Disappearing Markups on PDFs

This is a frustrating activity. I created a roster using Excel spreadsheet and saved it as a PDF on OneDrive. I opened the PDF roster, and had people signing next to their name as receiving a document. Well, there are no signatures to be seen on that PDF at all. What a waste of time. I would like to use the Apple iOS 11 version of markup, but seeing all the complaints/comments/notification about this problem, I am moving back to old faithful -- Readdle's PDF Expert. I can mark that up all day long with no hiccups at all. That is what I recommend until Apple gets their act back together. Sure do miss Steve Jobs.

If you’re doing a lot of PDF markup, it’s worthwhile in my opinion to buy one of the apps designed specifically for that, like GoodReader, PDF Expert, iAnnotate PDF, etc. These apps have been designed from their inception for detailed and complex PDF markup work, not just reading PDFs with some markup features tacked on.

To everyone: This happened on first version of iOS11, but was fixed in first apple ios update.

Last update before 11.2.2 files pdf annotation was unastable (closing,dissapearing when not wireless connection..) and after last update we are back to the first bug.

The others sittuation mentioned (email annotation etc) i think are solved (remember to update your computers to Sierra because in Capitan annotaions doesnt show in Preview App) , but this one is not.

So, i hope Apple actualy reads this forum because the only way to solve is in next update, and i just lost 8 months of work because this bug.

(ps: sorry for my english)

OUCH!

DON'T TRUST 'SAVE' FILE WHEN USING MARK UPS IN PREVIEW!

A second work around is to doIntermittent saving works but if and only if (iff) you can see each saved version in a finder window. Sometimes I needed to save it twice before seeing it show up in the finder window. WARNING this is a buggy issue. Otherwise beware! saving at the end of your work is NOT dependable.
Apple Preview has a serious reliability problem!

Hope this helps Jc

Most iOS PDF markup apps create a copy of the document for the marked up version, leaving the original untouched (this is very explicitly, for example, how GoodReader works as it prompts you to either create a copy or alter the original). Sometimes the original may be locked so you cannot alter it anyway, or even make a copy for markup, in which case then the markup will only be cached with the markup app, and not actually embedded in the document.

If a document is not specifically designed for a secure digital signature, then any PDF you sign is nothing more than an attached graphic of your signature.

Almost none of this has to do with iOS or any operating system - it has to do with the variations available on the Adobe PDF standard and how the source file was created.

OUCH!

DON'T TRUST SAVE OPTION ON MARK UPS IN PREVIEW!

Just lost an hour and a half of markup work on a screen shot of my architecture firms building drawing. ... lost similar work the day before and thought it was my fault. So I made point of checking and saving. No Record of progress saves in the the "File - Revert To - Browse All Versions" But the file exists but all but the first version are blanks with the background shade set in preferences. Only the first screen shows the original drawing without any of the 90 minutes of mark ups. Not Good.

A work around is to take a second screen shot of the work and review to confirm it worked. Do this before closing the app. But in the meantime Apple Preview has a serious reliability problem. Hope this helps Jc

It seems to me that there is something more basic going on in the way IOS creates and renderd pdfs. I do have an app designed specifically for marking up pdfs.. and still have this issue.

I can save a pdf (from Outlook for ios) to it.. make annotations. those annotations are visible in the app. but

When I "open in another app" to send the file.. the annotations are gone.

When I open the file in OneNote.. and render it as a printout.. the annotations are gone, although when I then click perview.. the file opens and the annotations are visible.

When I look at the same email in Windows - the attachment opens in its windows counterpart.. and the annotations are visible.

Also - in windows - I cannot take that same pdf file in OneNote and render a printout - it's as if the file is corrupt.

To me - this seems like ios is saving the file with an associated graphic overlay - and then in ios it is failing to render that overlay.. and possible worse.. is not doing it in a way that other apps (like MS OneNote) can recognise; it should be possible to save a flattened copy - where the overlay is 'printed' irrevocably on the pdf.

For a lot of usage cases - this is the only way this functionality can be trusted - what is the point of signing a document if that signature is only an associated graphic that can easily be changed?

Yes Gregory it is a problem see my notes below.The workaroundIs toSave manuallyAnd confirm in a finder windowThat the icon is in fact being updated.It's a variation on the theme of what get's measured gets done. Good luck

Can you confirm your iOS version? (Check Settings > General > About and find the field for "Version" -- current is 11.2.6 (15D100)).

Also, when you markup the pdf, do you click the "Done" button at top right? Are you saving the PDF to "Files" or trying to send it somewhere?

I also have an issue with disappearing markup, but it happens then I try to Message or Email the marked up doc.

I think this problem is still not resolved. I have lost my work of almost 7-8 months. I use iBooks across devices and I generally highlight lines using pencil on the iPad. I think the books are now somehow synced to very old versions and only 2-3 comments are visible which were made 6-7 months back. Not sure if it happened because I opened the same book on mac. In any case, I think it should have synced better to reflect the latest copy. Now those highlights and comments are gone from all devices. To me this started happening since i updated to iOS 11.3. I am skeptical of making any new notes now.

I have observed the same problem. iBooks is proving unreliable using the Markup function. The option even to use it disappears but then reappears after restarting iBooks. It needs a serious overhaul!

Found a work around. Ran into this same issue with a PDF for an IRA application. The markup was retained on the original device (MBa) but even in iCloud Drive (on iPhone, iPad) would lose markup. Tried saving the original, marked up PDF to a new file as nameofthefile2.pdf - no luck. However, if you open with Preview and do File > Print > Select PDF > Save as PDF to create a new copy, this one retains mark up. This one I was finally able to email to another of my accounts and verify it went through. Hope it helps.

It’s a basic principle of system (incl. app) development that no user entered information is allowed to be discarded without the confirmation of the user —at least for the last fourty years. It is fightening that this way of operation of ibooks is intentional, and not an implementation failure. It is obvous that there were no independent user test: only the developer and the architect tested the app, and the test scenario was set up according to the failed design.

I am sure that Apple will review this concept soon and this dangerous approach to user entered data will not sread to other solutions of the company, hopefully disappear from here with the next release.

i am having a problem with whole files disappearing! I thought iBooks was maybe working again. It was allowing me to rename files (though when I went back, some changes were gone!) so I spent hours redoing my categories. I like to use iBooks for my pdf crochet patterns. Tonight I went to move a pattern from Dropbox to iBooks but not only did the pattern disappear when I opened it, so did the two patterns I had in one of my categories. Just vanished! I am so totally fed up with iBooks! It has been getting worse and worse and Apple doesn’t seem to care about fixing it. I’m off to find something comparable! I would just leave them in Dropbox, but I can’t access the files when offline.

i used to love iBooks but not anymore. Now I hate it!

Thanks for the trick to get edit back - kill & restart ibooks. What a nuisance. I wonder whether at Apple there aren’t too few people working on too many projects. Sloppy implementations. Reminds me of Maps - pressure to get something out, buggy or not.