Where do PDF's go when using "copy" command?

[stevewaclo]

Hello all,

Having exhausted myself expending the requisite 5 minutes seeking an answer via search, I trust I am now eligible to post a query.

I have loaded a PDF from email and when I tap the icon in the upper right corner of the screen, I see options for Mail, Print and Copy. Where does the PDF go when I tap Copy?

Hoping the whole, expanded PDF could be copied to an email, but not the case. Just the raw PDF appears.

I'm trying to add the expanded PDF to a Forum post, and presume I can do it from my desk top, but too lazy to go to the back room.

Prefer to sit here and watch Stewart/Colbert and wait for the accumulated wisdom of the Forum to save me.

Thanks for Auto-Save, btw. Type on iPads much .

Best wishes.

 

[twerppoet]

Copy usually means it goes to the clipboard. Once there it's available to Paste in any app that it can accept that file type. I can't think of many apps that will accept an entire PDF as a paste operation.

Hmm. Let my play a bit with this and see if I can figure it out.

In the mean time, to answer what you are really asking for (or what I think you are asking for).

When you open a PDF in Mail one of the controls you should see is Open In. It may be hidden in an icon. The usual method of getting a PDF out of Mail is to use this option to copy it to another app. That is the first step to posting it in a forum.

The only app I know of that can upload most file types to most web sites is the iCab Mobile browser. Safari can't do this. It can only upload photos from the Photos app. Most app have this limitation.

Before you can upload a file to the web using iCab, you must copy the file to iCab. This is how iCab gets around the photo only limitation (which is cause by apps not being able to access other app's files).

So, in this case iCab Mobile is the app you'd need to choose to Open In from Mail.

Once you do this use the website's upload dialog as normal. When you get to the Choose File part you should get the option to choose files in iCab's local folders.

Caveat: While iCab works with most web sites, there are a great many methods for uploading files; so sometimes it doesn't work.

 

[twerppoet]

Ok, here is what I found.

Copy does indeed place the PDF in the clipboard. I was able to paste my test PDF into a Pages document and an open PDF document in PDF Expert. Most other apps, not surprisingly, acted as if the clipboard was empty when attempting to Paste (Paste option was not offered). This included Mail. Again, no surprise.

 

[stevewaclo]

Twerppoe,

Thanks for making time to respond.

As you have also discovered, the open PDF will copy from the clipboard to a word document (I use Open Office) but no paste option at all in Yahoo! Mail.

Tried using the OO file I saved to upload to the Forum page, but it's too big :-(.

Got in touch with the webmaster and asked for an email address I could send the PDF to, for them to publish for our members.

Best wishes.

 

[twerppoet]

No problem. Glad you found a solution, if not an ideal one.

Don't forget you could place the PDF in a cloud service like DropBox or Box.com and post the share link instead. I keep an entire Box folder just for sharing the odd file on this forum.

 

[stevewaclo]

10-4 on the drop box.

Really want the two page PDF on the post directly.

Awaiting webmaster reply.

Thanks again.