My employer has supplied us with Windows tablets to do what we do outside of the office. A lot of the information we use is accessible only in pdf form. With the windows tablets and desktops, there is an index on the left side of the display that allows us to quickly navigate through the file to find the page we need.

My employer is going to be changing over to iPads, and they sent us a few to try them out and provide feedback before they switch over entirely. The biggest problem that we have is navigating the pdfs. Most of the ones we use are well over 1,000 pages long. Usually when we need that information, there is a significant time pressure. This has been brought up, and the best that they can tell us is to use the search feature. That is unacceptable.

Online searches tell me the same. Search feature only. Nothing about an index that I know damn well exists. Is there a way to access that index with an iPad?

What app are you using?

Books (from Apple) will display and store PDF files and has similar types of features.
Open a PDF file in Books, Tap the top of the screen, you can see the various pages at the bottom or you can tap the three lines (upper left, three dots with three lines next to them) to view the table of contents. If there is no built in table of contents, it will show you all the pages so you can quick scroll through the pages. If it does have a table of contents, you can access that with the three lines or the small images of each page with the 9 little boxes (waffle pattern representing thumbnail view)

So, it's not side-by-side with the page you are on, but it does work pretty well and it really depends on how the PDF file was created and if it does, in fact, have a table of contents.
If it has the table of contents, you'll see it as text that you can tap on each section. If it doesn't have a TOC, you'll get the thumbnail view.

The built in Files app should do what you need.

you can search, if the PDF has an index, you can display it.. the system will also auto index and allow you to search from the spotlight search anywhere on the iPad.

These files are accessed through the Safari web browser. They are occasionally revised, and we need to use the latest version. That is controlled by having them all in one place, and downloaded each time. Keeping old files on each device risks using out of date information.

Same thing still applies.

you can either use safari to search or download the file and proceed as stated above

I will give that a try today. Thanks!

Opening those pdfs using Files shows microscopic thumbnails. From there, they can be opened in something called Xodo. That has the index that I'm looking for, but I have to be careful not to edit anything accidentally.

I really wish Safari would just display information that I know damn well is there.

Safari doesn't have access to the file system.

is it possible to send me one of these pdfs to take a look at?

I'd love to, but I'm pretty sure that would get me in a lot of trouble if my employer found out somehow. Honestly, they probably wouldn't appreciate this thread as it is, but I was at my wit's end with these things.

Saving the PDF to the device and opening it with Xodo is a workable solution, even if it is cumbersome.

Normally, we access these files through a web browser with a lot of drop-down menus. Most of the technical data opens on that page, but the ones that are pdfs open in a new tab on the same browser. The URL ends in ".pdf".

Very well.

does it do the same thing with pdfs sourced from other places?

you Don't need a 3rd party app to view pdfs.
What I'm trying to determine is if the source of the pdf is your issue. I could care less about the content of the pdf itself.

Sounds like they want you to use the "find on page" search under the "share" button.
seems to me if they are that worried about the content they really need to provide an interface to that information.

fun fact: everything on your iPad screen is already a pdf.

It is the index on the left side that I'm trying to access. It is available on desktop computers and the Windows tablets that we've been using. It doesn't come up when that file is accessed directly from the browser. It can be accessed when the file is saved to the device, then opened with another app. With how locked down these things are, I'm surprised that is even possible.

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Using the "find in page" function requires knowing specific words in advance. I'm just hoping to be directed to chapters. Scrolling through from the start still means finding one of 25 randomly spaced pages out of hundreds.

To get the index, tap on the page.. you'll see the page number in the upper left:

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then it displays the index:

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Ours don't have that icon next to the page number. I clicked on the one in the top left, and it shows a display for other things, but not for the file I have open.
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You're in Safari, not Files.

I know. That is what they open with when the link is clicked on.

Saving them each time and opening them with a different app works. It is clumsy compared to to older devices, and there is the risk of using data that isn't current, but it works.