FAQ

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What is the basic workflow?

Open PDF Archiver.
Choose where your archive lives: Settings → Storage (iCloud Drive, a local folder, or a folder you pick).
Open the Inbox tab to see untagged documents.
Add documents with the camera or by importing files.
Select a document to tag it, and fill in its three fields.
Save with the Save button or ⌘S on the Mac.
The document is renamed and moved into your archive, sorted by year.

The three fields — on the Mac, ↹ moves to the next one:

Date — the date of the document.
Description — a short, meaningful description. Converted to lowercase with dashes automatically.
Tags — pick from the suggestions or add your own. Converted to lowercase automatically.

What will my archive look like?

.
└── Archive
    ├── 2017
    │   ├── 2017-05-12--apple-macbook__apple_bill.pdf
    │   └── 2017-01-02--this-is-a-document__bill_vacation.pdf
    └── 2018
        ├── 2018-04-30--this-might-be-important__work_travel.pdf
        ├── 2018-05-26--parov-stelar__concert_ticket.pdf
        └── 2018-12-01--master-thesis__finally_longterm_university.pdf

Date, description and tags are part of the filename. Capital letters, spaces and language-specific characters such as ä, ö, ü, ß are removed, so the names work on every filesystem.

Where are my documents after they are renamed?

In the folder you chose under Settings → Storage. PDF Archiver never moves them anywhere else.

Which devices and system versions do I need?

iPhone and iPad with iOS 18 or newer
Mac with macOS 15.6 or newer

One purchase covers all of them.

Do I need an account?

No. There is no sign-up, no password and no email address. Your purchase runs through your Apple Account.

Are my scans searchable, or just images?

Searchable. PDF Archiver runs text recognition and writes a real text layer into the PDF. You can select the text, copy it and find it through Spotlight — it is not just a picture of a page.

How do the date and tag suggestions work? Does anything leave my device?

Nothing leaves your device. Text recognition uses Apple's built-in engine, and the suggestions come from Apple Intelligence running locally on your Mac, iPhone or iPad. There is no PDF Archiver server involved at any point.

How do I add documents from other apps?

Use the share sheet. Anything that can be shared as a PDF — a mail attachment, a download, a scan from another app — can be sent to PDF Archiver and lands in your inbox.

What keyboard shortcuts are available?

Keys	Action
`↹`	Move to the next field
`⌘S`	Save the document to your archive (macOS)

On iOS and iPadOS, use the on-screen buttons.

How do I remove a tag from a document?

Select the document, then click the tag you want to remove in the document attributes.

How do I zoom the preview?

Pinch to zoom — on the trackpad or directly on the screen. See Apple's trackpad gestures.

The list of untagged documents is not updating. What can I do?

PDF Archiver watches your inbox and archive folders and updates on its own, so a manual refresh is usually not needed. If something looks stale:

Switch between the tabs (Search, Inbox, Statistics).
Restart the app.

If it keeps happening, please open an issue.

I cannot save a document. What can I do?

Open Settings → Storage and select your archive folder again.
If that does not help: Settings → Expert Settings → Reset App Preferences, restart the app, then set the storage location again.

How do I reset all settings?

Open Settings.
Go to Expert Settings.
Tap Reset App Preferences.
Restart the app to complete the reset.

What do the widgets do?

There are two:

Untagged Documents — shows how many documents are still waiting, and starts a new scan.
PDF Statistics — shows how many PDFs your archive holds per year.

Which Shortcuts and Siri commands are there?

Two: Scan and Scan & Share. Both work in the Shortcuts app, through Siri, and anywhere else Shortcuts run — a Home Screen button, a Focus, an automation.

You can share your archive through iCloud Drive:

Create a new folder in iCloud Drive and share it.
In PDF Archiver, go to Settings → Storage → Select Folder.
Choose the shared folder.

The contents of your archive are moved to the new folder.

Back up your archive before you do this. Ideally, back it up regularly anyway.

More: Apple: Share files · Blog post

How do I back up my documents?

PDF Archiver is not a backup solution. It organizes your documents; it does not copy them anywhere safe. Hardware fails, files get deleted by accident, ransomware happens. Keep backups.

We recommend the 3-2-1 strategy:

3 copies of your data
2 different storage media
1 copy off-site

For example: your archive in iCloud Drive, a Time Machine backup on an external drive, and a copy in a cloud backup service or on a drive kept somewhere else.

Test your restore process from time to time. A backup you have never restored is a guess.

More: Wikipedia: Backup · What is the 3-2-1 backup strategy?

Is there a free trial?

Two weeks, free, no credit card. After that you choose: a subscription, or a one-time purchase that stays yours. Both unlock every feature.

The App Store shows the current prices for your region.

How do I cancel my subscription?

In your Apple Account subscriptions. You can cancel at any time.

What happens to my documents if I stop paying?

They stay exactly where they are — in your folder, as PDFs, with their names intact. You can open, search and back them up without PDF Archiver.

To keep using the app itself, you need an active subscription or the one-time purchase.

Where do I find the imprint and privacy policy?

English: Imprint · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use
Deutsch: Impressum · Datenschutzerklärung · AGB

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