How to use Reading View in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote on iPhone and iPad

Learn how to use Reading View in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote on iPhone and iPad to prevent accidental changes when reviewing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

Reading View in Pages iPhone

You’ll appreciate the Reading View feature if you’ve ever been reviewing one of your documents on your iPhone or iPad and accidentally edited something. Thankfully, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (version 10.1 and later) have Reading View to prevent unwanted and accidental changes to your documents.

Use Reading View

When you open a document, spreadsheet, or presentation, you should be in Reading View by default. If you are, you’ll see an Edit button on the top right. This is your indicator that you are in the Reading View mode.

To edit your document, simply tap that Edit button to make changes as you normally would. The Edit button then disappears, and you have your toolbar across the top to edit your document.

To go back to Reading View, tap the Reading View button on the top right where the Edit button was, or tap the three dots menu icon from the top right and choose Reading View.

Reading View in Keynote iPhone

You can also enter editing mode by selecting an item you want to change in your document and tapping Edit in the shortcut menu. Make your changes, tap Done, and then tap the Reading View button to enter that mode again.

Reading View Edit in Pages iPhone

What you can do in Reading View

While in Reading View, you’ll see very limited options, with good reason. Obviously, you cannot make changes to your document. But you can view More options by tapping the three dots icon at the top. So you can still do things like print, share, find, export, etc.

You can tap the arrow or link on the top left to go back to your main document manager screen and select a different document.

Overall, Reading View is a wonderful thing to have in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. No longer will you mistakenly delete text, move an image, or make other accidental changes as you review your documents.

What do you think of Reading View? Have you used it yet?

Other productive tips: