The iPhone and iPad let you take a document from one app and open it in another app that can handle the same file type. If you are like me, you use this feature most often when someone sends you an attachment to an e-mail. Just hold down your finger on the attachment for a second or so, and you’ll be give the option to open the attachment in some other app. For example, I often like to open up a Word document in the Documents to Go app because that app lets me see redline edits and footnotes, plus the app makes it easy to increase the font size by just pinching.
For some file types, you may have many apps that can handle the file. For me — and perhaps for you as well — this is especially true for PDF files because a large number of apps can handle PDF files, and I have quite a few of them installed on my iPhone and iPad.
I have two tips today. First, keep in mind that you can see a list of up to 10 apps that can open a file type, even though this is not so obvious on the iPad. Second, here is a solution for when the app that you want to use to open a file doesn’t appear in the list of ten.
Seeing all ten apps in the menu
In iOS 5, Apple will show you up to 10 apps that can handle a file type. This is fairly obvious on the iPhone, but can be confusing on the iPad
On the iPhone, the list of apps that can open a file type appears in a large, full-screen list, and if you have more than seven items, the last item on the list is somewhat cutoff, indicating that there are more items if you scroll down. Scroll down to see the rest of the list:
On the iPad, even though the screen itself is larger, the iPad only shows four apps in the list. Even worse, there is little indication that there are additional items beyond those four. When the menu first appears there is a scroll bar on the right, but it quickly disappears. If you think to touch the menu and start to scroll it, you will again see the scroll bar to alert you that there are more items, but if you don’t touch the menu you may just assume that only four apps can handle this file type:
So my first tip is that if you want to open up a document in another app, keep in mind that you can select from a list of up to ten such apps, even though on the iPhone you only see seven at first, and on the iPad you only see four at first.
Using apps that are not in the menu
What if you have more than ten apps that can handle a certain type of file, and the app that you want to use is not in the list of ten? There is a solution, but it is not obvious, nor is it all that elegant.
I had to deal with this issue yesterday because I updated the GoodReader app on my iPad. GoodReader is my favorite app for handling PDF files on my iPad becuase it is such a powerful app, and indeed one reason that the app can do so much is that the developer frequently updates the app to add new features. But after updating the GoodReader app on my iPad yesterday, I then tried to send a document attached to an e-mail to the GoodReader app, only to learn that GoodReader was no longer one of the ten listed apps for a PDF file. Until yesterday, GoodReader had always been in my list of ten.
The solution is to delete some of the apps in that list from your device. I looked at the list of ten PDF-reading apps and deleted one of them. This caused another app that could handle PDF apps to appear on the list — but unfortunately, it wasn’t the GoodReader app. I deleted a second app, and again no luck. When I deleted a third app, suddenly GoodReader was once again on my list, at the very bottom.
What about those apps that I just deleted? Fortunately, you can always re-download an app from the App Store, and even if it is not a free app, Apple will not make you pay for the app again. Thus, I re-downloaded the three apps that I had just deleted. That put all of the apps back on my device, and none of them showed up in the “Open In…” menu; GoodReader remained in the last position.
The mystery of the list
How does the iPhone or iPad decide which apps to include in the list of ten? Frankly, I don’t know. At first I thought that the list was simply organized by date, with apps that had been purchased or updated more recently appearing lowest in the list (and off the list completely if beyond the tenth position). But no date that I could associate with an app — date added, date modified, purchase date or release date (all fields that you can see in iTunes) — explained the order of the apps in my list of ten.
The developer of GoodReader states on its troubleshooting page that it is completely random whether an app shows up in the list or not:
The Open In functionality is controlled by iOS, we have no active control over it, we just declare GoodReader to be capable of accepting certain file types. iOS is known to show only a limited number (10 or so) of randomly selected apps for any given file type when you invoke the Open In action in any app. The actual maximum number of apps depends on a device type and on a version of iOS. The only way to resolve this issue is to delete some apps that you don’t need that expose themselves for a particular file type, to make way to other eligible apps.
I suppose that could be true, but there does seem to be some rough (albeit imperfect) association between when an app was added or updated and where it falls on the list on my iPhone or iPad. A bunch of Google searches didn’t give me any answer for how apps are listed (or not listed) in the menu other than what I just quoted from the GoodReader website. Perhaps someone reading this post knows the full answer, and if so I’d appreciate it if you commented on this post or sent me an e-mail to answer the mystery of which apps appear in the list of ten and the order in which they appear.
An area for improvement
I love using the iPhone and iPad because the smart folks at Apple do such a good job at paying attention to the tiny details. Having said that, there is always room for improvement, and that’s why Apple frequently updates the iOS. My hope is that Apple improves the way that the “Open In…” menu works in a future version of the iOS. Specifically:
1. It would be nice to have a way to control which apps appear in the list of ten, most obviously by using the Settings app. I would like to be able to select (1) which apps show up in the list of ten, (2) the order of those apps on the list and (3) the default app for each file type (i.e. the first item in the list). Right now, Apple gives the #1 spot to its own apps. Thus, iBooks is always the top choice for PDF files, Pages is the #1 spot for Microsoft Word files, etc.
2. Apple does a good job of using the full screen on the iPhone to show apps that can handle a file type. The iPad has a much larger screen, but we can only see four apps at a time in the list. That makes no sense. The screen is more than big enough to show all ten apps at one time.
3. Do we even need the limit of ten? I presume the thinking is that it gets confusing to have too many choices, but it is even more confusing when the app that you want to use doesn’t show up in the list at all. Why not include every app that can handle a file, and even if the user is not allowed to control the order, how about just using alphabetical order, or perhaps the order of which apps have most recently been used to handle that file type. With the ten app limit, you need to delete apps to get other apps to show up in the list of ten. This “solution” is not obvious, nor is it desirable if the app you delete has a document stored in the app. Deleting the app deletes all of its documents, and when you re-download the app, the documents are gone unless you also stored them somewhere else. For example, one of the apps that I deleted to make GoodReader appear was the Amazon Kindle app, and after I re-downloaded the app, I was given the option to restore my purchased Kindle titles to the app. But very few apps include this feature.
Hi!
I was very excited about this post because the same thing happened to me with Goodreader as well. I tried your steps and deleted some apps that were listed in the open with menu, and Goodreader appeared at the bottom of my list. Then I went back and re-downloaded the two apps I deleted (Kindle and Download HD), but they once again appeared in their original spots in the open with menu/list, and Goodreader disappeared from the list.
Thoughts? I reinstalled the apps from the App Store on my iPad, NOT by using iTunes on my Mac…do you think that might be why?
Thanks for any further insight.
-Julie
[Jeff responds: I don’t know what to suggest, since as you can tell from my post, that’s not how it worked for me. Perhaps you need to delete some different apps from the iPad and then reinstall them? Apple really needs to come up with a better way to address this. So many apps handle PDF files that it is big problem for many people.]
It seems like the list moves out the apps that are “better” than iBooks, so that there is less competition. How sad that GoodReader and Kindle keep getting bumped from my list. Users should be able to prioritize the list. It should be a simple thing to do and it would show customer focus.
Another thing that should be there is the ability to prioritize WiFi connections. What’s up with that? You can do that on a Mac and a PC.
[Jeff responds: Amen! I had so wished that this was going to be addressed in iOS 5.1, but no dice. This is such an annoying bug!]
For me, it was iBooks that went missing… So no Apple conspiracy theory.
Both GoodReader and iBooks are missing from my list.
GoodReader support suggested I download the free GoodReaderUSB program to my computer and manage my files via USB cable. It appears that the program makes the GoodReader program on the iOS device appear as a mass storage device which is fully addressable by the computer. I just learned of this and haven’t gotten the program downloaded yet so can’t report on how well it works.
Thank you so much for that tip. I didn’t know there were more than the 4 apps listed that I was seeing. Yes, Apple should definitely enhance this feature and allow us to choose which apps are there and in what order
There is another issue with the “Open in” list. All of the stuff I’ve found so far addressing “Open in” problems assume that a person already has 10 in the list and all they want to do adjust the queue. What if the app you want to appear in the list isn’t there, and you don’t have 10 in the existing list? I have mind mapping software on my laptop by Buzan. I also have the iPad version of it. When I email a mindmap to myself and try to open it, only two apps appear in the “Open in” list, neither of which is the Buzan app. How do I get it to appear in the list?
Very interesting post and comments. Today I installed the app Group Mail which has a document manager to which documents can be uploaded by using the “Open In” feature within other apps. I was surprised because Group Email almost didn’t appear in any of my other apps handling any kind of documents. What I found out so far is that the number of apps showing up in the lists can be quite different and that 10 apps is not really the limit. In one list on my iPad (text files in ReaddleDocs) I could find 22 apps, on the iPhone I found a list of 13 apps (docx files in Files Pro). In those two lists also Group Mail was listed. I am pretty sure that Group Mail should also be in the lists for pdf-documents but I couldn’t find it in any app list for pdf-files. So the whole issue is very confusing for me.
Thanks for all the above experience. I was seeing 9 apps in “open in… “, deleted FileApp which I didn’t really need or use, and now with os 5.1.1 iPhone 4s I have actually 13 apps showing up in “Open in…” 🙂
What I decided to try after everything was to use iTunes in synch with the iPhone to virtually “turn off” some apps and then turn some back on… and synching again. Thinking about the order of things. It did the trick!
The “Open In…” Is even a bit more mysterious in operation. What actually happens behind the scenes may not match your mental model of what is occurring. When a file appears in an application and you have the ability to “Open In…” you are actually making a copy of that file that then goes into the (hidden) documents folder of the sandbox of the app you are opening it in. Since apps can only open files from within their sandbox, this is the way it works. I f you were to roundtrip a file between two apps several times using “Open In…” you’d have several versions of the same file in each app.
When iOS came out, many begged Apple to add Launch Services (what the Mac OS has) but a long time later we got this “Open In…” concept. The methodology for how if finds what apps and the order they are displayed is known only by Apple and not published information. What is published, are the steps you should take as a developer to register your app as handling certain types of files.
Hope this helps.
That is fascinating, Corey. Thanks for the post. This is definitely one aspect of the iOS that I don’t fully understand.
This issue is as relevant today as it was the day the first iPad was released! I want to be able to open database files in Devonthink To Go, then transfer via “Open In” to iAnnotate to add comments, edit, highlight, etc, then finally “Open In” DTG. I cleaned a several apps off of my iPad before I saw Devonthink appear at the bottom of the list. iAnnotate seems to be on there all of the time, but several apps show up that I never use or would ever use to view pdfs for example. iBooks went missing for a while too, until I finally gave up and added a pdf to iBooks via iTunes (this was yesterday). Today iBooks is at the top of the “Open In” list. It’s curious and inconvenient. Glad I found your blog, now I know I am not crazy!
This is exactly the type of issue that keeps us from being able to use an iPad instead of a laptop in a true business environment. Apple has had long enough to correct these issues and should stop relying on developers and consumers to find workarounds. The Microsoft Surface Pro is here and unless M$ has crippled the device in some ridiculous way, the gauntlet has been thrown down.
If you are running the current iOS software, version 6.0.x, this old “Open in…” problem is now fixed.
You need to modify the app register supporting file. The apps will appear in the list only if they they registered for particular file type. For example, if the app registered for pdf file type, it will appear in the list when you browsing pdf file using safari.
Did you say fixed, I have the iOS version and I cannot control de number or sort of the Apps shown in the list (Gray square).
Any cue about the procedure yo modify the Open in list content in the new iOS?
I’m still having the same issue in iOS 6.1.2 on a 3rd Gen iPad. It’s pretty maddening. Now, neither iBooks nor Evernote show up for PDFs to Open In… Aargh! C’mon, Apple! I’ll try the deleting-apps trick to see if that “works”.
Okay, that’s really interesting! I’m running iOS 6.1.2 on a 3rd Gen iPad, and a bunch of things went missing when trying to open a PDF using “Open In…”. (Evernote and iBooks were two of the missing ones, and that really caught my attention.) There were three screens of options with about 23 or so apps. I then deleted *two* apps: PDF Expert and (oh, some other PDF thing). Immediately after doing that, I now have 35 apps showing up in “Open In…”!
BUG! 🙂
I found this blog because I had a problem more basic on my iPad iOS6. It’s OK on my iPhone in ios5. I can not open a Excel or Word file in Safari on my iPad. So I’ve tried to open them by using “Open In” Smart Office. But Smart Office doesn’t appear any more in the list (4 windows of 9 items).
I can not understand when there is such a big problem why Apple do not respect customers and do not say anything about that and provide the solution, waiting a fix in a nex version.
After having this problem I made an Update to ios 6.1.3 (the last one). It seems I can open directly a Word document now in Safari but not an Excel one and Smart Office is still missing in the list.
I have ios7 for iphone5 now, and can’t get adobe reader to show up in the open in list. Only 4 would appear, so I deleted evernote to see what would happen, and now there is only 3 in the open in list. My phone acted identically before the update to ios7, so I know that that isn’t the problem.
I am having the same problem of Apps on my Ipad4 not showing up in “open in” que for email attachments. I have tried the deleting apps strategy with no success. Does anyone know the answer. I would really like for my Ipad to be more productive as a business tool.
Hi, Dylan. Can you explain how to modify the app register supporting file? I own an iPad Air 2, running iOS 8.2. When trying to open a doc written in Celtx desktop app that Ihave emailed to my iPad, I only see the option to open the file using “Mail” – Celtx Script app installed on my iPad is not listed as an option to open this file.
Thanks in advance!
This is still a problem on my iPad . Thank goodness I found this blog I thought I was going mad too.
At least now I have a couple of thinks to try! I love the iPad and I thought I wouldn’t
But this, no flash support and captcha failure really test my patience.
This is ridiculous on a device as expensive as an iPad. I have a 30 quid Indian made 7 inch android tablet that has a similar file structure as a pc. Simple !! This is NOT acceptable Apple.
Same problem in IPad Air 2 / IOS9!
WhICH documents can be opened in WORD and which can’t. Are there any other apps other than WORD that can let you change documents?
Word on the iPhone/iPad can open .doc and .docx documents. There are other apps that can modify MS Word documents, such as Documents to Go by DataViz and Polaris Office, but I find that Microsoft’s own app does the best job.
-Jeff
Maybe I installed too many apps in the past, but is there anyway to delete those not used apps cleanly from the current idevice so that I can remove it from the “open in” menu? For example, I still have Twitter and Weibo in the menu even though I have deleted them from my current IPhone.
Interesting. Normally, deleting an app will remove it from the Open In menu. However it may be that Twitter has deeper ties into iOS and thus doesn’t go away. I don’t know about Weibo.
-Jeff
still a problem, using iOS 9.2 on an iPad Air 2. I’ve been working for the past 45 minutes to transfer three EPUB files to iBooks. iBooks appears nowhere on the Open In list, and there are only four apps listed there so it’s not a problem of too many apps. After messing around with half a dozen random things with absolutely no success, re-starting a couple of times, etc, suddenly when I tried the exact same sequence of steps, there was iBooks at the top of the Open In list. My relief was cut short though when I went to the second and third files, since iBooks disappeared again. This makes absolutely no sense and it’s extremely frustrating on a brand new expensive iPad.