Access to files with Apps

Short of what's coming with OS 4, this is the biggest limitation of iPhone OS. No "Documents" folder like there is a "Pictures" folder.

 

There is no word on when or if we might get this feature without jailbreaking.

OS 4 does NOT claim to support this. There are folders, but only for organizing apps on the home screen. The most promising nugget I got from Apple about this was the mention of "quick view". I can't imagine how you need quick view unless Apple plans to add some sort of Finder to OS 4. But they did not mention this at all so far.

 

Couldn't an app like Air Sharing access other apps files?

I don't think it currently can, but is that just because they haven't figured it out yet, or that its impossible given the current way the iphone is set up?

I know Air Sharing can export a file to Pages, so you think it would be able to import one from it too. All the files are there somewhere on the ipad, so you'd think they could write code to go find the file and export it back in.

 

Yes you can get a file to pages using air sharing but you can't get it back. The only way to get it back is to email it to yourself. Think of the iPad as a networked computer that only speaks email for file sharing. I have used gallery to get photos on to the iPad. I have used iDisk to view files from my iDisk. But at no time have I found a way to get any file off my iPad without using email or resorting to the USB cable (How quaint).

 

But when you export a file on Pages, it goes somewhere and is saved, and then you can access it when you sync up to your computer later. So, couldn't a 3rd party app eventually find a way to access that file, since its there somewhere on your ipad?

 

Not today. I have saved files from each app on my iPad and looked for them from each other app. For instance, I grab a pdf using air sharing hd and I can see it in air sharing but not in good reader. The same is true in the reverse. Apple has this thing knotted up so tight you gotta jailbreak it just to move files around.

I'm not jailbreaking it ... yet ... but I'm getting close.

I don't want to make a netbook out of my iPad but I've gotta find a way to get files on and off the thing without dealing with usb or even email. Well, I suppose I can deal with email because at least it's wireless but somebody in Cupertino left their thinking cap at home on this topic. Docs2go offers the most promising solution as it was designed to get around the limitations of the iPhone and turn it into a business device. I tested it on my iPad in 2x mode and it is able to open and modify google docs. This workaround might just keep me going for now, especially if dataviz offers an upgrade path once they release the iPad version of docs2go, but I really expect my iPad to end up either jailbroken or for sale on ebay if Apple doesn't offer a non gimp-legged solution to file management within the year.

And I still haven't ruled out taking mine back this week over this. It's just plain stupid to dangle productivity apps in front of a user and then tell them they can't save anything except by dragging along a "real computer" and a usb cable or by emailing documents to themselves to get them on and off the iPad. Gimp, gimpity gimpy freakin' gimp.

 

This is definitely one of the most limiting factors of the iPad. When you have files associated to let's say....Good Reader then you can't access those files with pages. Because in the end...these are just apps and apple made so that the apps world is highly closed in. They did this as more of a safety precaution. In my opening, I don't understand why you cant have a my documents folder. A universal folder that all apps can access. Even photos, the apps access the photos but really....it makes a copy of the photo. Doesn't really touch the actual photo.