Review: PDF Max – PDF Annotation for the iPad

PDF is the universal document format. What do you do if you’re away from your desktop or laptop computer, need to review some PDF files, maybe even do some markup to show the need for corrections, highlight them to make areas stand out, or even draw on them to make your point? Well, if you have an iPhone or an iPad, Mobeera has the app for you, PDF Max!

Overview

You can bring a PDF document into PDF Max in various ways. You can open a PDF from an email attachment and choose to open it in PDF Max, you can save and retrieve from iTunes, Dropbox, or using the built in web browser. I found the way that worked best for me was opening the PDF from an email attachment, but as always, your mileage may vary.

After opening the PDF within the app, you can flick through the document to view it, or use the handy side menu to allow use of the annotating, drawing, writing, and other features of the program. You can see the tools menu in the screenshot above, it will appear or hide itself with just a quick tap of your finger on the side of the screen.

All of the tools are logical, and easy to use. Just tap the tool you want to use, and start working with your document. Using the tools you can you can select text highlight, underline, squiggle underline, and strike-through. These tools are quite useful when you want to point out text snippets.

You can also draw shapes on screen using the lines, squares and circles tools. There are other tools available such as Signature, free hand text, sound, and a stamping tool if you spring for the Pro version. The PDF Max page in the App Store says you can now do an in-app purchase to obtain the Pro version, but the version I had installed on my iPad would not allow me to purchase the Pro tools.

The app also allows you to reorder pages, insert blank pages, or even delete pages while in a document.

For documents already imported into PDF Max, the app has a great file management screen making documents easy to find and load.

After you’re finished with your changes, You can open the document in various other apps on your iPad, such as Evernote, iBooks, Kindle Reader, etc. (This will be different on each individual device, according to the installed PDF capable apps). You can also upload the file to Dropbox, or email the file to yourself or another party.

Verdict

If you work with PDF files on a regular basis, PDF Max is an app you should take a look at. It’s a free download, and you only have to pay for extra features if you’ll use them. The included features and tools make it a very capable PDF utility app.

I do wish the app had let me purchase the “Pro” tools, but hopefully this bug will be soon fixed.

Price: FREE – Available as a universal app now in the App Store. (Direct Link)

Rating: 3.5/5[rating:3.5]

Pros:

• Easy to use interface and tools menu.
• Speedy response on my iPad. (I have the latest model.)
• Importing and exporting PDFs is a breeze.
• One nice feature, change the document on one device, and it’s synced across all of your devices.

Cons:

• The app can take awhile to import larger PDF files. I opened a PDF version of my automobile’s owners manual, and it seemed to choke, but when I closed the app and re-opened it, the PDF was there in its entirety.
• I wish the “Pro” features purchasing feature was working for me.

Note: This is a sponsored review via Review Roster.