How to annotate and insert images into PDF on an iPad?

December 3, 2013 8:14 AM

I use goodreader to grade papers and am very happy with the interface. However, I would like to be able to insert image files into the PDFs and goodreader doesn't support this.

Does anyone know of another PDF annotation app that can do this, or another workaround I could use? At the moment I'm stuck with cutting and pasting text from the rubric (I have it in excel/numbers) into the comments of the goodreader file and it's time consuming. I'd much prefer to snap a shot of the whole spreadsheet and then just paste it in. There are about a gazillion papers here so anything that will help speed up the process is welcome.

posted by Cuke to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Best answer: Take a look at iAnnotate. It's got tons of features. The Stamp tool may be what you need.

(I confess I am not exactly sure what you are trying to do, but you can probably figure out if iAnnotate will work for you by gleaning its features.)
posted by The Deej at 8:28 AM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I use iAnnotate every day for schoolwork on my iPad. Like The Deej said, if you are looking to grade/edit PDFs, you may want to try the stamp tool. It comes with lots of preloaded images (some of particular interest to you might be "Good job!" a check mark, letter grades, smiley face, etc.) that you can stamp onto the PDF. Or you can choose your own image to stamp. You can also scribble, highlight, add typed text, add little notes, add audio notes, etc. One of the professors at my school edits resumes by adding little audio notes to each section of the resume because it's less work for him and conveys much more information. If you have specific questions message me. I really like this app and use it 7+ hours every day.
posted by gumtree at 1:33 PM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Notability can insert images from your camera roll (You can use Dropbox to add images to your roll)
posted by fjom at 3:23 PM on December 3, 2013

Response by poster: I bought them both to try out (work gives me a little budget for iPad stuff). Notability for the win! I can use the home/on/off button to take a picture of the spreadsheet, then add that to the annotated document.

I love the highlighting and stamp features in iAnnotate, but can't figure out how to import an image to use as a stamp. Maybe it's there, I'll keep trying.
posted by Cuke at 6:24 PM on December 3, 2013

From the iAnnotate support page:

Stamp With A Specific Image

For easy and immediate access to a specific stamp or image, drag the "Stamp With A Specific Image" button (under the Annotation heading in your Toolbox) to your toolbar. You will then be prompted to select which stamp you want connected to that tool. Once created, this tool will automatically stamp with your selected image and remain in your toolbar for future use.

Once you drag the "Stamp With a Specific Image" button to the toolbar, it will show you the image library. You can tap the + sign on the upper right of that window to choose an image from the Photo Library, which is where your screenshot will be.

Also, just using the regular stamp, there is a + sign as well, so you can pick your image from there too.
posted by The Deej at 6:09 AM on December 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

For PDF editing on Mac and iOS I like PDFPen. It will let you insert images into PDFs.
posted by hartez at 6:39 AM on December 4, 2013