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How to Recover PDF Edits After Deleting Adobe Acrobat on iPad
Question details
The user needs to recover lost handwritten markups and edits on a scanned PDF file after accidentally deleting and reinstalling the Adobe Acrobat app on an iPad.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat
- Device & OS
- iPad
- Scenario
- The Adobe Acrobat app was accidentally deleted before the user could explicitly export or save the marked-up PDF to an external location.
- Observed behavior
- After reinstalling Adobe Acrobat, the PDF document reverts to an earlier state and no longer displays the latest edits made with the Apple Pencil.
Ensure your iPad is connected to the internet and log into the exact same Adobe Document Cloud and Apple iCloud accounts you were using prior to deleting the application.
Check Cloud Storage and Recent Files
Checking your connected cloud services is the fastest and most reliable way to find recent edits, as Acrobat often auto-syncs documents to Document Cloud or iCloud.
If you were signed into an Adobe account while editing, your document might have automatically synced to the cloud before the app was deleted. iPadOS also frequently saves local app folders to iCloud depending on your settings.
Open the reinstalled Adobe Acrobat app, sign in to your Adobe account, and navigate to the 'Files' tab. Select 'Document Cloud' and check for the most recent version of your edited PDF.
Open the native 'Files' app on your iPad. Browse through 'iCloud Drive' and check the 'Acrobat' folder to see if your edited file was synced to Apple's cloud servers.
Within the Files app, tap on 'Recently Deleted' to see if the file was moved there. Also, check the Trash or Deleted Items section inside the Adobe Acrobat app.
Restore from an iPad Backup
If the edited PDF was strictly saved to the local iPad storage and never synced, restoring an iCloud or iTunes backup created before the app deletion is the only recovery method.
Annotate and Auto-Save PDFs with WPS Office
Prevent accidental data loss by switching to WPS Office for your PDF editing needs. WPS Office offers seamless cloud synchronization and robust Apple Pencil support, ensuring your annotations are permanently saved.
- 1. Install WPS Office: Download WPS Office from the App Store and sign in to activate WPS Cloud synchronization.
- 2. Import Your PDF: Tap the '+' icon or open the Files tab to import the scanned PDF document you want to edit.
- 3. Annotate with Apple Pencil: Select the 'PDF Edit' or 'Annotation' tools from the top menu to freely draw, highlight, or write on the document.
- 4. Auto-Save to Cloud: Save your changes. WPS Cloud will automatically keep an updated copy of your file safe, even if the app is uninstalled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do local files disappear when I delete an app on my iPad?
iOS uses a sandboxing system where an app's locally saved files are strictly tied to the application itself. If a document is stored in the 'On My iPad > [App Name]' folder and not synced to a cloud service, deleting the app will simultaneously permanently erase that local folder and all its contents.
Can I recover the PDF edits from the Adobe Acrobat Trash folder?
If you manually deleted the file within the app, it might reside in the Document Cloud Trash folder. However, if the entire application was uninstalled from the iPad, the local Trash folder was destroyed. You can only recover files that were previously synced to the cloud.
Does the Apple Files 'Recently Deleted' folder keep files from deleted apps?
No, the 'Recently Deleted' section in the Apple Files app only retains files that users manually delete. It does not act as a safety net for files that are wiped out due to an app uninstallation.
Will reinstalling the app bring my local files back?
Reinstalling the app from the App Store only restores the core application software. It does not recover the personal local data or documents that were stored within the app prior to its deletion.
