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Until relatively recently there was little
support for Acrobat PDF documents
built into the iPad, but this changed
with iOS 11. Apple hasn’t yet delivered
a bundled app comparable to Preview
for viewing PDFs and completing forms,
but there are some good quality third–
party solutions which are either free
or inexpensive.
Most popular are two free apps from
Adobe: Acrobat Reader for PDF (bit.ly/
ml161rdrpdf) and Fill & Sign (bit.ly/
ml161lsgn), the second of which is aimed
particularly at completing and sending
PDF forms. As with all Adobe products,
both apps use a special version of
Adobe’s own engine for reading and
rendering the PDF, and tend to cater for a
wider range of forms than products from
other vendors. This is because Adobe
supplies its proprietary form design
software to businesses and governments.
Another contender is PDF Pro 3 (bit.
ly/ml161pdfpro3), which uses the PDF
engine built into iOS. The iPad version
enables you to add images to
annotations, which could be invaluable,
and it also works well with a wide range
of forms. Unlike Adobe’s apps, this
requires a modestly priced subscription
of $1.49 per month.
Because PDF forms can vary so
widely, it’s essential that you try these
apps out first with examples of the forms
you need to complete, to see which one
is most compatible and does everything
that you need.
Can an iPad fill PDF forms?
I’m hoping to replace my old MacBook Air and move my work to an iPad Pro. Is there an
app for the iPad which supports completion of PDF forms and adding photos to them, in
the way that Preview does in macOS?
Quick–fire
questions
& answersHOW CAN I CLEAN UP
MY MUSIC AND SYNC
IT WITH MY MAC?
Turn iCloud Music off first, if
possible. Then remove all
the tracks quickly in Settings
> Music > Downloaded Music;
tap Edit at the top, then
delete All Songs. Once that’s
done, connect your iPhone
to your Mac and use iTunes
to sync it to just the tracks
that you want. This should
limit tracks, eliminate
duplicates, and give your
iOS library a fresh start.HOW DO I SET PAGES
INTO ITS WORD
PROCESSOR MODE?
With your document open
in Pages, tap “...” at the
top right, then Document
Setup, and the rectangle
at the top right. Turn on
Document Body for Word
Processor view; turn it off
for Page Layout.Adobe’s own free Fill & Sign app is designed for form
completion and submission, handles most types of form,
and runs well on iPads.Tech Support & Techsplanations
maclife.com DEC 2019 73