5 Everyday PDF Tips for Writers

Using PDF files can be beneficial in more ways than you can imagine. It’s been more than 20 years since the creation of this file format they’ve always had a special place in the world of writing and editing. If you have PDFs that you work with, or would like to start working with, you might want to check out these 5 tips:

1. Download PDF files to your iBooks

PDF is just one of the formats that iPad and iPhone support, and there are millions of files and eBooks in PDF on the Internet waiting to be downloaded.

Here’s how to do it through your Safari app:

1. Open the Safari app and find the PDF you wish to download. Tap on the PDF to open it
2. Touch the screen in the part above the PDF saying “Open in iBooks”
3. As soon as iBooks opens the file, it will be saved in your library

2. Safely email PDFs

PDF is one of the most used file formats because it is easy to share, but more importantly, it is safer to share PDFs than any other files. Why? Because PDFs are not editable by nature. They can also be password-protected, and this is what makes people feel comfortable sharing confidential information. Here are a couple of interesting facts regarding PDFs and emails:

1. Up until 2002, PDFs were the 2nd most sent file format after .doc, and after 2002 it dropped to the 5th place following .rar, .zip and .jpg formats
2. Depending on the type of business, PDF is present in 4 - 17% of all emails sent all across newspaper and journalist businesses in North America
3. PDF format is one of the safest for online transfer due its “password-protected” feature

3. PDF to EPUB via Google Drive

You can always access Google Drive from your iPhone and iPad. Many people lean towards the Drive because it is very useful and easy to access. In addition, it has a free PDF conversion option. Follow the instructions for a quick conversion of your PDF to EPUB:

1. Click on your PDF file and select Open in Google Docs. By doing this, Google Drive will open your file in Google Document
2. Simply click on File in the top left corner, and follow it up by selecting Download as; click on EPUB at the bottom of the list
3. Your EPUB file will be saved on your device.

4. Convert PDFs to Word

Ever find yourself looking for something in a PDF and just can’t remember which page it is on? If your PDF is a scanned document, you won’t be able to search it quickly, because it is basically a photo of the text. However, you can convert the document to a more user-friendly and searchable Word file, and then work with it. PDF to Word is one of the smoothest and by far the most user-friendly PDF conversion app on the market. It can be particularly helpful to writers and editors who often save their earlier publications in PDF format (again, because it is safer than other formats, and because it doesn’t take up too much memory).

Follow these steps to convert a PDF on your iPhone or iPad:

1. Select one of the several integrated services offered. The PDFs stored there will appear
2. Choose which PDF you wish to convert and click on it
3. The file will be converted and shown on the main page where you can see all the files converted, as well as active conversions

The converted file will be in .docx format, ready to be reused and edited.

 

5. Annotate PDFs

Organizing PDFs is very important because they are often text-heavy and hard to read. That is why annotating parts which you want to pinpoint is a vital part of reading, writing and editing. Evernote is most likely the best app to do these kinds of editing without changing the format.

Here are just some of the reasons why:

1. Evernote allows you to include notes in multiple file formats such as text, video, audio, PDF, photos and many others
2. You can use your camera to quickly scan and import paper documents, business cards, drawings and handwritten notes
3. Always track your daily activities by making personal checklists, set reminders on top of your lists and keep track of other activities

Evernote offers many other services; these are just some of the best that fit writers and editors the most. It is more than obvious that Evernote is an essential app that you should have on your mobile devices.

Dive into mobile tech

As you can see, applying mobile tech to your profession can boost creativity and help you in more than one way. What you might not be aware of is that mobile tech has developed much faster than you expected, and hence you may not be adapting to it as well as you could. However, it is never too late to try and learn new ways to improve yourself and your writing. Try out these PDF tricks and let us know what you think about them!

Interested in writing technology? Check out these posts from our archive:

• Where We Write...Ulysses
• The Geek Writer: Using Technology to Plan Your Novel
• Ten Top Tools for Bloggers – Save Time, Stay Organized, and Create Content that Rocks
• 7 Powerful Tools to Help You Break Through Writer's Block
• 6 Best Editorial Tools for Writers & Editors

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