The question might seem provocative but not if you live your life in Apple’s world.
You have a Mac, an iPad and an iPhone. How do you safely store and sync PDF files from one device to another?
Being a staunch, hard-core, purist Apple user I always try to look for solutions in Apple’s built-in software. Furthermore, I’m trying to move away from 3rd party sync solutions and rely as much as I can on iCloud. Because of this the question is even more challenging. Normally this task is easily carried out using sync software like Dropbox.
If you don’t consider third party software, Finder, Preview iCloud and iTunes library are the three locations where you can store PDF files on your Mac.
Finder
This has been the default choice to store PDF file since forever. Files are stored on your disk and you can organize them by folder/subfolder, per project and so on.
The obvious limitation is that files are only available on your Mac and are not visible anywhere else.
Despite the Finder’s improvements in OS X Mavericks, it’s no secret that Apple is busy trying to make it a solution for pros. I wouldn’t be surprised if Finder ended up hidden in some Utility folder in a couple iterations of OS X.
Preview iCloud
OS X Mountain Lion has brought us . When you save a PDF file in Preview app, the default target destination is if fact iCloud.
This is a solution I love, all my files are available on all Macs linked to the same iCloud account. The problem is that there isn’t any Preview app available for iOS.
This means that if you use Preview to store PDF files, you cannot share them with your iOS devices.
iTunes Library
Throughout the years iTunes has become the monster app that it is now. You can store an incredible variety of file types in its library.
PDF files are one of the files you can store in iTunes. The advantages of this solution are obvious if your goal is to send those files to an iOS device. You can transfer those files to an iOS device by simply syncing them via iTunes.
Curiously enough if you try to view any PDF file stored in iTunes, OS X invokes Preview app. This essential app is the default PDF viewer of OS X.
My Solution
As I said before I’ve become increasingly allergic to third party sync solutions. iCloud is reliable and is becoming more mature with each iteration of OS X. The solution I’ve started using is not ideal but it allows me a good degree of flexibility.
Receipts, random PDF files, small documents etc. end up in Preview iCloud app and I store books in PDF format in iTunes. Heck, even Apple calls that section of iTunes Books so it’s only logical that you store large PDF files there.
There’s also more subtle reason why I prefer to store PDF books in iTunes. I am just incapable of reading large PDF files on a laptop screen. I’ve realized this the day I bought an iPad. When I did, I finally realized why I never enjoyed reading manuals on a computer. The iPad on the other hand is nearly perfect to read PDF files.
The future
This brings me to talk about the future. With OS X Mavericks, Apple is going to port iBooks to the Mac.
There are dozens of PDF readers for iPad in the App Store, but iBooks just does it for me. Its close integration with iTunes and simple interface are more than enough for my needs. I normally don’t annotate PDF files so I don’t need more sophisticated solutions.
It’s still early to say but if are true, then iBooks could become my default app to store PDF files on the Mac. iBooks is going to relieve iTunes from the responsibility to manage PDF files and bring into OS X a true books management software.