To put a PDF and Excel side by side on iPad, open Excel full screen, then drag the Files app or your PDF reader from the Dock to the left or right edge. On older iPadOS, use the three-dot button at the top and choose Split View. Drag the middle divider until both the page and the rows are readable.
Setting up a PDF and Excel side by side on iPad
Two apps side by side on iPad works differently depending on the iPadOS version. On iPadOS 26 and later, you drag one app to the edge of the screen while the other is open. On earlier versions, the three-dot Multitasking button at the top of an app opens Split View. Both end with two apps and a divider between them.
Apple's page on multitasking on iPad describes the newer method: with an app in full screen, "drag another app from the Dock, App Library, or Spotlight to the left or right edge of the screen." The same page says to "drag the bar in the middle to adjust the size of the app windows."
On iPadOS 15 and similar versions, Apple's guide to opening two items in Split View gives these steps:
- Open Excel with the converted workbook.
- Tap the three dots at the top of the screen, then the Split View button, and pick a side.
- On the Home Screen or in the Dock, tap the app that holds the PDF, such as Files or Books.
- Open the statement PDF in that half of the screen.
If you are not sure which version you have, try dragging first. If the second app opens full screen instead, use the three-dot menu.
Which side of the iPad screen should the PDF take?
Put the PDF on the left and Excel on the right, with the divider near the middle, if you read left to right. Your eye then moves from the source to the copy, the same direction as each printed row. In landscape, an even split usually shows a full statement line and the matching sheet columns at once.
Sizing matters more than side. A statement page in a narrow window shrinks to unreadable type, and a narrow sheet hides the amount columns. Try this layout first:
- turn the iPad to landscape
- set the divider near the middle
- zoom the PDF to fit the width of the transaction table, not the whole page
- in Excel, hide columns you are not checking, so date, description and amount fit
On an 11-inch screen this can still feel tight. Zoom the PDF to just the rows you are checking, and scroll both windows together one block at a time.
A row-checking routine with the iPad PDF beside the Excel sheet
Check a converted statement in a fixed order: totals first, then the edges of each page, then a sample of rows in the middle. Totals catch most problems at once. Page edges are where rows go missing, because the first and last lines of a page are the ones a conversion most often drops or repeats.
A checklist for one statement page, with both windows open:
- Find the page's first transaction in the PDF and confirm the same row is in the sheet.
- Do the same for the page's last transaction.
- Count the rows on the page and the rows in the sheet for that page.
- Read three rows from the middle: date, description, amount.
- Check any row with a long description, since wrapped text can split into an extra row.
- If the statement prints a running balance, compare the last balance on the page with the sheet.
- Mark the page done in a spare column, so you can stop and pick up again.
For a full statement, finish with a single total. The sum of debits and credits in the sheet, added to the opening balance, should give the closing balance printed on the statement. FastBankConvert is built to run that balance check for you and warn you before download if the numbers do not add up. It is getting ready to open, and you can join from Get started.
Why does the PDF lose its place when I switch iPad windows?
A PDF loses its place when the app reloads it, which happens if you leave its window for a while, swap apps into that half, or the iPad frees memory. The file can then reopen at page one, and a quick preview is the likeliest to forget your page.
Ways to keep your place:
- open the PDF in a reader app that remembers the last page, such as Books, rather than a quick preview
- keep the same app in that half of the screen for the whole check
- write the page number you are on in the sheet's spare column
A very large file also makes the preview slow to scroll. Shrinking it can help, and compressing a PDF on iPhone before uploading explains what compression does to scanned text, which applies on iPad too.
When an iPad split screen is too small for a statement check
A split screen is too small when the statement has many columns, tiny print, or hundreds of rows. In those cases each half shows too little to compare, and you spend more time scrolling than checking. A computer with a large monitor, or a printed statement beside the iPad, works better.
Other cases where the split is the wrong tool:
- The source is a photo, not a PDF. Check the photo in Photos instead, and see turning a HEIC photo of a table into Excel for format problems with iPhone pictures.
- You wanted Excel to show the PDF itself. Excel can embed a PDF as an object, but it does not lay the page out as cells. Opening a PDF in Excel explains the difference between opening, inserting and importing.
- You need to edit heavily. Fixing many rows with touch is slow. Check on the iPad, then make changes on a computer.
For a typical statement of a few pages, though, two windows on an iPad are enough to check every row in one sitting.