How to get your PDFs on every device

A PDF downloaded on a work laptop tends to stay there. The boarding pass is in your phone’s downloads, the contract you marked up last night is on the home computer, and the report you need for a meeting is open on a machine you left at the office. Emailing the file to yourself works once, then leaves two copies with different notes in each.

This guide covers the usual ways people move PDFs between devices, where those methods get awkward, and how to keep a single PDF library in Fabric that opens the same way on the web, on Mac, Windows and Linux, and on iOS and Android.

How people usually get PDFs onto other devices

Emailing a PDF to yourself is the most common fix because it needs no setup. Each send creates a fresh copy, though, and the inbox becomes the filing system. How to stop emailing files to yourself looks at why that habit builds up.

AirDrop, Nearby Share and messaging apps are quick when both devices are in the same room. They move a file, then leave it sitting in whatever downloads folder received it, often renamed or duplicated.

Cloud drives such as iCloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox are the more durable option. The file lives online and each device can open it. The friction tends to come from reading: a PDF annotated in one app on a laptop may open in a different viewer on the phone, and the highlights may not come along. Mixed households and workplaces also end up with PDFs split between two or three of these services, each with its own app.

Step 1: Move your PDFs into Fabric

Start on the computer where most of your PDFs live. In the Fabric web or desktop app, drag a folder of PDFs in, paste files, or click Upload a file. Uploading copes with large batches, so a full documents folder can go across in one sitting.

If you prefer to keep working in Finder or File Explorer, install the Fabric desktop app. It mounts Fabric as a virtual drive, and you move PDFs into it the way you would into any other folder. Files on the drive take no space on your computer and stream when you open them, which suits a large archive of manuals, papers or statements on a laptop with a small disk.

PDFs already in Google Drive can stay there. A Google Drive connection creates the files inside Fabric and keeps them in sync in both directions. Connections need a paid plan.

Step 2: Install Fabric on your other devices

Sign in to the same account on each device you use. There are desktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux, a web app for any browser, and iOS and Android apps. All of them open the same library, so a PDF uploaded from the office computer is there on your phone without a second step.

That library is one copy stored in your Fabric cloud, so there’s nothing to reconcile when you switch between devices. Renaming a file or moving it into a folder on one device shows up on the others.

Step 3: Send new PDFs in from wherever they arrive

A lot of PDFs first appear on the phone: a ticket in a messaging app, a lease from a landlord, a school newsletter. Open the PDF, tap Share and choose Fabric. The share sheet works from any app on iOS and Android, and the file is available on your laptop as soon as it uploads.

For PDFs that come as email attachments, forward the message to your Fabric email address. It only accepts mail from your verified account address, so a statement forwarded from your phone’s mail app lands in the same library as everything you uploaded from the desktop.

Step 4: Read and mark up PDFs on any screen

PDFs open in Fabric’s reader on every app, which strips the page back to the document itself. A long report can be started on a laptop and picked up again on a tablet, since both open the same file.

This matters most for documents you read in several sittings: a thesis chapter, a board pack, a long-form contract. Keeping one copy means the version on your phone is the same one you were working from at your desk, with the same highlights and comments.

You can highlight and comment directly on a PDF. Annotations are saved with the file in Fabric, so the passage you highlighted on the train is highlighted when you open the same document at your desk.

Step 5: Find a PDF from whichever device is in your hand

Search works the same on desktop, web and mobile. Click Search or press Cmd+F (Mac) / Ctrl+F (Windows) and type what the document is about. Fabric search reads the text inside PDFs and matches by meaning as well as keywords, so “car insurance renewal” finds the right policy even if the file is called doc_8812.pdf. Results open at the matching page.

On a phone, this is often quicker than browsing folders. Put a reference number in quotes for an exact match, or filter by kind of item to see only PDFs.

If you mainly want to stop shuttling files between a phone and a computer, How to move files between your phone and laptop covers the wider set-up.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get a PDF from my laptop to my phone?

Upload it to Fabric on the laptop, by dragging it in or moving it into the Fabric drive, then open the Fabric app on your phone. The same file is there, with nothing to send.

How do I save a PDF from my phone so I can open it on my computer?

Open the PDF on your phone, tap Share and choose Fabric. It appears in your library on the web and desktop apps.

Do my PDF highlights sync between devices?

Highlights and comments you make in Fabric are stored with the PDF, so they show up wherever you open it in Fabric.

Does Fabric work on Windows and Linux as well as Mac?

Yes. The desktop app runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, and there’s a web app for any browser.

Will syncing all my PDFs use up space on my laptop?

No. Files on the Fabric desktop drive take no space on your computer and stream when you open them.

Can I keep using Google Drive for my PDFs?

Yes. Connect Google Drive and the files sync in both directions between Drive and Fabric. Connections need a paid plan.

Can I search inside PDFs on my phone?

Yes. Search on the mobile app reads the text inside PDFs, the same as on desktop, and opens the result at the matching page.

Is it free to sync PDFs across devices with Fabric?

The free plan includes file uploads and all the apps, with storage and file size caps. Connections such as Google Drive need a paid plan. See pricing for current plans.