PDNotes
Configuring PDNotes by MDM
PDNotes has no servers and no accounts. A school can still decide what is possible on its devices, through managed app configuration, which every MDM can deliver. iOS stores it as an ordinary preference and PDNotes reads it at launch. No network access, no sign-in, no data reaching us.
The problem
A pupil wants to back up their notebooks and otherwise cannot get at them. A school may not allow a web server on its own network. Both are right. Removing a feature for everyone would take it away from exactly the people it was built for — so the school decides for its own devices, and nobody else.
Three rules you can rely on
- Without a value, everything is allowed. An unmanaged device behaves as it always has. A forgotten key takes nothing away from anyone. The single exception: without a value, PDNotes Education offers no password protection (
allowDocumentProtection). - Every switch can only remove, never add something the app cannot otherwise do. The single exception is
allowDocumentProtection, and it says so below. Name and class (studentName,studentClass) allow and forbid nothing — they only prefill “My profile”. - A wrong value type does not lock anything. If a text sits in the field instead of a switch, the key counts as unset. The mistake always runs in the harmless direction.
How to enter it
- In your MDM, select the app and open the app configuration section (called “Managed App Config”, “App Configuration” or “AppConfig”, depending on the vendor).
- Either upload the specification file below — your MDM then fills in the fields itself — or enter the keys by hand: the switches as boolean values, name and class as text.
- The setting takes effect the next time the app launches. A change in the middle of a running transfer would be worse than one at the next opening.
Specification files
For upload into your MDM. Both carry the same keys and the same defaults the app uses without a value — including password protection: in the file for PDNotes Education it is false.
- PDNotes Education —
app.pdnotes.education - PDNotes —
app.pdnotes.the
The keys
Getting data out
allowBrowserTransfer
Backup via the browser
Boolean · unset: allowed
On request, PDNotes can briefly start a small web server on the device so that a computer on the same Wi-Fi can download the notebooks. No servers of ours, a security code is required, and the session ends by itself: after 15 minutes without access and as soon as the sheet in the app is closed. Set to false, the row still appears in Settings and says the school has turned it off — but it can no longer be started.
allowSharing
Share sheet
Boolean · unset: allowed
Passing notes, exports and single files to other apps through the share sheet. Set to false, the share entries disappear and any call from another path is refused. Exporting stays available — into the device's export folder and through the system's save dialog to a location the device profile allows (Managed Open-In decides which storage providers appear).
allowPrinting
Printing
Boolean · unset: allowed
The print dialogue for exported PDF files. Set to false, the button in the export sheet disappears and the system dialogue no longer opens; the file itself still sits in the export folder. Meant for sites that route all printing through their own app.
Recording and inserting
allowAudioRecording
Audio in notes
Boolean · unset: allowed
Recording into a note, and taking in audio files from elsewhere. Both together, because one without the other achieves nothing: whoever may not record will record with Voice Memos and import instead. Set to false, the microphone drops out of the tool list. In Germany, recording the spoken word in a non-public setting without everyone's consent is a criminal offence under §201 StGB — for schools this is the key that matters most.
allowImageImport
Images from camera, scanner and photo library
Boolean · unset: allowed
Blocked when false: taking a photo, scanning a document, choosing an image from the photo library — and images dragged onto the page or pasted from the clipboard. Finer than Apple's device-wide camera restriction: the camera stays available to other apps, only notes take no images. Paths where the app cannot tell where an image comes from stay open: “Insert image” via the Files app, sharing from another app (including Photos) to PDNotes, “Open with” and the inbox. When dragging and pasting, every image is blocked, including one from the Files app.
On the device
allowSpotlightIndexing
Note text in system search
Boolean · unset: allowed
PDNotes hands the title and text of every note edited on this device to the device's system search (Spotlight), so that a set of notes can be found from outside the app. Protected and deleted notes are taken out again. On a shared device, the next person finds the previous person's notes. There is no switch for this in the app — this key is the only lever.
allowLibraryFolderChange
Changing where the library lives
Boolean · unset: allowed
The library lives in a folder the user picks — including iCloud Drive or any other Files app source. Set to false, the folder stays put: notebooks do not wander into a private cloud folder, and the school's backup keeps working. The row in Settings stays visible and gives the reason.
allowDocumentProtection
Protecting notes with a password
Boolean · unset: the edition decides
The only key that works in both directions. Without a value, the edition decides: PDNotes Education does not offer protection, because a forgotten password locks a pupil out of their own work for good. Set to true it is offered there as well — on teachers' devices, for instance. Set to false it disappears from the ordinary edition. Opening an already protected note depends on no key at all: otherwise the same file would be unreadable on one device and readable on another.
allowEcho
Echo
Boolean · unset: allowed
Echo finds earlier notes of your own that match a selected passage and shows them with an excerpt and their location. PDNotes builds a word index for this — entirely on the device: nothing is transmitted, nothing downloaded, no service consulted. Set to false no index is built, an existing one is deleted the next time the app starts, and no memories appear; ordinary search is unaffected.
allowFontImport
Custom fonts
Boolean · unset: allowed
Allows importing custom font files (TTF, OTF) into PDNotes — for typed text and for text converted from handwriting. The file is stored on the device; nothing is transmitted. Set to false the import path disappears; the bundled fonts remain.
To other devices
allowHandoff
Continuing on another device (Handoff)
Boolean · unset: allowed
PDNotes offers the currently open note for continuation on other Apple devices signed in to the same account — an icon in the Dock or app switcher that opens the note there. Only the title and the identifier are handed over, never content. On a device with a shared Apple account, this shows others the titles. Set to false nothing is offered any more, and an already offered continuation is withdrawn.
allowWidgetContent
Note titles in the widget
Boolean · unset: allowed
The home screen widget lists the five most recently edited notes by title and leads into them; it never shows content. On the home screen those titles are readable without unlocking. Set to false the widget stays and still leads into the app, but the list is emptied — previously published titles disappear rather than lingering.
Prefilling the profile
studentName
Student name
String · unset: empty · PDNotes Education only
Prefills “My profile” in Settings — usually as an MDM variable (such as the full name from the directory). The name goes into the file name when a note is handed in (“Worksheet – Mia.pdn”) and can be placed into the header and footer. The profile stays on the device and is not written to logs, the search index or PDF metadata; whatever someone deliberately places on a page or in the header is content like any other text. An entry made in the app itself takes precedence over the value. At most 60 characters; PDNotes Education only.
studentClass
Class
String · unset: empty · PDNotes Education only
Prefills the class in “My profile” (such as “7b”). It can be placed into the header and footer and stays on the device. An entry made in the app itself takes precedence over the value. At most 60 characters; PDNotes Education only.
Checking that it arrived
Where something has to stay, it gives the reason: backup via the browser, the library location and Echo remain in Settings and say they are managed. Most other features disappear entirely — sharing, printing, the microphone, “Protect note”, “Insert image or photo” in the New menu and importing your own fonts. A message appears only when someone reaches them another way, for example by importing an audio file, opening a font with “Open with”, or choosing the camera in the editor. Spotlight, Handoff and widget content take effect without anything visible. So check at the place each key describes.
What these settings do not do
- They send nothing to us. PDNotes has no servers; we never learn what you configured.
- They do not lock existing notes. What is written stays readable and exportable.
- They do not replace a system restriction. To disable the camera device-wide, keep using Apple's restrictions payload.
- They apply on iPad and iPhone. PDNotes for Android reads no device management.
- They do not make locks final. When a teacher locks a page or layer in a note or hides the answer, that protects against accidents, not intent: students can undo it. To keep an answer from going out, export the sheet without the answer layer — for PDF and for .pdn alike.