I will look into AirDrop next week - I am overloaded right now with learning 100 things.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Cannot OPEN pdf and rtf files on iPhone
- Thread starter Ambrosia7177
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I will look into AirDrop next week - I am overloaded right now with learning 100 things.
I also really dislike iOS for this kind of thing, but I was working with a few PDF's recently and found it was actually very straightforward for my own needs - maybe yours are different though. I did not install any apps, didn't use airdrop, didn't connect my phone to my Mac. I simply attached the PDF to an e-mail (dragged into a new e-mail using Apple Mail) and sent it to myself.
I can view the PDF directly in Mail on my iPhone, for basic use. For a better solution, I pressed and held the PDF in the mail and chose "save to files" and put it in my downloads folder (could use any folder you want though). I can read the PDF directly in the files app, but for a better user interface, I used Share in the files app and sent the PDF to the Books app.
I had a PDF of a musical score a few weeks ago and wanted to use it on my iPad like sheet music on the piano. The Books app actually does this very well, showing each page by itself and letting you swipe between pages.
I can view the PDF directly in Mail on my iPhone, for basic use. For a better solution, I pressed and held the PDF in the mail and chose "save to files" and put it in my downloads folder (could use any folder you want though). I can read the PDF directly in the files app, but for a better user interface, I used Share in the files app and sent the PDF to the Books app.
I had a PDF of a musical score a few weeks ago and wanted to use it on my iPad like sheet music on the piano. The Books app actually does this very well, showing each page by itself and letting you swipe between pages.
This is a good option but they’ve said they don’t use email on the phone. Basically every barrier is in place to make it difficult
I use FileBrowser to copy files between my computer and my iOS devices. You can also read PDFs in this app.
www.stratospherix.com
FileBrowser The Best File Manager App on iOS - Free Trial
Connect to your cloud storage & computers over WiFi from one app on iPad/iPhone. Work with documents, watch movies & manage your files with FileBrowser.
They won't use email and also dismissed my suggestion about using Books.
They're very concerned about privacy, but I don't know the rationale for refusing to sync Books via a cord.
Exactly. I get that airdrop works differently on Mac and isn’t as straight forward. And I get wanting to make use of a purchase. But the solution is right there.
It’s a rant more than anything. They don’t want a solution.
OP is now suspended so I don't know if they will even see this but here goes anyway...
I have no problem at all using AirDrop to send from my Mac to my iPhone (or the other way around) and if it's a PDF it goes to Files, where I can easily tap to open it and (as OP said they want to do) read it there. It's easy.
I don't use iMazing or any other app to do it, so OP may be making this harder on themselves than they need to.
One thing I have noticed is that I tried opening a VERY LARGE PDF once and my iPhone struggled with it. I just made it a smaller file and re-sent it and poof, no problem. So if OP was having difficulty opening the first file they tried, that could be the issue.
Or, as others have said, it's possible they don't really want a solution. iOS already does what they seem to want, but they're using apps that aren't helping them, and they don't need to.
I have no problem at all using AirDrop to send from my Mac to my iPhone (or the other way around) and if it's a PDF it goes to Files, where I can easily tap to open it and (as OP said they want to do) read it there. It's easy.
I don't use iMazing or any other app to do it, so OP may be making this harder on themselves than they need to.
One thing I have noticed is that I tried opening a VERY LARGE PDF once and my iPhone struggled with it. I just made it a smaller file and re-sent it and poof, no problem. So if OP was having difficulty opening the first file they tried, that could be the issue.
Or, as others have said, it's possible they don't really want a solution. iOS already does what they seem to want, but they're using apps that aren't helping them, and they don't need to.
Yep this is what I thought.
It sounds like imazing may be the issue.
Uninstall it and see if it then works.
Something is amiss,
1.iPhone with no Pages installed (when it comes pre-installed)…. 🤔
2.PDF’s not showing/opening (when they open without any app).
The previous replies have given numerous options to get a PDF onto a phone, none of which suit the OP.
As others here have mentioned, it's easy to send files from a Mac to an iOS device, AirDrop is the easiest way and I do this all the time. Documents, PDFs, photos, etc. But it may not be in the interest of the iMazing developer's business to tell you that you can do something free and easy without their app, so perhaps that's a reason?
Go to your App Store account, you can find what apps you've downloaded. So whatever you've installed on your iPad, you should be able to find it there even though your iPad is not with you.
Personally I would contact the iMazing support people, assuming they exist. Run it by them. Did they guarantee it would work in a multi device Apple environment?
Again, try airdrop, you don‘t have to learn those other 100 things then, just this one. seems like you‘re trying pack a complicated solution on top of a problem you created. Do you know the term sunk cost fallacy ? Often, it‘s more efficient and less work to start over from scratch.