Manage and annotate PDF files on iOS devices

The PDF viewer on iOS devices offers a seamless experience for reading, annotating, and managing PDF documents. Users can preview pages in various view modes, add highlights and comments, bookmarks, and present the document.

IBM® MaaS360® supports enhanced PDF viewing and annotation capabilities on iOS devices.

Important: To enable the advanced PDF features, contact IBM Support.

When advanced PDF features are disabled, PDF content loads in read-only mode, Annotation tools, and interactive actions are not available.
When advanced PDF features are enabled, PDF content opens in read mode. Users can annotate by using the PDF annotations toolbar, accessible through the Annotate PDF menu options.

The enhanced PDF workflow provides a faster and more flexible way to work with documents on iOS devices. The enhanced PDF has expanded set of annotation tools that help teams review, mark up, and collaborate with greater precision. It supports form-based PDFs where you can complete interactive fields, capture information, and share documents. This enhanced workflow delivers a streamlined, and more intuitive PDF experience across devices.

Key benefits of using enhanced PDF workflow

The PDF workflow provides significant improvements over the current workflow across annotation capability, navigation, presentation, and device experience.

Expanded annotation toolbar

The new workflow provides various annotation tools in a horizontal toolbar.

Structured tab-based interface

The workflow organizes all PDF actions into dedicated tabs such as Home, Annotation, Presentation.

Note:

On the iPad, all tabs are visible simultaneously in the toolbar.
On the iPhone, tabs are accessible through a collapsible arrow, keeping the interface uncluttered on smaller screens.

Preview mode

The workflow opens PDFs in a clean Preview (read-only) mode before entering the annotation editor. Using preview mode prevents accidental edits, allows users to review the document before update to annotation, and provides a clear separation between reading and editing states. The orange header bar with the document title and collapse arrow provides consistent orientation.

Important: PDF documents opened from IBM MaaS360 email remain within the IBM MaaS360 container.

Explicit save and discard control

The new workflow presents an explicit Save or Exit without Saving prompt when you exit the annotation editor. The prompt eliminates the risk of unintentional saves and gives users clear control over version management.

Important: Annotated PDFs that you save from an email attachment are stored as edited versions alongside the original file. You can access both versions from the PDF options menu by using View Original and View Edited.

Enhanced presentation mode

The workflow provides a dedicated Presentation tab with options such as From Beginning and From Current Page. Full screen presentation mode displays the document with a black surround and a main menu icon for navigation. The presentation mode is more structured in the toolbar.

Annotation visibility control

The workflow provides a Show Annotation toggle in the Tools page (accessible from the More options (three dots icon). This option allows users to hide all annotations without deleting them, enabling clean review of the original content.

Richer Docs menu

When opening a PDF from IBM MaaS360 Docs in the new workflow, the menu provides various options such as Annotate PDF, Copy, Move, Delete, Email, Print, and Link. The menu options give you direct access to document management actions without navigating to more menus.

Improved navigation options

The Home tab in the new workflow provides View Continuous Page, One Page, Page Width, Bookmark, Annotation List, Go to Page, and Read Text options. The Read Text feature reads PDF content aloud using text-to-speech.

Popup editing interface for PDF forms

Forms support logical tab order between fields, allowing users to navigate efficiently that uses keyboard controls. For forms requiring multiple edits, the popup approach guides users through a systematic process, preventing cognitive overload from viewing numerous editable fields simultaneously. Optional fields can be clearly marked, and conditional fields can appear or hide based on user selections.

When editing fields in PDF forms, a popup (modal dialog) interface provides users with a focused editing experience. The popup isolates the editing task by dimming background content, helping users concentrate on the specific field without distraction. This approach improves readability for complex entries, provides clear validation feedback, and reduces editing errors by minimizing accidental data modifications.

Feature availability

The following table shows which features are available in the workflow.

Feature	Description
Full-screen annotation editor for iPhone	Dynamic preview and full-screen annotation editor. Note: The PDF opens in Preview (read-only) mode first. The orange header bar displays the document title and a collapse arrow to minimize the preview when you select the Annotate PDF option after opening PDF. Tap arrow to view Annotations and the menu options are such as Home, Annotation, Presentation. For more information, see Editing PDFs
PDF form edit	User can edit fields (text) in PDF forms. When editing text fields in PDF form, a popup (modal dialog) interface appears.
Full-screen annotation editor for iPad	Dynamic Preview and full-screen editor. Note: The annotation editor displays the toolbar with all major tool sets (Home, Annotation, Presentation) visible simultaneously. Editing tools and comments are more prominently displayed due to the larger screen. For more information, see Editing PDFs
Edit experience	Annotate only in the full-screen editor. A Save or Exit without Saving prompt appears on the exit.
Email attachments	An alert prompt you to continue editing or start fresh.
Navigation and lists	Preview are presented more clearly. PDF Preview shows Bookmarks list Annotations list Search Go to Page View modes (Continuous, One Page, Page Width) For more information, see Using annotation tools
Tab-based interface	Collapsible For more information, see Using annotation tools
Menu options	Various options For more information, see Using annotation tools
Annotation tools	Various options Note: The Annotation tab provides a full set of annotation tools in a horizontal toolbar such as Hand or Select, Move, Comment, Emphasis, Underline, Text, Speech bubble, Pencil, Rectangle, Oval, Arrow or Line, Line, Text, Eraser, and Show Annotation toggle. For more information, see Using annotation tools
Freehand drawing	Draws freehand lines on the PDF page. Three pencil variants.
Text highlighting	Highlights selected text with a color overlay to draw attention to important content.
Text emphasis	Highlights selected text with a color overlay to draw attention to important content.
Text underline	Draws a line beneath the selected text to indicate its significance.
Lines and arrows	Draws a straight line and arrows on the page.
Text boxes	Inserts a text box on the page where you can type notes.
Read Text	Reads the PDF content aloud by using text-to-speech.
Comments	Dedicated tool to add comments. Note: The Annotation tab provides a full set of annotation tools in a horizontal toolbar such as Hand or Select, Move, Comment, Emphasis, Underline, Text, Speech bubble, Pencil, Rectangle, Oval, Arrow or Line, Line, Text, Eraser, and Show Annotation toggle. For more information, Add and manage comments.
Bookmarks	You can tap to add bookmarks. Note: Bookmarks by tapping and holding on the page. And bookmark list is available on the Home menu option. For more information, Add and manage bookmarks.
Search	Finds specific words or phrases in the PDF.
Presentation mode	Displays the PDF in full screen.
Show or hide annotations toggle	You can tangle on and off to show or hide annotations.
Explicit save prompt	Yes Note: When you exit the annotation editor, a prompt asks you to save or discard your changes.
Apple Pencil support	Yes

User journey on PDF workflow

Open PDF from Email attachment or Docs. The PDF opens in Preview mode.
- For Email attachment, see Open PDF attachments from email.
- From Docs, see Open PDF from Docs.
To enter the full-screen editor, tap Annotate PDF. You can access this option in one of the following ways:
- From the menu, tap More options (three dots icon), then tap Annotate PDF.
- Touch and hold on the PDF content, then tap Annotate PDF from the options menu.
  Important: This option is available only for iOS 16 and later.
For more information options available in Annotation editor, see Using annotation tools.
Use the Annotation tab for all markup tools. Use the Home tab for navigation, bookmarks, and the annotation list. Use the Presentation tab to present the document.
Note:
- On the iPhone, tap the collapsible arrow to reveal the annotations and menu options.
- On the iPad, all tabs are visible on the toolbar.
- The menu options such as Home, Annotation, and Presentation are available for new PDF workflow.
The following are Annotate PDF editor options. You can add, view, edit and delete the annotations, bookmarks, comments, and change the properties of annotations. For more information, see Editing PDFs.
- Annotations
- Bookmarks
- Comments
- View modes
- Presentation
- Tex to speech
Use the Show Annotation toggle in the three horizontal dots icon to temporarily hide annotations when reviewing the original content.
Use Save or Exit without Saving prompt when exiting the annotation editor to help ensure your changes are preserved or intentionally discarded.
Important: Use View Edited and View Original to compare the annotated and original versions of a PDF after saving when PDF is opened from email attachment.