Open a PDF
Add → Open PDF / Photos to PDF / Scan document. Choose Add PDF in the library and select a document. KayaPDF imports a private working copy. You can also choose KayaPDF in another app's Open with or share menu when the system offers it.
A LITTLE GUIDANCE
Make yourself at home.
From opening your first document to sharing the finished copy. Here are the essentials.
Read, search and select
Scroll through pages and pinch to zoom. Search finds existing PDF text and moves between matches. Touch and hold a word, drag either selection handle, then choose Copy or Highlight. Text selection can span up to 100 pages and 100,000 characters. Copy or highlight the whole selection. Tap a PDF link, or choose Links to view supported links on the current page. Internal links jump to their destination. External links show the address for confirmation.
Add notes and a signature
Open Tools and choose Note to place a note, or choose a drawing or signature tool. Use Undo or Redo to adjust your work. A handwritten signature is a drawing, not a certificate-based digital signature. A supported pen changes line width with pressure. Touch draws at a steady width. Choose Annotations to find text marks on the current page, show them on the page, change their color or opacity, or delete them. Undo can restore a deleted mark.
Fill a form
Open the form tool to edit supported text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons and choice lists. Save the field changes, then share the filled PDF. Read-only fields, XFA and scripted forms are not supported.
Arrange your pages
Open the page organizer, select thumbnails and drag them into order. Use the page menu to duplicate, remove or move a page. Add another source to combine PDFs. Copies of the same form field stay linked, including on duplicated pages. Source PDFs stay unchanged.
Arranging or combining pages keeps supported AcroForm fields editable by default. Turning off “Keep forms editable” creates a flattened copy with visible form values and marks built into the pages. Protected or signed PDFs and XFA forms are unsupported. Links, comment pop-ups, outlines and scripts are not transferred.
Read text from a scan
Choose Recognize text in Pages. Select the pages and a supported recognition language or script. Review, copy, search or export the result as plain text. iOS languages depend on the system; Android supports Latin, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Devanagari scripts. “Create searchable PDF” saves a new copy with an invisible, searchable text layer and leaves the original unchanged. Searchable PDF export does not support protected or digitally signed documents or XFA forms.
Save, share and recover
Save your changes before sharing the working PDF. If a recovery copy is offered after an interruption, choose Restore to recover the saved checkpoint. Export documents you want to keep before uninstalling the app. Recently deleted keeps removed app copies until you restore or permanently delete them. Back up library saves active PDFs, bookmarks and reading positions in a .kayapdf file. Restore backup adds new copies without replacing existing documents. Keep backup files safe; the container is not encrypted. In the reader, choose Share to send the current page, selected pages or the entire document. Page copies include visible marks as part of the page; the original stays unchanged.
Change language or appearance
Open Settings to choose a language or use light, dark or system appearance. App appearance does not change the colors inside your PDF. Interface languages and OCR language support are separate.