Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Best Microsoft office editing app?
- Thread starter gregrose
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Nope, and I have tried them both. Syncing with Dropbox isn't an issue, that part works fine. Problem is that they all do lousy job with formatting, especially latest DOCX/XLSX formats. Unless you are working with very basic docs - it's an ugly experience.
You might be better off with iWork suite - Pages/Numbers. But MS Office doc editing on iOS is a pipe dream. I hope some day Microsoft releases a proper "Office for IOS" suite.
With 25M iPads sold I can't believe they aren't experimenting with it at least...even a fraction of that market is a big number...hopefully MS comes out with something soon.
I would not recommend extensive editing with the iPad. I have tried it, and I think it is a huge time suck. Things that take a few seconds on a computer take several on an iPad. You have no mouse. You have to constantly touch the screen and mess around with the document. It is very frustrating. No app can help here, I am afraid.
For the first draft, I think the iPad is WONDERFUL. Just type. Don't touch the screen. Just put it all in there (preferably with a USB keyboard). I use Evernote for this. Then, when you get home, play around with the computer editing what you have written. This is great. But, the farther along you get in the writing process (editing, formatting, etc.), the less useful the iPad is.
Here is an excellent page with advice by Will Howarth about how to use the iPad for research.
http://blogs.princeton.edu/itsacademic/2011/02/research_and_writing_on_the_ipad.html
I also enjoyed his advice about Scrivener.
http://blogs.princeton.edu/itsacademic/2010/12/new_tools_for_writing.html
For the first draft, I think the iPad is WONDERFUL. Just type. Don't touch the screen. Just put it all in there (preferably with a USB keyboard). I use Evernote for this. Then, when you get home, play around with the computer editing what you have written. This is great. But, the farther along you get in the writing process (editing, formatting, etc.), the less useful the iPad is.
Here is an excellent page with advice by Will Howarth about how to use the iPad for research.
http://blogs.princeton.edu/itsacademic/2011/02/research_and_writing_on_the_ipad.html
I also enjoyed his advice about Scrivener.
http://blogs.princeton.edu/itsacademic/2010/12/new_tools_for_writing.html
You have got it exactly right - that's what I do as well. Stick to very basic text editing on iPad, and do complex editing on a proper computer.
You also don't need to waste $20 on one of those iPad "office suites" (Quickoffice, Office2, etc) to do the former. Any of the dozens of free or $0.99 text editing apps will do just fine.
Someone mentioned it earlier. The iWork suite is very, very good in my humble opinion...especially as a "1st gen" tablet work suite...even for "Basic" revisions to .doc and .xls files. It's even got a basic set of templates for easy invoicing, scheduling, inventory, etc. I run my own business and have defaulted to a lot of my basic word processing and spreadsheet work on the iPad. I don't find it difficult at all.
For extensive word processing, I've upgraded to MS Office '11 (or is it '10) for Mac...and it's the best version yet...again, ON my Macs. However...since picking up version 1 of the iPad, I've started using the iWork suite as well on my Macs. Again, while I agree the latest version of MS Office is pretty awesome and a helluva lot more efficient, stable, and faster than any other version...I'm really starting to dig the iWork suite...which has EASY compatibility with MS Office...as long as your formatting in MS isn't super extensive. I'm not a super power user of Office, but I do use Word and Excel extensively. I should say...I have in the past. I've moved to about 70% of my Word Processing and Spreadsheet work to the iWork suite...both because it's really, REALLY good for what I need AND it works very well transitioning to and from my iPad...and Now, since last week...my iPhone! Pretty freakin' cool.
YMMV. It's not the best solution for extensive word processing or big time spreadsheet work...or for that matter, intensive slide show/PP production with Keynote. However, it DOES work. There are plenty of options as far as BT keyboards on the market (although the Apple one isn't the easiest to transport, it's excellent!). With that addition, and the speed boost of my iPad 2...and the EASY sharing of the mobile iWork suite production I do...I have found the iPad to be invaluable for different projects that I have to do, I can now do on the run, on the plane, or on site with my clients. It's perfect. Again, YMMV...and Please, PLEASE understand, I'm not vouching for Power Use of WProc or SSheet work on the iPad...nor presentation work. BUT, if you're not in to heavily formatting your work with proprietary MS Suite options, the transfers...in my case, between MS Office and iWork have been relatively decent.
That all said, I have to believe Microsoft is HARD at work developing an MS Office suite for the iPad. They do it for Mac and Macs only represent a 10-15% market share of total computer ownership. However...for tablet ownership, I believe Apple is still close to 75%...and that number may increase as these tablets from Android and Black Berry haven't proven to be mature...at least with their "App Options" at this point...so as we move in to the holiday season late this year...if these "issues" don't improve...iPad2 will see another sales boost at Christmas...again, IMHO. BUT...speaking from experience, I have owned a Xoom since release. I dig it, it's a great little experiment...but it is absolutely NOT the iPad. I may even pick up a playbook when they get email client, et al figured out later this summer...I like to give everything a fair shake and I'm fairly format neutral...however, I have completely switched from the Windows to the Mac environment at home and business use.
I think Microsoft is smart...they will sell their software, which is where their golden goose is...wherever IT sells itself. The iPad is a natural transition for them...even if they ARE going to introduce a couple of Windows tablets this fall/winter. Again...they do it for both Mac and PC....why not in the tablet world as well? IMHO, it's coming. But for now, for basic editing and writing, the iPad2 is excellent.
Jer
For extensive word processing, I've upgraded to MS Office '11 (or is it '10) for Mac...and it's the best version yet...again, ON my Macs. However...since picking up version 1 of the iPad, I've started using the iWork suite as well on my Macs. Again, while I agree the latest version of MS Office is pretty awesome and a helluva lot more efficient, stable, and faster than any other version...I'm really starting to dig the iWork suite...which has EASY compatibility with MS Office...as long as your formatting in MS isn't super extensive. I'm not a super power user of Office, but I do use Word and Excel extensively. I should say...I have in the past. I've moved to about 70% of my Word Processing and Spreadsheet work to the iWork suite...both because it's really, REALLY good for what I need AND it works very well transitioning to and from my iPad...and Now, since last week...my iPhone! Pretty freakin' cool.
YMMV. It's not the best solution for extensive word processing or big time spreadsheet work...or for that matter, intensive slide show/PP production with Keynote. However, it DOES work. There are plenty of options as far as BT keyboards on the market (although the Apple one isn't the easiest to transport, it's excellent!). With that addition, and the speed boost of my iPad 2...and the EASY sharing of the mobile iWork suite production I do...I have found the iPad to be invaluable for different projects that I have to do, I can now do on the run, on the plane, or on site with my clients. It's perfect. Again, YMMV...and Please, PLEASE understand, I'm not vouching for Power Use of WProc or SSheet work on the iPad...nor presentation work. BUT, if you're not in to heavily formatting your work with proprietary MS Suite options, the transfers...in my case, between MS Office and iWork have been relatively decent.
That all said, I have to believe Microsoft is HARD at work developing an MS Office suite for the iPad. They do it for Mac and Macs only represent a 10-15% market share of total computer ownership. However...for tablet ownership, I believe Apple is still close to 75%...and that number may increase as these tablets from Android and Black Berry haven't proven to be mature...at least with their "App Options" at this point...so as we move in to the holiday season late this year...if these "issues" don't improve...iPad2 will see another sales boost at Christmas...again, IMHO. BUT...speaking from experience, I have owned a Xoom since release. I dig it, it's a great little experiment...but it is absolutely NOT the iPad. I may even pick up a playbook when they get email client, et al figured out later this summer...I like to give everything a fair shake and I'm fairly format neutral...however, I have completely switched from the Windows to the Mac environment at home and business use.
I think Microsoft is smart...they will sell their software, which is where their golden goose is...wherever IT sells itself. The iPad is a natural transition for them...even if they ARE going to introduce a couple of Windows tablets this fall/winter. Again...they do it for both Mac and PC....why not in the tablet world as well? IMHO, it's coming. But for now, for basic editing and writing, the iPad2 is excellent.
Jer
Problem is that no one uses iWork in a business/professional environment. MS Office is really the standard if you are in business/corporate world, and need to share or collaborate on documents. iWork is perfectly fine for personal use, and that's what I would have used too if I didn't have to deal with the business world around me.
As much as I'd like to see one - I would be quite shocked if MS released iPad Office suite. Microsoft is obviously trying to get into the tablet space in a big way with Windows 8. Having "native" MS Office support will the key selling factor in getting people to adopt Win8 tablets. If they were to release iOS Office suite - they take away their huge competitive advantage, and remove an incentive for people to try their tablets. I do not see them doing that.
I've done a few reports on the iPad in Pages. I can type at a good rate but man, having to tap all over the screen for various formatting was a pig. I ended up just doing the formatting in Word on my computer. Even still, the little bit of formatting I did do on Pages wasn't correct anyway.