac platform there is another productivity trick that I find very useful. Using the built-in Mission Control I have three "Spaces" set up which act as independent windows. Accordance and any other applications that I am using are in the center space. A three finger swipe to the left brings up a space (window) with Adobe Reader and all opened internal books and documents from the hard drives. Swipe right from center brings up the Internet browser connected to the outside world. Both Adobe Reader and my Internet browser have multiple tabs open to all resources currently needed. This leaves Accordance focused on its unique functions minimizing zone clutter.

 

Mission Control allows up to sixteen spaces and has corner swipe functionality if you really want to "space out" your Mac.

 

Adobe is also going to have the most current bug free app on IOS and Android platforms. Their business model is designed around free access to all documents created in PDF format and must make PDF work for the whole world.

 

The best free, open source application that runs on linux, Mac, and Windows is Calibre. This long-standing stalwart in the open source world also understands EPUB, Kindle, and other formats.

 

I hope you find this helpful.

[ukfraser]

Adobe is also going to have the most current bug free app on IOS

Ive been burnt a couple of times by the ios updates where adobe has released something mega buggy and then taken too long to fix it so now i tend to stick with versions that are solid and update infrequently and just use the app as a pure reader.

 

if im doing anything with the pdf, i use forScore which is much more reliable and bugs are fixed promptly. It has much better metadata functionality together with an impressive range of editing tools.

[justinjevans]

I too use a large number of PDF books and access the Internet while using Accordance and other software applications. My strong recommendation is to use Adobe's free Adobe Acrobat DC Reader for all PDF books and documents. Adobe provides maximum backwards compatibility for ancient stuff and a current bleeding edge feature set that is always up to date.

 

[. . .]

 

While I appreciate the suggestion, this thread wasn't about seeking help on how to open and read PDF files. I agree Adobe Acrobat is a great free option, and I've been using it for over 20 years (I think it is a fairly standard application for everyone).

 

This thread is located in feature requests, meaning that I am requesting that this functionality be added to Accordance. I would like to be able to access and manage my PDFs from within Accordance.

 

If this is a request that you would also like, feel free to chime in your thoughts, add a +1, etc. If it is not a feature you would like to see, you can either ignore this thread or make an argument why you feel it is a waste of resources to develop this feature.

 

Again, thank you for the recommendation.

[Donald Cobb]

+1!

[Pappa Johnson]

+1

[Michael Chesanek]

I've also has issues with the current pdf importer with some pdfs.  If Accordance could bring in PDF's "as is" and create a reader for them and created functionality that allowed the user to select portions of the pdf text that then created a snapshot image into stacks and / or created a reference point to user notes, that would be really awesome.

[Daniel L]

If this could be a way to access user-added resources from mobile versions of Accordance, I support it.

[Teddy24]

A great workaround is to use an app called Logseq. It's a free outlier note taking app which I store all my notes in. It specifically has a PDF reader that copies all your highlights and turns them into text. So you can take your notes and highlights of a PDF from Logseq and paste it in a user tool. You could potentially copy the whole document and put it in a user tool as well. 

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Thanks for the feedback! Right now, it seems to be limited to using the built-in web browser, but we’ll collect this feedback.

 

In the meantime, I’ve been using Apple’s Preview for reading PDF files and PDF Expert for marking up PDF files. I think DevonThink and Nota Bene’s Orbis can also index/search the contents of multiple PDF files at once. I know those aren’t the solutions you’re looking for, but I’m throwing them out there in case they’d benefit someone.