App for uni student: pdf annotation, word and powerpoint file editing functions

[sfan1911]

I'm a uni student and have recently brought the ipad2 because I'm sick of my laptop dying halfway through class, having to fight for power plugs with other students and the hassle and weight of carrying round my bulky laptop and adapter..

I just need an app to take notes with in class and is speedy in opening and scrolling through massive pdfs/.doc/ppts.

The app I'm looking for is one that I can annotate pdfs - highlighting, drawing lines/arrows/circles...etc and most importantly have text box function so I can type up notes (with keyboard) during lectures.

But also I would like to use the same app to edit powerpoints and word files. I study across a range of disciplines so I come across all 3 = (

I've looked at goodreader, eNote taker, iAnnotate but they only seem to only use pdfs.. I realise I can save word/ppts as pdfs but some of my lectures tend to put up lecture slides right before class which means I don't have time to convert the files to pdf beforehand ><....

Anyway... PLEEAAASSSEE recommend an app (at a relatively cheap price if possible since I'm poor uni student ><") or give me some pros and cons relating to my needs on the apps I've mentioned above!!!!

Much appreciated!!!!!!!!!

(Sorry for my massive ramble! >"< I am desperate!!!....)

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

I'm a uni student and have recently brought the ipad2 because I'm sick of my laptop dying halfway through class, having to fight for power plugs with other students and the hassle and weight of carrying round my bulky laptop and adapter..

I just need an app to take notes with in class and is speedy in opening and scrolling through massive pdfs/.doc/ppts.

The app I'm looking for is one that I can annotate pdfs - highlighting, drawing lines/arrows/circles...etc and most importantly have text box function so I can type up notes (with keyboard) during lectures.

But also I would like to use the same app to edit powerpoints and word files. I study across a range of disciplines so I come across all 3 = (

I've looked at goodreader, eNote taker, iAnnotate but they only seem to only use pdfs.. I realise I can save word/ppts as pdfs but some of my lectures tend to put up lecture slides right before class which means I don't have time to convert the files to pdf beforehand ><....

Anyway... PLEEAAASSSEE recommend an app (at a relatively cheap price if possible since I'm poor uni student ><") or give me some pros and cons relating to my needs on the apps I've mentioned above!!!!

Much appreciated!!!!!!!!!

(Sorry for my massive ramble! >"< I am desperate!!!....)

You have done some good research here and have identified the key apps.

iAnnotate or GoodReader for PDF annotation
Keynote for PowerPoint reading and conversion to PDF

Unfortunately you have come to the same conclusion as most everyone else; there is no single app that can do both these operations. As a University professor myself I can sympathise with you so I wonder whether your professor might be prepared to make the PowerPoint presentation available prior to the lecture to give you enough time to convert them to PDF - or whether he or she might make them available in PDF format too. If a student asked me that question I would most certainly look sympathetically at the request and see it as a sign that the student was really interested in what I had to say.

Good luck.

Tim

 

[sfan1911]

Thanks so much Tim & ipollhk for your advice!!

I've decided to go with goodreader instead of iAnnotate due to cost (gutted i missed the 0.99c offer a few weeks ago!!) and will email my lectures tomorrow to see if they can put up PDFs instead of ppts/word files.

How do you guys find the app? Is there any pointers or tips you can give me? I've looked at a few video demonstrations on youtube but they don't seem to be in-depth and just glide over functions really quickly ><

Ipollhk how do you export ppts as PDFs via email? Do I need to use a certain app to do so or can I just do it straight through the mail app?

Once again thanks for the graeat advice!!!

 

[BaconDanny]

iAnnotate is actually able to automatically convert Power Point files and Word docs into pdf's within the app. I use it alot for my university studies. It doea not let you edit the Word or PP files as they are though, but for me it works perfectly to have the app convert them to pdf so I can take notes direcly on them during lectures. Hope you'll find what you're looking for

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[sfan1911]

iAnnotate is actually able to automatically convert Power Point files and Word docs into pdf's within the app. I use it alot for my university studies. It doea not let you edit the Word or PP files as they are though, but for me it works perfectly to have the app convert them to pdf so I can take notes direcly on them during lectures. Hope you'll find what you're looking for

Sent from my iPad using iPF

oh no >< should've got iAnnotate than! =( maybe when my pay comes in next I'll get it~
Thanks so much! ^^

 

[owsc2010]

Thanks BeconDanny. I didn't notice of this function before as it needs to enable experimental features in advanced settings. I tried converting docx and pptx and it does work. For text only documents the speed is very fast too. Documents with many tables take longer time, but this is normal I think. Problem is, my powerpoints are always in portrait mode, iannotate will cut each page into 2 landscape slides. Other than that, it works very well.

 

[titams2011]

there is a great one for pdf, "pdf-note", its free and you can hightligh, mark on any pdf files.

 

[BaconDanny]

Yeah they keep it a bit hidden But it works great and I haven't found any other apps that can do all of it. It's brilliant for studies, so great to have all files in the same place and being able to annotate on all of them. It also has a really useful search function where you can search for specific words and it displays all documents containing that word.

Now I'm just gonna find a decent word processing app for writing longer texts. I thought I'd get a bluetooth keyboard and use my iPad to write texts for my thesis, hoping to completely eliminate the need for my laptop. Any suggestions? So far I'm leaning towards Pages. I do realize of course, that I will have to finetune my texts in a proper office program on my computer before handing them in, but I want to be able to do most of the work on the iPad, away from home

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[Tom811]

I use pages with my apple bluetooth keyboard. Both work flawlessly together. You will not be disappointed.

 

[TonyR]

I use pages with my apple bluetooth keyboard. Both work flawlessly together. You will not be disappointed.

I was very disappointed! Pages works fine for simple files but I gave up using it with complex Word authored docs because it made a complete mess of them with e.g. Tables hovering over and masking whole chunks of text. Nothing on the iPad will display track changes and comments in Word docs as far as I have found. If it's a Word or MS authored document I get it converted to a pdf first and work from that instead if I have to use the iPad to read it.

 

[Tom811]

Unfortunately I have to agree with you TonyR. Complex word docs are mangled by pages as well as docs to go. Tables seem to be a big problem. Creating docs with pages work well, as long as you don't expect to much. Hopefully the version of pages will address these issues. Pages works well with a bluetooth keyboard though.

 

[BaconDanny]

Thanks for your views! I think it will cover my need as I will probably leave the work with tables and diagrams for when I'm at home and can use my main computer. I've found before that Pages, even the Mac OS version, works very poorly when it comes to tables created in MS Word.

What I need from it though is a fairly competent word processor where I can smoothly manage and edit my different thesis files, as well as create new documents, away from home. I usually do most thesis work in the library or away in other towns when doing interviews and I don't wanna have to use my laptop. How does it work with Dropbox? I read somewhere that it works through WebDav? I've read some reviews and so butnit's nice to hear different people's view on it And it'll be another few months til I start with my final uni thesis so I've got time to find the best option

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[Tom811]

Apple doesn't support dropbox directly in pages. You are correct WebDAV is required, but it's free ( if your DB account is free) and easy to setup. Pages has horrible file management and DB has great file management, so this work around is great.

 

[jprint714]

Quick related question: What's the best app for annotating word doc's? I've heard Pages / iWorks, but have found that others recommend Documents 2 Go. I'm mainly interested in annotating word doc's w/ my stylus on my iPad. Any suggestions about the best app to get? Thanks!

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

Quick related question: What's the best app for annotating word doc's? I've heard Pages / iWorks, but have found that others recommend Documents 2 Go. I'm mainly interested in annotating word doc's w/ my stylus on my iPad. Any suggestions about the best app to get? Thanks!

Stylus, you mean like handwriting annotations onto the document?

Because that won't work with Pages, as Pages only let's you use the keyboard for input.

I would just convert all documents to PDF and then use iannotate for taking notes on the documents.

But I might have misunderstood, what you intend to do.