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How to deal with on screen keyboard blocking content?

T

TinaBelcher

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 23, 2017
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i got the iPad Pro 12.9 for the purpose of doing my homework on it, but it just seems like an epic fail.

I have this pdf file that I have to read and I also want to type notes as my school demands we type our notes and upload them to google drive. However, when I’m about to type on google doc, the keyboard blocks half of my pdf file whatever it’s in split view or slide over. I’m currently viewing it in iBooks and I can’t swipe down only left or right.

Any suggestions? Please, don’t tell me to buy a physical keyboard, That’s what computers are for.
 
If a hardware keyboard is not an option, then you’ll need to get a better PDF reader than iBooks. I use PDFpen myself - it’s a PDF editor, but it obviously allows you to also just read PDFs. While the onscreen keyboard is up, you can scroll the PDF up and down.
 
Eric5273 said:
iBooks is not meant to be a PDF editor. I also suggest getting a real PDF editing app. I use PDF expert and it works very well.
Click to expand...
But I mostly look at PDFs in split view while typing in google doc. Won’t pdf expert be covered by the Keyboard, too? Or can you move it out of the frame like with a paper in Procreate when drawing?
 
One way you can go, I’ve used was splitting the keyboard and that way you have a bit more visible room an you move the keyboard around.
Otherwise just get the iPad Pro keyboard with it, makes it a lot easier. Or the pencil for taking notes.
 
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TinaBelcher said:
i got the iPad Pro 12.9 for the purpose of doing my homework on it, but it just seems like an epic fail.

I have this pdf file that I have to read and I also want to type notes as my school demands we type our notes and upload them to google drive. However, when I’m about to type on google doc, the keyboard blocks half of my pdf file whatever it’s in split view or slide over. I’m currently viewing it in iBooks and I can’t swipe down only left or right.

Any suggestions? Please, don’t tell me to buy a physical keyboard, That’s what computers are for.
Click to expand...
You are correct. That is the current limitation of using split-window with the onscreen keyboard. There are other limitations as well, but that's one that bites everybody.

One possible workaround is to find a PDF viewer that can display PDFs in a continuously scrolling mode... where it is one page over another and you have to scroll down (rather than the typical page-turn mode). Then you can scroll that window so that the desired portion of the PDF is visible above the keyboard. That probably won't work with PDF files that are only a single page. But it's something.
 
sracer said:
You are correct. That is the current limitation of using split-window with the onscreen keyboard. There are other limitations as well, but that's one that bites everybody.

One possible workaround is to find a PDF viewer that can display PDFs in a continuously scrolling mode... where it is one page over another and you have to scroll down (rather than the typical page-turn mode). Then you can scroll that window so that the desired portion of the PDF is visible above the keyboard. That probably won't work with PDF files that are only a single page. But it's something.
Click to expand...

Do you know if pdf expert does continuously scrolling?
 
ahostmadsen said:
It does.

It won’t solve the problem on the last page or single page PDFs , but you could insert a blank page at the end of the pdf if it’s not copy protected.
Click to expand...
Sometimes my teachers scan pages from a book, so I end up having 2 pages on one page. That can be an issue as well... does pdf expert support highlighting of text that has turned into an image? On iBooks it looks hideous because it almost color away the text and ends up oveerlaping text below
 
Skika said:
Ibooks offers scrolling mode too. Tap aA and enable scrolling view
Click to expand...

I don’t see the aA option when viewing my PDFs. Where is it supposed to be?

Edit:
I downloaded an eBook and now I can see where it’s supposed to be. Still, it’s not available for PDF documents (at least the ones I have on my iPad).
 
idk if this will help but I've imported PDF files to Notes. Whenever I get a PDF via email, I will save it to Notes so that I can access it incase I can't open in mail. I can view them there without using wifi or data.
 
mofunk said:
idk if this will help but I've imported PDF files to Notes. Whenever I get a PDF via email, I will save it to Notes so that I can access it incase I can't open in mail. I can view them there without using wifi or data.
Click to expand...
I tried that but the marker is awfully thick and blurs too much of the text out
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ahostmadsen said:
It does.

It won’t solve the problem on the last page or single page PDFs , but you could insert a blank page at the end of the pdf if it’s not copy protected.
Click to expand...
Does it highlight text that’s basically scanned pages?
 
When I need to add notes to my PDF's I go between two apps. PDF Expert and a really cool app called LiquidText. LiquidText offers a really cool side by side layout when you buy the full version. But I also use a physical keyboard when making up PDF's. That way the onscreen keyboard isn't an issue. Both PDF Expert and LiquidText support the Apple Pencil too.
 
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