iPad annotations corrupting PDFs

Generally speaking the EndNote iPad app works great for me. However, over the past few days - since the most recent iPad software update I suspect - my annotated files become corrupted and unopenable when I sync them back to the desktop version of EndNote. I use a Mac (Sierra) and version 7.7.1 on my desktop. Any help fixing this issue would be greatly appreciated! So far it has resulted in several hours worth of lost work and anntotations.

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Multiple developers have reported problems with PDFs in MacOS 10.2.2 (the most current version of Sierra). Specifically, changes in PDFKit, which Preview and some other PDF viewers use, is causing problems with annotations and loss of the text layer (say, if you’ve OCRed a document).  Some of the problems are more likely when the PDF had been edited/created with another program (for example, SnapScan).

Hard to say for sure, but the problem you are having may not be on the iPad side per se, but rather on how the Mac is handling changes made on the iPad.  One way to test this would be to open a PDF you edited on the iPad in Acrobat Reader before opening it in Preview.  If things work, you’ve been bitten by the Sierra PDFKit bug. Your options at that point are to avoid Mac PDF readers that use PDFKit, at least until Apple fixes it (my bug report was flagged as a duplicate by Apple Engineering, so it’s officially in their reporting system at least). Acrobat Reader and Skim are safe options–I’m sure there are others.

If you are using a version of MacOS before 10.2.2 or if the problem persists even with Acrobat Reader on the Mac, it would suggest that the problem is indeed on the iPad side.

I hope that at least points in a useful direction.  Please let us know what you discover!

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Thanks, ghoetker, for your response. Frustratingly, I am now also encountering the issue you described, but still separately encountering issues with the EndNote iPad app. As you said, when I am able to sync PDFs from the iPad to the desktop, the annotations no longer look right when I open then in EndNote. If I view them with Adobe, however, they are fine. I’m hopeful that either Apple or EndNote will work out the issues with viewing PDFs soon.

My main problem with the iPad app persists, however. It doesn’t happen every time, but when I made annotations on a document, close the doc and try to re-open, I frequently get an error saying that the file has been damaged. When I go to access that same file either on my desktop or on EndNote online, a similar message appears saying that the file has been corrupted.

This problem essentially makes the iPad app unusable since I can’t trust it to not lose both my annotations and the file itself.

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While it may or may not address your iPad only issue, my understanding is the beta of MacOS 10.2.3 fixes many of the PDFKit problems that I’d alluded to in my first reply.  Hopefully, it will be officially released within a few weeks, which might help.

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Well the problem, is that some of the files annotated on the Ipad are immediately so damaged that you can’t read anymore in the Ipad itself with endnote. And if you get to this point the file is just lost and you can’t send it to another app etc. If you try  it, the endnote app crahes.

I made all the updates concerning Sierra but the problem is not with Sierra. It has to do with Endnote’s app annotation tool in the new operative system of iOS.

Moreover, as I added a few references through the IPad, I can tell you that it does not sync anymore even that, and not with endnote web… Nothing of what you do on the Ipad is synced back anymore. And the files annotated are corrputed for ever.

The Endnote app has not been updated since ages and it is quite scandalous that T&R keeps saying that it is because of Sierra.

Sorry, But I can only say that I just lost a lot of work done during the last weeks. From now on: No more Endnote. This was really too much

It is Dec. 2018 and iPad Endnote is still corrupting PDFs!

Even opening a PDF in iPad Endnote is enough for corruption, let alone annotating on it. Today I opened two PDFs on iPad EndNote and both are corrupted and disappeared when I looked on desktop EndNote. I checked inside the EndNote user file and saw that the PDFs appear there but are unopenable, corrupted, no more have a .pdf extention. So I lost many hours that I spent highlighting and annotating those PDFs. In panic, I removed EndNote from my iPad. I am a new user and do not want any more damage.

iPad is a reader and vital for a reference manager. If I can’t use iPad EndNote, then why use EndNote at all? EndNote team, can you please tell where the problem lies and fix it please as soon as possible? Otherwise I will emigrate from EndNote.

It is Dec. 2018 and iPad Endnote is still corrupting PDFs!

Even opening a PDF in iPad Endnote is enough for corruption, let alone annotating on it. Today I opened two PDFs on iPad EndNote and both are corrupted and disappeared when I looked on desktop EndNote. I checked inside the EndNote user file and saw that the PDFs appear there but are unopenable, corrupted, no more have a .pdf extension. So I lost many hours that I spent highlighting and annotating those PDFs. In a panic, I removed EndNote from my iPad. I am a new user and do not want any more damage.

iPad is a reader and vital for a reference manager. If I can’t use iPad EndNote, then why use EndNote at all? EndNote team, can you please tell where the problem lies and fix it please as soon as possible? Otherwise, I will emigrate from EndNote.

I have exactly the same problem! This is very disappointing and I hope Endnote will fix it ASAP. 

I’m using Endnote app in iPadOS 17 and my Endnote suddenly crashed, corrupting the file. I cannot open the file as it became 1 byte. I did a lot of annotation and now it’s gone. Frustrating.