--- title: "Adding a swipe gesture recognizer" canonical_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/ios/knowledge-base/adding-swipe-gesture-recognizer/" md_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/ios/knowledge-base/adding-swipe-gesture-recognizer.md" last_updated: "2026-06-09T10:22:07.671Z" description: "You can add a UISwipeGestureRecognizer to PDFViewController’s view at any time: for Nutrient iOS SDK." --- You can add a [`UISwipeGestureRecognizer`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiswipegesturerecognizer) to [`PDFViewController`](https://www.nutrient.io/api/ios/documentation/pspdfkitui/pdfviewcontroller)’s view at any time: ### SWIFT ```swift let swipeGestureRecognizer = UISwipeGestureRecognizer() swipeGestureRecognizer.direction =.left let pdfViewController = PDFViewController() pdfViewController.view.addGestureRecognizer(swipeGestureRecognizer) ``` ### OBJECTIVE-C ```objc UISwipeGestureRecognizer *swipeGestureRecognizer = [[UISwipeGestureRecognizer alloc] init]; swipeGestureRecognizer.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirectionLeft; PSPDFViewController *pdfViewController = [[PSPDFViewController alloc] init] [pdfViewController.view addGestureRecognizer:swipeGestureRecognizer]; ``` However, this isn’t enough to make it work. By default, UIKit will prioritize [`UIScrollView`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiscrollview)’s [`panGestureRecognizer`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiscrollview/1619425-pangesturerecognizer) over your [`UISwipeGestureRecognizer`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiswipegesturerecognizer). To reverse this and allow scrolling to proceed only if your swipe gesture recognizer has failed, you’ll need to set up a failure requirement in both the [`documentViewController(_:configureScrollView:)`](https://www.nutrient.io/api/ios/documentation/pspdfkitui/pdfdocumentviewcontrollerdelegate/documentviewcontroller(_:configurescrollview:)) and [`documentViewController(_:configureZoom:forSpreatAt:)`](https://www.nutrient.io/api/ios/documentation/pspdfkitui/pdfdocumentviewcontrollerdelegate/documentviewcontroller(_:configurezoom:forspreadat:)) delegate methods: ### SWIFT ```swift func documentViewController(_ documentViewController: PDFDocumentViewController, configureScrollView scrollView: UIScrollView) { scrollView.panGestureRecognizer.require(toFail: self.swipeGestureRecognizer) } func documentViewController(_ documentViewController: PDFDocumentViewController, configureZoom zoomView: UIScrollView, forSpreadAt spreadIndex: Int) { zoomView.panGestureRecognizer.require(toFail: self.swipeGestureRecognizer) } ``` ### OBJECTIVE-C ```objc - (void)documentViewController:(PSPDFDocumentViewController *)documentViewController configureScrollView:(UIScrollView *)scrollView { [scrollView.panGestureRecognizer requireGestureRecognizerToFail:self.swipeGestureRecognizer]; } - (void)documentViewController:(PSPDFDocumentViewController *)documentViewController configureZoomView:(UIScrollView *)zoomView forSpreadAtIndex:(NSInteger)spreadIndex { [zoomView.panGestureRecognizer requireGestureRecognizerToFail:self.swipeGestureRecognizer]; } ``` Don’t forget to consider the experience of scrolling and zooming. If you’re adding a swipe gesture recognizer, consider either disabling scrolling and zooming entirely, or conditionally preventing your swipe gesture recognizer from proceeding. For example, to only allow swiping when zoomed out and still allow panning a page around when zoomed in, you could write the following: ### SWIFT ```swift func documentViewController(_ documentViewController: PDFDocumentViewController, configureZoom zoomView: UIScrollView, forSpreadAt spreadIndex: Int) { zoomView.delegate = self zoomView.panGestureRecognizer.require(toFail: self.swipeGestureRecognizer) } func scrollViewDidZoom(_ scrollView: UIScrollView) { self.lastKnownZoomScale = scrollView.zoomScale } func gestureRecognizerShouldBegin(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer) -> Bool { if gestureRecognizer === self.swipeGestureRecognizer { return self.lastKnownZoomScale == 1 } else { return true } } ``` ### OBJECTIVE-C ```objc - (void)documentViewController:(PSPDFDocumentViewController *)documentViewController configureZoomView:(UIScrollView *)zoomView forSpreadAtIndex:(NSInteger)spreadIndex { zoomView.delegate = self; [zoomView.panGestureRecognizer requireGestureRecognizerToFail:self.swipeGestureRecognizer]; } - (void)scrollViewDidZoom:(UIScrollView *)scrollView { self.lastKnownZoomScale = scrollView.zoomScale; } - (BOOL)gestureRecognizerShouldBegin:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer { if gestureRecognizer == self.swipeGestureRecognizer { return self.lastKnownZoomScale == 1; } else { return YES; } } ``` For more details on how to coordinate multiple gesture recognizers, refer to our guide on [the document view hierarchy](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/ios/customizing-the-interface/the-document-view-hierarchy.md) and Apple’s guide on [coordinating multiple gesture recognizers](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/touches_presses_and_gestures/coordinating_multiple_gesture_recognizers/preferring_one_gesture_over_another). --- ## Related pages - [Adding Vector Image Annotation From Instant Json](/guides/ios/knowledge-base/adding-vector-image-annotation-from-instant-json.md) - [Adjusting Size Of Popovers](/guides/ios/knowledge-base/adjusting-size-of-popovers.md) - [Fix app store connect operation errors in Xcode](/guides/ios/knowledge-base/app-store-connect-operation-errors.md) - 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