Question for iPad owners.

Hi all,

I was wondering - how are pdf's handled on the iPad? for example, let's say I get a technical manual that has a copy of the book on CD as a PDF - can one use the iBook bookcase to view/read/etc. that pdf?

Not that I can see. You can store the pdf in pictures, but each page will show as an individual image. I'm sure there'll be an app for this shortly (if one doesn't already exist).

That's kind of a bummer considering other ereaders allow you to use PDF files in their normal reading capacity, and the book reading function of the iPad does look nice.

The iPad can most definitely open PDFs in Safari, Mail, Dropbox, and other apps that allow you to store/view PDF files. Not sure if iBooks supports PDF files, but you can convert that PDF to the ePub format and it will definitely work with iBooks.

I think the PDF look just fine, now if your talking about editing and making PDFs, thats a whole other story.

But my department always has company emails that include PDF files, and I can view them quite nicely on the iPad, no problems there

The app GoodReader is the best option I've found so far. The only pdf I've tried importing with Pages, jumbled it up with one of the pre-installed templates and the only way I could figure out how to delete the file was to sync the iPad twice - once to remove Pages and again to put it back on.

+1 on the GoodReader app. I was able to transfer one of my Cisco books in PDF format over to it via wiFi and download it from DropBox using th emailed link. The GoodReader app does not change the formatting.

I tried converting it to an epub book and the formatting was not retained. The number of pages went from 1100+ to 3500+.

iWork can import them, although not perfectly but the best way is to view them from Safari if possible. Upload it to your website if you have one.

Alternatively, attach it to a draft email and save it on your IMAP email server.