I tend to prefer to read PDF files on a regular monitor, but moving up and down a page is wonky and most readers don't save your place on the document. Also, sometimes the font is too small when you fit to page and fit to width suffers from paging up and down that doesn't take into account the last visible line.<p>I'd like to hear what you do to read long PDF files, like one of the Springer textbooks. Do you use any readers that support bookmarking and/or note taking and sane pagination? I'm wondering if there is a reader that offers an experience comparable to the experience of reading an ebook on a device like a kindle.
Best I’ve found is to read PDFs on an iPad Pro using an app such as IAnnotate. Instead of scrolling, I display one page at a time in portrait orientation, and then you can swipe to flip the pages. Highlighting, underlining, and short notes are quick andeasy. You can keep all the documents in Dropbox for convenient synchronizing of notes.
If it’s long and dense material, I print it. Especially if I’m taking notes. Double-sided, three-ring hole punch, put in a binder.<p>If it’s not worth going through that effort, then I either don’t read it or I’m scanning it for information.
I use Polar Bookshelf (getpolarized.io). It has nice, exportable, annotations as well as incremental reading and spaced repetition (via Anki) support. It's still a bit rough around the edges, but it has a very active pace of development and is open source.<p>It's not perfect yet, but it's the closest thing I've seen that has a chance of getting there.
Anyone spending a lot of time on pdf's should definitely checkout emacs pdf-tools mode <a href="https://github.com/politza/pdf-tools" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/politza/pdf-tools</a> . In the past i was recommending polar app, but emacs pdf-tools trumps in comparison. Emacs pdf-tools mode has lesser memory footprint is much faster and above all does not have restrict any features.
Speaking from friends opinions, reMarkable tablet is the way to go for folx often working with PDFs. Great annotation and highlighting. E-ink display. <a href="https://remarkable.com/store/remarkable" rel="nofollow">https://remarkable.com/store/remarkable</a>
As others have mentioned, a vertical monitor helps.<p>I use one of these[1] as a second monitor, as I was able to get a surplus one from work for ~$30. The stand it comes with has a 90° swivel, allowing you to rotate it from landscape to portrait orientation (the product images on that page show it in that orientation). It's fantastic for keeping up any long-text materials I need to reference (docs, PDFs, email, spreadsheets, etc). I also use Magnet[2] to make it easy to divide the screen into thirds or halves when I don't need any references up and want to use things that work better in a more standard landscape orientation.<p>If you want to use a monitor that doesn't have standard support for swiveling, you can get an after-market VESA mount such as this[3] one which supports it. The key to look for on product pages is Swivel being listed in the specs, with a Swivel Range of at least 90° being what's needed to turn it from landscape to portrait mode.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.dell.com/hr/business/p/dell-p2217h-monitor/pd" rel="nofollow">https://www.dell.com/hr/business/p/dell-p2217h-monitor/pd</a><p>[2] <a href="https://magnet.crowdcafe.com/" rel="nofollow">https://magnet.crowdcafe.com/</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5402" rel="nofollow">https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5402</a>
If you like keyboard centred applications I can't recommend zathura enough, visually it's very minimal with no buttons, definitely not everyone's style.<p>It supports vim like marks, and powerful movements to manage a lot of pages in a reasonably sane way. My favourite feature is it maintains a jump list so pressing ctrl-o after following a link takes you back to the link.<p><a href="https://pwmt.org/projects/zathura/" rel="nofollow">https://pwmt.org/projects/zathura/</a>
I read and annotate in Emacs mostly, using pdftools + org-noter.<p>Specifically org-noter can synchronize its buffers with the pdf you’re reading. It’ll also create a skeleton from an outline, if available in the PDF, and even extract highlights and notes in for you. It’s really quite useful tool.<p>On iOS I read and annotate using PSPDFKit’s PDF viewer, which is incredibly featurefull in the free version, but even more so with subscription (too expensive IMHO).<p>One nice feature it has, for readers of Hebrew and Arabic, is flipping the edge to right or left. Also editing meta data etc.<p>In respect to your question, also keeping position in file, bookmarks etc and it uses iOS’s file picker, so you can store your PDFs anywhere accessible (for me on Nextbloud WebDAV share).
A monitor arm with rotation support helps with this! Useful if you're planning to have a long read session, since there is a bit of setup cost (physically rotating the screen and then updating your OS's display settings).<p>An iPad and an app like GoodNotes or LiquidText is a great alternative.
You can convert PDFs to epub, which would allow you to use a reader that supports text resizing/reflow and automatic bookmarking. I use the SensusAccess converter,[1] which seems to be free for personal use.<p>I also use the BeeLine Reader PDF extension for Chrome,[2] which helps make long documents easier to read. But I'm probably biased, since I'm the founder :)<p>1: <a href="https://sensusaccess.com/convert-a-file" rel="nofollow">https://sensusaccess.com/convert-a-file</a><p>2: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/beeline-reader-pdf-viewer/pmeknoingfjncbdhempgnkdgojickcko?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/beeline-reader-pdf...</a>
I haven't used it in a while, but I remember having good experiences with Sumatra.<p><a href="https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/" rel="nofollow">https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/</a>
PDF Expert for Mac and iOS is excellent. Really nice UI, great annotation, good performance on big PDFs.<p>It doesn’t save your place, but the bookmark interface works well enough for that.<p>It’s a native app on both OSes.
I find a vertically oriented monitor to be a big improvement. A full page fits nicely without scrolling, and i prefer the narrower width for quick reading. Ill sometimes set my laptop on a table sideways when traveling. I also set the color temperature to ~1300K, about as low as i can stand.
When i read physical books i usually just need a single bookmark or finger to help jump between sections quickly. To replicate this i just open two copies at once, and then i can make due with whatever pdf reader is on the machine im using without having my workflow broken.
If i need to make editing suggestions, konqueror has always met my needs. For my work, if those tools arent enough to communicate edits, then pdf markup isn't the right medium anyway and the document should be edited directly in LaTeX with version control.
I have an old iPad 2 (downgraded to iOS8[1]), where I run KyBook 2. KyBook works great for annotations, highlights, and lets me easily download content from my OPDS server. Kybook 3 is much more featured, but I can't run it on my iPad.<p>Ocassionaly, I try the reflow mode on KOReader on my Kindle, but it is a hit and miss. Works good for single column PDFs, but adding figures, equations and any more complexity trips it up.<p>[1]: <a href="https://captnemo.in/blog/2019/08/11/ipad-downgrade-ios-6-8/" rel="nofollow">https://captnemo.in/blog/2019/08/11/ipad-downgrade-ios-6-8/</a>
For reading books in PDF, I use a Sony DPT-RP1 reader. Its e-ink display can show an entire letter-size page at once, with the original formatting. You can use a stylus to take notes or make highlights; there is no backlight or web browser.<p>The software has improved since the early releases: for example, you can navigate using a table of contents, if the document has one. I use the dpt-rp1-py program to transfer files; I’ve never tried Sony’s included Digital Paper App.
I'm a big fan of Documents by Readdle for iOS because of it's annotations.<p>I read on my iPad, annotations auto sync to google drive, and it generally works great.<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/documents-by-readdle/id364901807" rel="nofollow">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/documents-by-readdle/id3649018...</a>
My use-case is large (1000+ page) datasheets. Fortunately these pdfs tend to come with chapter bookmarks. I also search for keywords and/or just look at the section I'm interested in at the time. I'll often print out key pages. I have also found using a mouse with an infinite scroll wheel (e.g., Logitech M500) to be invaluable.
I bought a Surface Pro 2 on eBay for ~200 USD a couple of years back. I literally use it only for reading PDFs, and run Xournal on it, so that I can annotate them. I save all PDFs in my Syncthing shared storage, along with their annotations, so that I can share back to a real computer for when I want it.<p>This way I can comfortably read in a hammock.
I've been using DrawBoard PDF on a Surface Pro for my MBA (lots of readings!). It's not perfect, but it's the smoothest experience I've seen thus far, especially in regards to general zooming and panning. You can also customise your own annotation tools in a shortcut bar - very handy.<p>I wouldn't use it for actual note taking though. The stylus support isn't as good as OneNote (Windows 10 app version), and I haven't had any experience using it with typed notes. I use a separate OneNote notebook for long-form notes in addition to the annotated PDF itself.<p>Another caveat, sometimes the "text select / highlight" tool doesn't work properly because the PDF reflow has been broken somehow (i.e. you end up highlighting half a page of text when you only wanted a single line). In these instances I switch to the freehand highlight tool instead.
Depending on the size of the font, relative to page size, I will read them on a 300dpi kindle. Usually most manuals, especially those typewritten in the 1980s on letter-size pages, can be read this way. <i>I will only read PDFs on a kindle in one-page-per-screen format.</i><p>When the fonts turn out to be too small to read on the Kindle, I will read them on a monitor using the full height of the monitor to display a single page.<p>If I want to closely study a few pages, and/or make notations on them, I might print them out on paper but only if there are no more than about 8 pages.<p>I have been known to use a condensed print-out with 4 pages per A4 sheet of paper, but I dislike doing this because it makes the fonts too tiny to be comfortable.
I optimize PDFs for my e-reader with k2pdfopt [1]. Fascinating piece of cross-platform software with thousands of command line switches. :)<p>Another solution that I used to use is cropping them with mutool [2], a helper for the MuPDF reader/library. It was really robust and extremely quick compared to k2pdfopt, but less flexible (which is good in a way).<p>1: <a href="https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/" rel="nofollow">https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/</a><p>2: <a href="https://www.mankier.com/1/mutool#Poster" rel="nofollow">https://www.mankier.com/1/mutool#Poster</a>
The Onyx Boox line of e-readers are really nice. I use an Onyx Boox Max 2. They come in large screen varieties (close to 13 inches) and have a local WiFi transfer service that makes it easy to transfer files.
<a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/2044412/convert-a-pdf-for-kindle-viewing-no-software-required.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.pcworld.com/article/2044412/convert-a-pdf-for-ki...</a><p>This post is just under 2 years old but it has helped me since it had the same problem. The kindle app is very user-friendly and also allows you to store the progress of your reading. There are many other applications that offer the same but for personal reasons I prefer kindle.
I transfer the PDF to Google drive. This is just an easy way to get them onto my multiple Android devices.<p>I download the PDF onto the SD card of any device in want to read it on.<p>I use ebookdroid to read the PDF. It remembers exactly where I was. It options to auto crop, dark more etc.<p>To read on multiple devices I track every PDF I'm reading in a Google spreadsheet. This also has the nice side effects of tracking all the PDF's I'm reading, and being able to track my reading progress over time.
For now I keep using a rather old iPad. This is one of the few use cases it still works well enough for. Reading from my Kobo is definitely easier on the eyes, but annoying otherwise. For that reason, I've been considering a Sony DPT-RP1 or Remarkable 2. Hard to decide between the two. I'm afraid I'll be disappointed with the software and build quality either way...
On a Mac, I like Skim.app or Preview. Skim is less aggressive about saving changes right away. I crop the pages, then read a two-page spread in full screen. You can also split the view if you want to refer to a non-adjacent page, though unfortunately only horizontal splits seem to work. Everything's legible enough on a non-retina 21" imac.
Current favorite is PDF Expert on an iPad. I read in landscape mode, with 2 pages side-by-side, and hide most of the interface. You can then tap on the right side of the screen to switch to the next page. That makes it pretty close to reading a print book. And you can still highlight text to review later, like any other eBook.
I use my iPad Pro with Google Books. It's not the reader with most features (this is sarcasm, it has zero features) but if you only want to read it's super easy to upload the pdf to Google Books and it remembers where you left off if you're using multiple devices.
What I miss the most when reading a PDF file is the ability to use dark mode. Acrobat Reader's tablet version supports this, and it works fine on my iPad, but the desktop app only allows me to change the colors manually, and the fonts start to look bad.
An experience far better than reading an ebook on a device is printing it. Double sided, scaled to 4 pages per side, that scaling works for me. The device is paper, pagination is quite simple, as is taking notes.
Technical paper -> print one sided, so I can take notes on the backsides (and I can't get double-sided printing to work on Linux + Brother laser printer anyhow)<p>Fiction -> convert with Calibre and email to my Kindle
For android there is "Xodo" which has a reading mode, so it can adapt to your phone screen. You can also convert your pdf to epub so set the size and font but it not always work as expected.
I have a Surface which I found the best tablet as it was bigger than most.<p>In the end I gave up buying ebooks and went back to regular books. If there is a pdf I have to read I'll do on my workstation.
I display the PDF on my monitor screen and I take notes on an iPad. I usually create a note page for each of the chapter I read. Alternatively, you could take note on a sheet of paper.
This is why I bought a Kindle Fire. That is the only reason I needed a tablet which is why I postponed it for several years. And indeed this is the only thing I use it for.
Drawboard PDF, on windows platform.
I found it's experience better compare to other pdf readers.
Ease of use of annotation tool is one of highlighting feature.
Like others, I import mine to Goodnotes on my iPad then use Apple Pencil to annotate / mark-up etc. Can also export in whatever format (inc. PDF) if I want.
PDF Reader by Xodo is the best and fastest reader/annotator I've used on Windows. Excellent with touch screen. Faster than Adobe Reader or Acrobat.
iPad Mini + Apple Pencil + GoodNotes. I got this setup specifically for reading research papers, but I end up using it a lot for personal reading and sheet music.