ISO iPad PDF organizer...

February 6, 2013 8:30 AM

I'm trying to find an app for organizing my PDFs on my iPad mini. Ideally, this app would enable me to sort my PDFs into folders *and* allow me to open the PDFs either within the app or in another application (such as Note Taker HD), *and* I'd like there to be a companion desktop application (for Mac) or website or whatever so I can organize things on my computer when I want.

I already use Dropbox for other stuff, and Evernote seems needlessly complex for this (but maybe it's not? I've never gotten into it for some reason). An annotation option would be good too, especially if I can highlight things, though I like Note Taker HD for annotating, but then again it's a bit slow to open things and sometimes I just want to take a quick look at something.

I'm totally overwhelmed by all the PDF manager applications out there so am hoping for a personal recommendation. Thanks, y'all!

(PS/by the way, this was me and I'm very happy with my decision to get the iPad -- thanks everyone for pushing me in that direction!)

posted by pupstocks to Technology (9 answers total)

I just started really using Evernote for this functionality, and it does all these things very well for me.
posted by Nimmie Amee at 8:33 AM on February 6, 2013

Yes on Evernote. Using the website might help to make it a little easier to get organized. Creating folders is a snap. You can drag-and-drop your .pdf files into them and access them anywhere and everywhere, cross-platform and smartphones included.
posted by davidvanb at 8:38 AM on February 6, 2013

Papers is highly recommended and can sync across devices (including Macs and PCs). The interface kind of looks like iTunes, and you can annotate etc.
posted by cushie at 8:47 AM on February 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Mendeley may be useful for this.
posted by grouse at 8:56 AM on February 6, 2013

I use Papers and it works reasonably well.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:13 AM on February 6, 2013

Goodreader is my absolute favorite document organizer. It lets you do everything you want and more, except have a companion app on the desktop (though you can connect the iPad side through wireless as a network drive an manipulate it that way).

Annotations are good, and it connects with every type of server and cloud storage app you can think of.

I'm a college student, and goodreader has served as my handout and homework organizer for four years.
posted by nickhb at 9:49 AM on February 6, 2013 [2 favorites]

Goodreader is amazing for this and I heartily recommend it.
posted by Feantari at 10:42 AM on February 6, 2013

I haven't had a lot of hands-on time with it yet, but Readdle Docs seems like it should do what you're asking. It's free, so probably worth a look, at least.
posted by segatakai at 3:43 PM on February 6, 2013

Dropbox does exactly what you want.
posted by conrad53 at 5:22 AM on February 7, 2013