Access the files available on my Mac via my iPad

[Macak]

What is the best way to access the file on my Mac via my iPad. My goal is to be able to apply slight modifications to some files without having to go through the Mac. All this on the same Wifi network. And not from outside the house. Is there a built-in Mac OS tool? I use Mojave and iPadOS 13.1.1. If not. VNC viewer, Teamviewer LogMeIn are they good choices? Other suggestions?

 

[sahnert]

What is the best way to access the file on my Mac via my iPad. My goal is to be able to apply slight modifications to some files without having to go through the Mac. All this on the same Wifi network. And not from outside the house. Is there a built-in Mac OS tool? I use Mojave and iPadOS 13.1.1. If not. VNC viewer, Teamviewer LogMeIn are they good choices? Other suggestions?

What kind of files do you need to work on?

I do this with most of my files using iCloud. Box, Dropbox, OneDrive Google Drive etc. are all designed to do the same thing.

This works well as long as there are corresponding apps on both Mac and iPad.

For files that can only be edited on the Mac, a screen sharing or remote login app like you mentioned could work.

 

[Darth.Titan]

I use FileBrowser to acces files on my Macs over my local network. Been using it for years.

 

[Macak]

What kind of files do you need to work on?

HTML.
I do all my coding work on my Mac and prefer to keep the files locally on this one. I use cloud services only for backup purposes. My text editor is Brackets. In writing this answer, I realize that I would also need to access Cyberduck (FTP). Which leads me to think that I would rather need access to the Mac instead of just these files.

 

[sahnert]

HTML.
I do all my coding work on my Mac and prefer to keep the files locally on this one. I use cloud services only for backup purposes. My text editor is Brackets. In writing this answer, I realize that I would also need to access Cyberduck (FTP). Which leads me to think that I would rather need access to the Mac instead of just these files.

Since you are hoping to keep the files locally on the Mac, I would suggest looking at a combination of a remote desktop (VNC) app for accessing mac-only programs, and using file sharing and dedicated iOS app for access to specific file types that make sense (like editing HTML).

Something like Panic's Code Editor (https://panic.com/code-editor/) on iPad could connect to your Mac over the network to access and edit individual files. Also, I just tested the new "connect to server" feature in the iOS 13 Files app and was able to instantly connect to my iMac file system, so any text editor that used the iPad file management would work in theory.

I don't personally use VNC/Remote Desktop apps, so hopefully someone can suggest a workflow there.