Apple Updates iWork for iOS Apps with iCloud Support

This was the feature I dreamt that Apple would have implemented when Lion and iOS 5 came out.

 

Don't get too excited, the functionality is still crippled. Since so many features still don't work on the iOS version, the implementation still results in duplicates of your files and they do not end up synced with one another.

It only works if you limit yourself to what the iOS versions can do and no more. Obviously the functionality of the iOS version is unacceptable on a full fledged operating system. So right not it doesn't "just work" and actually kind of sucks.

 

really, apple. i might actually buy another iPhone if i could work on a keynote on my mac, load it on icloud, and display it from the iPhone to the projector without any problems.

 

Removing hierarchical file systems? How does it organise your files then?
I like my organisation of documents into folders and sub-folders.

 

Just get iA Writer. Has been doing everything I thought Pages would do when it first came out and its eve better now than it was when I got it a few months ago.

 

you can do that already.

With Mountain Lion and the new updates you save it into an iCloud 'folder' and it just loads itself. And downloads itself. it's powered by unicorn farts, which i what makes it 'magical'

 

No thanks, iA Writer is even more feature limited than Pages.

 

Dropbox

 

Really disappointing that it's still not able to open files in a non-destructive way. Ofc it can't have all the features of the desktop version but dont remove stuff that's there, just hide it.

 

If by feature you mean formatting, then yes. But for a person who just wants to write, nothing beats iA Writer.

 

yeah, but the ios apps do not have the same features the desktop apps have - transitions and such...the file needs to be exactly the same.

 

Is there now a way to collaborate on documents?

 

This is nice, but the apps need to be more feature rich. Right now, I am using iPages quite a bit and lists are terrible. Having multiple lists is a pain since there is no way to restart numbering, etc. Unless you are planning to have the most basic list with no editing, it is pretty much a broken feature. There is also no ability to have page numbers appear on alternating pages. ie, having odd pages numbers on one side and even page numbers on the other side.

I understand that porting a fully featured version of Numbers is hard, but Pages and Keynote should be very close to the desktop versions apart from say advanced macros, etc.

 

If iCloud goes down?

So what happens to you documents if iCloud goes down? Are they physically still on your computer or what?

 

I don't know why iWork on iOS still has mentions of iDisk. They really should have gotten rid of that with this update.

 

Dropbox results in a new copy of your doc on iOS for every revision you open (and you can't save back to Dropbox on iOS). The problem isn't in transporting the document from Mac to iOS, the problem is that the iOS version strips any formatting beyond what you can do with it.

 

(nevermind, sorry)

 

Wow, I was really excited about this, until I read your comment... Although this is a step in the right direction, Apple really needs to come up with a better system for this... boo-urns.

 

The thing is--you can already do this all with Google Drive (formerly Docs)--and that is using HTML 5!

It really bothers me that Apple has been pushing out crippled software lately.

 

There's a typo in this post. Where it says "easier" it should read "vastly more difficult".

 

Ever hear of Spotlight? With modern search engines foldering of files is pretty much just a keep busy task.

 

Yes, its physically on your devices. Think of it as a service like Dropbox, where the files are updated and synced to each device when they check the cloud. iCloud just silos the files based on the app that created them rather than syncing a folder of disparate files and folders.

Whereas something like Google Docs is much more limited. Google says that a file can only live on the cloud and your browser is simply a window into that file on the cloud. So when you're offline you're SOL.

 

I have no idea if my Pages, Numbers, or Keynote files on my Mac are using features that can't translate to iOS versions. Apple is so unApple lately.

 

I think it's an insult to people to assume that an average person cannot understand how a hierarchical file system works, since it's exactly how we organise documents and our thoughts naturally, whether using folders and cupboards or our brain. I am not sure who at Apple thinks this is a good idea, but I have 10 GBs of documents and storing them without a hierarchy would be plain silly.

Wow, put stuff into a folder, remember where you put it. Really difficult and expert level of computing knowledge is required for this. Of course a flat structure of thousands of documents is MUCH better.

Seriously, where did Apple get the feedback that storing stuff in a folder is too difficult? User surveys at the Midvale School for the Gifted? I like a lot of things about Apple, but this is insulting to anyone with an IQ above a slow chimpanzee.

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A search index does not replace a good folder structure, it only supplements it. Keeping stuff organised based on related information such as one project is a natural thing that humans do.