Thumb drive with iPad Mini

The usual way is to transfer documents via the lightning cable connected to your Mac or PC. Either that or via the cloud with Dropbox. The file system on a mini is not like a computer. You will need an app like pages or such like.

So no, you can't use a thumb drive.

Google drive is an awesome service and their app is perfect. I take notes at school on my ipad and Notability allows me to upload my notes to the drive quickly. The Google Drive app lets me delete and view docs as I need to. The best part is, if you have a mac, google has an app that you can download on your computer and it creates a folder that automatically syncs with google drive and keeps your docs on your laptop.

5GB of free storage for just about anything (docs, photos, rtf, zip, etc)

scubagal said:

Hi... am getting ready to buy my first apple product and want to know if I can transfer docs, files and pics from a thumb drive to the ipad mini.

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Natively no.

There are allegedly ways you can do this via the camera kit if you jailbreak your iPad. But as this is your first Apple product I do not suggest that route given the risk of screwing the whole thing up and bricking your iPad. Not to mention that an improperly done jailbreak can create security holes, battery issues etc even if doesn't brick everything.

Either do it via iTunes and file sharing etc or invest in something like google drive or Dropbox both of which have mobile apps.

scubagal said:

Thanks to all your replies. Will be ordering my ipad mini soon.... just have to decide if I want wi-fi and cellular (sprint) or wi-fi only and go through my phone's hotspot.

Then need to decide 32 or 64gb... leaning towards 32 to save $100!!

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32 is my personal perfect spot. I always have at least 10 GBs free and that's with lots of apps installed.

FWIW, I went with Wi-Fi then returned it for the LTE even though I can tether my iPhone 5. While tethering is nice and easy, I'd much rather just be able to grab my iPad and know it'll work. Sure, I always have my phone with me, but I didn't want to worry about it.

I think that Dropbox or some other online service would be the best bet.