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Adobe created the PDF document format back in 1993. Apple adopted it as an operating system standard format for Mac OS X. Since then, PDF has become the multi-platform standard for storing and sharing documents on any device, and Apple's Preview application is arguably the best basic PDF viewer and editor on the Mac.

One of the Mac's best features is the ability to "Print to PDF". Anything that can be printed from the Mac can also be saved as a PDF by using the PDF menu in the print dialog box. I use this on a daily basis to save articles I want to read later or keep for future reference. And while this is a great featured for Mac OS X, it is still great feature is missing on the iOS.

Without a Finder, iOS's Safari cannot save a file from the Internet, nor can Safari save a web page off the Internet. Obviously, it can't print a PDF of a web page either. While this is a huge drawback to the iOS, there have been solutions in the past.

When Apple released AirPrint, a way to print documents from the iOS, developers created a fake software-based printer on the device. These applications could capture what was being printed and create a PDF from it. This was an acceptable, yet cumbersome, solution... at least until Apple prevented this.

Now there is no way to print a document to PDF on an iOS device and that is a major problem for me, and likely millions of other iOS users. I use Print to PDF on the Mac on a daily basis to save articles, receipts, and documents I want to store in a cross-platform, application independent format for future reference. Without this feature on an iOS device, it is a glaring omission that Mac users have enjoyed for over a decade. Apple, please create a way users can print to PDF on iOS.

1 Comment

1. Wolfgang Römer ~ November 17, 2011 05:44
   I have not given a better summary of the problem and the solution ... that was revoked by Apple lately (Print to PDF). I'm thinking about why Apple could have left the "Print to PDF" feature out of iOS every day but there seems no obvious reason; not even a business reason. So why is such an important feature missing from iOS; especially as it is an integral part of OS X as mentioned in this article. We should get a petition on the way to Apple;)

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