iPadOS Manual for Power Users

Published in

iPad Only

7 min readJun 9, 2020

One thing that has been difficult to find is a list of all the useful tips and tricks for iPad users. This is an evolving list aimed at solving that issue.

Updates: 6/12/20, noted by @@.

General

IPadOS Change Logs [Apple]
App switching: swipe to the R on the bottom bar to go to the last used app
Dark mode: settings→Display and Brightness→Automatic for dark or light mode. Customized schedules are allowed.
Drag n Drop: take file/item from anywhere, click and drag. Can use second finger to navigate to new place and then let go of the first finger to drop.
Home screen: swipe from bottom up in quick motion to go back to the home screen
Quick shortcuts: long press on items.
Restart (Forced): if your iPad is frozen, you can forcibly restart by pressing the volume rocker “+” once, then “-“ once, then hold down on the power button for about 10 seconds. You should see the screen go dark after 10 seconds and then the Apple logo should appear.
Tap to wake: single tap on screen
View app dock: swipe up from bottom
Wake then unlock: after waking, swipe from bottom to unlock

External Monitor

Full screen: not currently available for all apps. However, Shift Screen is an app that allows certain web apps to run in full screen. It essentially is a browser. Creative solution, though not perfect.
Night Shift on monitor: when the iPad has Night Shift on, external monitors will not have the same warming effect. However, check your external monitor’s settings to see if there are presets that allow for a warm hue.

FaceID

Different person: up to 2 faces can be stored. Settings→Face ID&Passcode→Set up an alternative appearance

Files

External hard drive: plug in your external hard drive that has a USB C connection (or a USB C hub that allows USB A input)
Scan: two ways to do this
Files app→ “…” on the top left area→Scan Documents
Open the Notes app→“+” sign at the bottom right→”Scan Documents”→photo of document. IPad converts it to a PDF.

Homescreen

Layout: settings→display and brightness→layout. Will allow you to include or exclude the Today View on the home screen.
Widgets: scroll down on the widget center In the Today View→Click Edit button→drag widgets into the Pinned Favorites so they always show up

Keyboard

CMD+H: home screen
CMD+Space Bar: search
CMD+Tab: view list of open apps
CMD+Shift+3: screenshot of the whole screen
CMD+Shift+4: screenshot → open up for mark ups
Floating keyboard: Pinch to shrink the QuickType keyboard into a floating keyboard.
Swipe to type: start at one letter and swipe through the spelling to type a word. Works with floating keyboard.
Touchscreen control: to control the touchscreen environment w/ the keyboard. Settings→Accessibility→Keyboards→Fully Keyboard Access. Tab + H to show a list of commands.

Keyboard (Hardware/External)

Backlit brightness: For Magic Keyboard (MK). Settings→General→Keyboard→Hardware Keyboard→Keyboard Brightness slider
Escape key: if you have an external keyboard/MK setup. Settings→Hardware Keyboard→Modifier Keys→Set another key to be the Esc key.
Virtual keyboard access: press “down arrow” → press and hold the down arrow on the screen (right bottom).

Mouse

Enable: settings→accessibility→assistive touch→on
If you have a mouse with multiple buttons, you can also set what those buttons do in this menu

Multiple-instances

Start new instance: long press or double click on an app icon→Show all instances→”+” on the top right corner to bring up new instance of an app
View all instances of an app: Option 1: long press or double click on an app icon→Show all instances. Option 2: open the app →bring up the dock →a single tap or left click on the app will show all instances @@

Multitasking

For certain apps (Mail, Notes, Safari), you can drag a link or content or compose mail into a split view
Expose: hold down on an icon to see all open windows or choose “Show All Windows”
Force close apps: open App Switcher, swipe up on app thumbnails to close apps (can do multiple)
Split view: Option one: drag an app from the dock into your workspace. Option two: CMD+space bar→search for your app→drag the app from the search results into your workspace. Option three: from home screen→tap and hold an app icon→simultaneously open up another app→move the first app to the desired side of the workspace
Switch app location on the screen: if you have two apps side by side, and you want to switch the right side app to the left side. Grab the bar at the top of the app you want to switch and drag it to the desired side of the screen
Windows to Split View: when you have two windows/instances of Safari with different tabs open but now want to make those windows side by side in a split view. Keep one of the windows open →Drag the app (i.e. Safari) to left or right side of the open window to create a new split view →App will show a list of open windows for you to pick from, rather than just a blank new instance.

Pencil

Checking the battery life: go to Today View on home screen→Battery widget. If the Battery widget is not there, scroll down to the bottom of Today View, then click on Edit to add the widget
Screenshot: swipe up w/ the pencil on the display

Pointer

General: Settings→Accessibility→Pointer Control.

Print

Print webpage to PDF: Print Preview→Pinch outward to get PDF→save as PDF.

Safari

Automatically close tabs: Settings→Safari→Close Tabs to set when to automatically close them
Change bookmark order: bookmarks/favorites are automatically saved to the bottom of the list. To change the order →click on the “bookmark (looks like an open book)” button to the left of the URL box →click on the bookmark that you want to change and hold it →drag it upward to where you want it to be. OR can use free finger to scroll the list of bookmarks to get to where you want to go.
Preview links: long press on a clickable link within a webpage
View all tabs in thumbnail fashion: quick 2-finger pinch inward (doing this slowly leads to just zooming out the screen, so do it quickly). Can do this on the screen or on the trackpad (for Magic Keyboard) @@

Safari Keyboard Shortcuts @@

Reminder that these can be shown by pressing and holding CMD while in Safari
Open Location: CMD L
Back: CMD [
New tab: CMD T
New private tab: CMD shift N
Open link in background: CMD tap link
Close tab: CMD W
Reopen last closed tab: CMD shift T
Show previous tab: control shift tab
Show next tab: control tab
Reload page: CMD R
Find on page: CMD F
Find next: CMD G (while you are in the Find on Page option)
Find previous: CMD shift G
Zoom in: CMD +
Zoom out: CMD -
Actual size: CMD 0
Add to reading list: CMD shift D
Add bookmark: CMD D
Show tab overview: CMD shift \
Show reader: CMD shift R
Show sidebar: CMD shift L
Add link to reading list: shift tap link
Download link: option tap link
Save as: CMD S
Show bookmarks: CMD control 1
Show reading list: CMD control 2
Show history: CMD control 3
Show favorites bar: CMD shift B
Edit bookmarks: CMD option B
New tab at end: CMD option T
Close other tabs: CMD option W
Show first tab: CMD 1
Show last tab: CMD 9
Use selection for find: CMD E | OR can also select the text then hit CMD F
Email this page: CMD I
Reload page from origin: CMD option R

Shortcuts

Pre-made Shortcuts [macstories.net]
Press and hold CMD for list of app specific shortcuts

Slide Over

Open Slide Over: swipe in from the R edge of the screen
Close Slide Over: swipe apps to the R edge to off the screen
Start Slide Over: drag an app to the L or R side until it shows up as a small rectangle
Close Slide Over apps: Quickly close a window in Slide Over by going to the App Switcher and flicking up.
Expand notification: tap on the notification and drag it to the side of the screen to expand it into a Slide Over panel
Slide Over Switcher: Swipe up to see all the apps in Slide Over
Slide Over to full screen: Drag the Slide Over app to the top
Swipe between Slide Over apps: Swiping along the bottom

Text Editing

Copy: pinch up w/ 3 fingers
Cut: pinch up w/ 3 fingers 2 times
Indent: single finger swipe L or R to indent [in the Notes app]
Multi select: tapping w/ 2 fingers and dragging w/ 2 fingers
Paste: pinch down w/ 3 fingers
Redo: swiping 3 fingers to the R
Scroll bar scrubbing: by dragging the scroll bar
Undo: swiping 3 fingers to the L

Text Selection

Select a word w/ two taps or tap and hold.
Select sentence w/ three taps
Select paragraph w/ four taps

Trackpad

App switcher: Swipe up and pause w/ 3 fingers
Control Center: Click the status bar in the upper right of the screen
Dock: Move cursor to the bottom edge of the screen
General: Settings→General→Trackpad
Go home: Swipe up w/ 3 fingers
Notifications: Click the status bar in the upper left of the screen
Pinch to zoom: 2 fingers
Right click: Click w/ 2 fingers
Search: swipe down 2 finger while on the home screen
Scrolling: 2 fingers
Slide over: Move cursor to the right edge of the screen to see Slide Over. Swipe L or R w/ 3 fingers to switch b/t apps. Move cursor again to hide.
Swipe between apps: Swipe L or R w/ 3 fingers
Swipe between pages: Swipe w/ 2 fingers on the trackpad between pages in Safari
Tap to click: allows tapping instead of pressing down on the trackpad to click. Settings→General→Trackpad
Two finger secondary click: allows two finger click to act as a secondary action, commonly synonymous with the right click on a laptop. Settings→General→Trackpad

Web Apps

Add web app to home screen: Open up page in Safari→Click on Share button→Add to Home Screen
Change icon of an web app on home screen: Copy the webapp’s URL→Get icon for the URL that you want and save that image→Callmeicons.com and put in the Name, URL, image→Download the final icon and share it as a web app on the home screen.

Sources

IPadOS information page [Apple]

Gestures in iPadOS 13 [Cult of Mac]

16 Gestures in iPadOS 13 [CNET]

Best Apple iPad Features [Pocket Lint]

iPad Tips and Tricks [Gregs Gadgets]

Reddit iPad and iPadPro communities

Christopher Lawley [YouTube] (excellent list of videos from someone who uses an iPad daily for everything)