Which iPads this works on
We make our iPad files in three sizes: one for the iPad mini, one for the 11 inch iPad, iPad Air and iPad Pro, and one for the 13 inch iPad Air and iPad Pro. The three screens are different shapes, with the mini tall and narrow and the 13 inch close to square, so pick your iPad at checkout and the pages will fill your screen. That goes for all of our iPad notebooks, planners and puzzle books.
You’ll need a notes app that lets you write on a PDF with Apple Pencil. The ones we tested are below.
Step 1: save the PDF to Files
The easiest way to put a PDF on your iPad is to download it straight onto the iPad itself.
- Open your order email or download page in Safari on your iPad and tap the download link.
- If the PDF opens in Safari, tap Share, then Save to Files, pick a folder and tap Save.
- If Safari downloads it instead, you’ll find it in the Files app under Browse, then iCloud Drive, then Downloads.
If the PDF came by email, touch and hold the attachment and choose Save to Files. Apple’s guides: download a PDF and find your downloads.
Step 2: import it into your notes app
Before we listed our iPad notebooks, we loaded them onto an iPad and tapped through them in Goodnotes, Notability, Noteshelf, CollaNote and Apple Books. The index rows, the arrows and the links back all landed on the right page in each one. Here’s how to get the file into each app, and what to pick when it asks a question.
Goodnotes
- In Goodnotes, tap + New, then Import, choose the PDF and tap Open.
- Or, in the Files app, open the PDF, tap Share and choose Open in Goodnotes, then pick New Document.
Import it as a new notebook. In our tests, links worked while the pen was selected. If a tap ever writes instead of jumping, Goodnotes’ help says you can touch and hold the link and choose Open Link, or switch to read-only mode and tap it.
Goodnotes’ free plan holds three files and imports files up to 5 MB. Each page style you import counts as one file. Our iPad notebooks and most puzzle books are under 5 MB. The Maze Puzzle Book and the planners are bigger (each product page lists its file sizes), so on Goodnotes they need a paid plan. We haven’t found a size limit in Notability or Apple Books, but we haven’t tested these larger files in them yet. If you ever export the notebook, choose the editable export. Goodnotes says a flattened export removes the links.
Notability
- In your Library, touch and hold + New, then tap Import and choose Files.
- Pick the PDF. When Notability asks about Add space, leave it on None so the pages keep their size.
The app’s toolbar floats over the top of the page, so scroll down a little to reach the bar at the top of our pages. To see the notebook’s contents list, open the Content Manager and choose Outlines. Notability’s guides: importing files and PDF outlines. The free Starter plan has a limit on the number of notes, so check Notability’s plans if you’re importing several page styles.
Noteshelf
Import the PDF as a new notebook. After a link takes you to another page, Noteshelf’s Return to Page button takes you back to where you were. The free version holds a few notebooks before you need to upgrade.
CollaNote
Import the PDF as a new notebook. When CollaNote asks whether to add space to write, pick None so the pages keep their size.
Apple Books
Apple Books is already on your iPad. In Files, open the PDF, tap Share and choose Books. It’s handy for reading back through a finished notebook, and you can draw on a page with Markup, but it isn’t a full notes app. Apple’s guide: read PDFs in Books.
Apps we don’t recommend for our notebooks
Microsoft OneNote inserts a PDF as a printout, which turns each page into a picture, so the links stop working. Freeform puts a PDF on an open canvas rather than as pages, which doesn’t suit a notebook.
We haven’t tested PDF Expert, Flexcil, MyScript Notes or Noteful with our files. Several of them say they support links in PDFs, so they may work well, but we can’t promise it yet.
Using the links
Tap a link with your finger to jump: a row in an index, the arrows, or the bar at the top of each page, which takes you back to that section’s index. In our tests, writing over a page with the pen in Goodnotes and Noteshelf stayed as ink and didn’t set off a link.
Try not to add, delete or move pages inside the notebook. In some apps, shifting pages around can make a link land on the wrong page. If that happens, delete the notebook in your app and import the PDF again.