I recently added some text to a PDF stored in DEVONthink 3 using Nitro PDF Pro. The added text is visible in the PDF document when viewed or opened in DT3 or opened in Nitro PDF Pro.
The issue I’m having is that the added text does not show in DTTG after the document has been synced over to my iPad or iPhone.
Does anyone have any thoughts? Is this a known bug?
Is it a PDF form?
No, it’s not a form. It’s actually a manual for a kitchen appliance.
I opened the document in Nitro PDF Pro from DT3. I clicked on Edit → Create Form Fields for Page… Then pasted the model and serial numbers into the two form fields created. Then saved the document to DT3.
Umm… form fields 
They’re not supported in DEVONthink To Go. And we can’t merely “enable them” The license we have for the PDF framework doesn’t include form support.
Wondering if the PDF that is stored in DEVONthink ToGo was then opened, using the iOS share feature, in another app that handles these forms, would work? (asking as i have no way to test but just thought of it as a solution for @LewInVT who might have the software to test this).
Yes, the form fields should appear in e.g., Acrobat.
A good thought, @mschnell, but unfortunately, no joy. I copied the document to a folder in iCloud from which I shared it with DTTG on my iPad. But, still the text was still missing.
I did, however, come up with a workaround: I opened the document in Nitro PDF Pro, saved the page with the entries to a PDF, then opened the newly created 1-page PDF. I deleted the original page in Nitro PDF Pro then dragged the new 1-page PDF to the deleted page’s original location. I then saved the document and allowed DTTG to sync the revised document over the my iPad…and, alas, the manually entered text is visible.
It’s not something I’ll need to do often, but at least I know it can be done if necessary.
I’m curious: why did you use Nitro PDF instead of just adding the annotations natively in DEVONthink?
Good question…two reasons:
I have been using Nitro PDF Pro, formerly PDFPen, for years and knew completing the task of adding the required text would take less than a minute.
This is the area in question on page one of the PDF:
This is the result of automatically creating form fields ready for pasting or entering text:
Initially all annotation options in DT3 were grayed out. From previous experience I knew I would need to covert the document to a paginated PDF. Then, creating the text field is comparatively clunky and leaves an unwanted border around the text entry…perhaps removable, but I haven’t taken the time to research how.
So, Nitro PDF Pro works better for me in DT3, but not for documents synced over to DTTG. There is a workaround, but it’s also clunky.
If you used Nitro PDF Pro app for iOS, working with the file stored in DEVONthink ToGo, do things work as you expect? If not, perhaps the Nitro support people have a suggestion. Or, try Adobe Acrobat on iOS.
I’m still using PDFPen for iOS which is working fine. Using PDFPen in iOS as an intermediary in a number of different ways doesn’t circumvent the issue. The manually entered text does not appear.
As of now, saving the page in question as a PDF and inserting it into the document appears to be the easiest workaround.
