Disappearing Markups on PDFs

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.

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?

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.

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

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 this problem too - killing iBooks and relaunching just makes the problem worse. Luckily I transferred most notes to a Word document now but I've lost at least two sessions' worth of notes. It's infuriating!!

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!

Where are these PDF's you're editing? Are they an attachment in an email? In an app? If so which one?

If you markup to send, you should be able to see the marked up version in the "sent" email.

So I can actually see the marks I’ve made when the pdf is reduced in size, back into the "shelf" but when I select it and it expands into full view they disappear. Frustratingly unusable...

There is no Done button in iBooks. Many of the comments in this thread are about iBooks problems.