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Maximizing Mobile Productivity: How to Save PDF Files on an iPhone

Today, nearly everyone has a smartphone, and the iPhone remains one of the most popular options. Its reputation for high-tech features and ease of use helps it maintain its position as a go-to choice for many executives, students, artists, and independent business people. A recent study revealed that almost 60% of internet searches come from mobile devices. With that many searches happening, iPhone users are frequently running into a problem: how do you save PDF files on your mobile device?

Saving Your PDFs on the iPhone

Due to Apple’s quality software design, it’s surprisingly easy to download PDFs for later use. The fastest way to save any PDF is to open it on your phone, then save it to Apple Books. Usually, you’ll do this by tapping the download link on the website or email containing the PDF. Once you do this, your iPhone will open the file. With the PDF open, tap on the “Share” button, then “Copy to Books”. After you have saved the PDF to your Books library, you have a lot of flexibility. The file is already saved to your phone, and you can access it by opening the Books app. Because Books is connected to your iCloud storage, you can access the PDF from any other device you own that’s connected to that storage.

Sharing and Printing PDFs After Downloading

While Books offers some rudimentary PDF editing features, it doesn’t have the raw power and utility that you’ll need to get the most from your PDFs. There are two several ways to work with your PDFs once you have them saved to your phone:

  • If you’re connected to a network that has an accessible printer, you can print the PDF directly from your iPhone. From Books, open the PDF and bring up the “Share” menu. Find the print button, then select the networked printer and your phone will automatically use AirPrint to send the PDF to the printer.
  • You can email the PDF to coworkers by attaching it directly from your phone. In Mail, you can tap the button to add an attachment to an email. The attachment button will open your iPhone’s file navigation, which allows you to select the PDF. Once it’s been uploaded to the email draft, you can send it to whoever needs to receive the file.
  • If you need access to the PDF on a computer that’s not connected to your iCloud, then you can email the PDF to yourself and download it from the attachment. This method allows you to edit or convert the PDF into another format using Kofax Power PDF. Power PDF is available both for Windows and Apple OS-based computers, so you have access to its full power regardless of which operating system you prefer.

There’s now nothing stopping you from being productive from anywhere you have cell phone reception. When you combine your iPhone with Power PDF, you can conduct extensive research and client communications on the go and refine any document to suit your needs when you return to your office computer.