Drawboard PDF Reviews

Please make it more simple to add a new page. I’ve been pressing everything under the sun to see if it’ll let me add a new page and I can’t find anything. A simple feature like that shouldn’t be hidden away. It’s an otherwise perfect app, I just really need that feature to work.

EDIT: so it turns out, the add page function IS easy to find. Only major issue is that it is only available to local files, not cloud-based files. I was working on a cloud file so it did not give me the option. Once I realized I couldn’t add a page, I decided to just export the file and start the work on another app, but the export PDF had issues. Many of the words/lines I deleted were showing on the export PDF. I had to delete a bunch of stuff and start from new which wasn’t fun when I had an important deadline to meet. Overall I probably won’t be using DrawboardPDF again until these issues are fully ironed out.

This was my go-to app for PDF annotation. It had a rich feature set, and was not paywalled to an unreasonable degree, when it came to advanced features. However, since I first began using it, DrawboardPDF has turned to a subscription model for their “pro” version, and the functionality of the non-pro version was dramatically reduced.

For example, presets for tools are limited to just a handful without a subscription. This is ridiculous in my view, and at the very least, earlier users should be grandfathered in to a system where a subscription is not necessary to retain what I see as core functionality.

I want anyone who reads this to know that there are alternatives to this app that don’t require a subscription. This subscriptionization of apps like this is pure madness.

For the majority of the time, DrawboardPDF works great, I used it on my Laptop before getting an iPad and had some issues but were minimal here and there. However, when there are issues, it either doesn’t make sense or its significantly frustrating.
For the first part, there is absolutely no good reason to upload to the Drawboard cloud. For whatever reason, they decided to limit many functionalities for files that are uploaded. The two biggest ones I remember before removing them all from the cloud were you cannot add new pages and you cannot rearrange pages. DO NOT UPLOAD TO THEIR CLOUD as of now. Use OneDrive or Google Drive.
The second part is more frustrating. Every now and again, all of my work won’t be saved, I go back to a document and will find that everything I did in my last session completely gone. This is really annoying because I use Drawboard to take notes in class.
Finally, it seems to be a coin-toss on which tools you can use and which you cannot use. I have the Pro-Lite version I believe and its enough but for whatever reason, moving something to the background or foreground requires the next version. Why are there so many different subscriptions? Why is one thing included but a similar thing not?

TL;DR its good but there’s some quirks you need to be prepared for and don’t upload to their Cloud unless you want to lose some functionalities.

I get nervous using DrawboardPDF; although simple to use, it crashes in the middle of my note taking on documents quite often. Typically, it saves the data from right before the crash and everything is fine. Just tonight, I was handwriting my own notes on a blank document with another crash happening. I hop back on thinking my notes will still be there like usual, but it had deleted about an hour’s worth of my handwritten notes. I’m devastated and now have to find time to do the notes all over again in the next few days in between my other school assignments and exam. I want to love DrawboardPDF, but it’s obviously got some bugs and issues that need patched. And not being able to rename a local document is kind of irritating considering there’s only a 10 document limit for Cloud uploads…

I love DrawboardPDF on the PC and I’ve wanted it on my iPad for years. The pc version is by far the best pdf editor you can use period. I would love this to have OCR or what ever its call where when you scan a doc it can recognized the text but that isn’t an issue. The critical mission component on the ipad version and the deal breaker is that you cannot flatten your edits on a PDF. Basically anything you edit on a PDF anyone else can change. Don’t use it to sign any documents or anything that is important you don’t want changed.

I’m using this on my iPad because i fell in love with the desktop app for windows. There is nothing in comparison that is free that i have found for annotating books during studying like it that is “free”. But DrawboardPDF on iPad isn’t as great. When you zoom in the first time after opening a pdf, the pages tweak out and go down like 20 pages. And you can’t search by annotation or keywords like on the windows software.

DrawboardPDF is great overall. The features it provides, the ability to use so many annotating tools is awesome. But still I’d give it a 3/5 because of the performance. It’s laggy a lot of times. When I change apps and come back to DrawboardPDF, it stops working most of the time, so have to restart DrawboardPDF . And the eraser tool could be better, more like the Windows Desktop app, I personally prefer that over this. Hope the authorities will fix these issues with time

I have had some issues when sharing what others can see what I have written or drawn, the images don’t line up or over lap each other making it hard or unreadable. The collaboration should be seamless and there shouldn’t be issues when downloading or printing that plagues where the images are clear and concise.
The only other issue that I have found is I do not being able to change the shape of the highlighter from wedge to round it was changed in an update and users were not given the option to change to their particular preference.

I recently switched to an iPad and the functionality of DrawboardPDF on iOS is much weaker than on my surface pro. I can't move selected items from one page to another and I can't add another page of the same size (it also doesn't save the last page size used) as the existing pages. Furthermore and on occasion, when I move off a page and then back onto the page, the annotations have shifted to overlap each other making it impossible to read and so I end up having to redo my annotations. I'm prob going to need to switch to notability as it’s impacting my productivity.

Its’s great for work and play. I’ve used it for flight data sheets, dnd character sheets, note taking and self study. Did you know, that people retain knowledge better when it is handwritten? All of the hand writing without reams and reams of paper. My one complaint and suggestion is to please add a poly-curve. I graph in this and curves are non-existent. I have fitted ellipses to some graphs and attempted to erase half to leave a nice curve, but no, not even with the partial erase tool. It just deletes the whole object.

I would give 5 stars because this is truly my favorite PDF write up app. However, the eraser tool is odd that it’s like a pen and it’s hard to erase efficiently.

As well, my PDFs have book marks for chapters especially when I am using textbooks and can’t go to those bookmarks yet on my iPad like I can on my computer. I’m looking to see these functions back and I know it’s the beta and I’m glad it works so well!

The feature I REALLY really want is for Drawboard to appear in “Share” / “Open in” menus. For example: if I am looking in Files, I cannot “Open in…” Drawboard. I have to open Drawboard and search for my file from within DrawboardPDF . (DrawboardPDF PDF Expert has this feature, so I know it is possible.) Otherwise thank you for an amazing app I have been using on multiple platforms for years!

when I upload my PDF files to DrawboardPDF over 20 PDF when I write with my pencil on the PDF to edit somehow it’s feels a little bit laggy, but I think now it’s fixed I don’t know I was using it on my laptop but now I want to try it on my iPad. It was laggy so I change the PDF app now I return back to Drawboard PDF, and I think the problem is fixed I don’t know.

Overall I love Drawboard, but I have an issue where it signs me out of DrawboardPDF when I sign in on my PC, and vice versa. Sometimes it just refuses to open a PDF that’s listed in its library. There is no error. It just won’t open and sits there. I also just had it crash when trying To upload to the cloud. Just needs a stability update.

As of writing this there are only 179 reviews for DrawboardPDF. This is the best PDF annotation app (for my use case at least). Great for marking up technical drawings & architectural plans. Cloud file storage, cross platform accounts (I’m coming from a Surface, so this was nice to have my settings transfer), and lightning fast & stable even when viewing enormous PDF files.

This was my favorite PDF app on Surface, I’m so glad to see it on iOS as well.

I know the fluency when I am writing. And now it finally on the iOS platform! I upgraded my pc version just now. Haven’t try the synchronization. It’s great to have the cloud, while the only imperfection might be the small amount of file storage. The subscriptions are a bit expensive, but it still worth encouragement for this good try. Wish it to be better day by day!

Best note taking app, I can add typed notes and highlight and even add png images to my PDF notes. I like all the features and space available on the cloud. I have over 100 documents and bonds in my Drawboard library and I wish there was a way to have these organized in folders!

Most people I know have an iPad, an iPhone and a Macbook, all Apple products, making it easy to share files between them.

I, however, use an iPhone and a Microsoft Surface Book. There was no easy way for me to edit PDFs. However for these past few months, I have been using Drawboard on my laptop constantly. It just works great. The customizable toolbar alone gives it a massive advantage over other apps.

When DrawboardPDF came out for the iPhone, I wasn't sure I would use it. But the fact that I can sync my PDFs and quickly edit on both devices at the same time is a game changer. DrawboardPDF fills in the gaps between Apple and Microsoft devices.

I don't see myself ever switching to an apple laptop, so I appreciate compatibility where I can find it.

Amazing app! Incredibly useful, and great compatibility.

This is a very complete robust editor that evolved over time and gets better and better with each update would recommend to anyone who is a power user and wants to use great features on mobile works well on PC as well

I finally figured out how to use Drawboard with files stored in Onedrive on my iPad and I am so happy! Drawboard is so much better than any other pdf app on iPad, especially at marking up documents with the Apple Pencil. In particular, I appreciate stroke erase and the fact that highlight doesn't wash out the black text. Handwriting looks way better in Drawboard compared to other apps as well.

I wish there was a manual save button, because at least once I have lost my edits. I suspect this may be because I was working with a Onedrive file.