Cross-platform highlights/annotations in PDF files
July 25, 2017 5:49 AM   Subscribe

Can you help me figure out the right setup for working with a large number of PDF files on multiple computers?

What I have:
- Windows 10 desktop, Windows 10 laptop, iPad Pro
- ever-growing collection of hundreds of PDF documents

What I want to do:
- put them all in a Dropbox/Box/similar folder, access them from all three devices, and make highlights and annotations that stick with the files when I open them on any computer with any software

What I'm confused about:

- are annotations and highlights part of the universal PDF format, or proprietary to the software package you're using to edit them? (Acrobat, Foxit, Nitro, etc)

- even if I find a software package I like, with both Windows and iOS apps, will iOS sandboxing prevent me from setting this up correctly? For example, the Box app on my iPad seems to open PDFs in its own reader (which seems not to have highlighting/notes ability) and not even offer an option for opening them in an external reader

What I don't want to do: switch from Dropbox/Box to a Windows or Apple cloud account, and especially not Adobe Document Cloud or some other vendor-specific one -- but I guess I will if that's really my only option.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
posted by neat graffitist to Technology 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
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