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Best way to maintain personal budget using iPad instead of MBP

370zulu

370zulu

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 4, 2014
359
318
I was not sure if this was still the best subforum for this question, but here goes.

I have been keeping my personal financial budget on my MacBook Pro with MS Excel. I am looking to shift this work to my iPad Pro. Given that iPads do not universally support mice, I am curious what other folks are using to keep their budget on their iPad or iPad Pro. I do have MS Excel for iPad and, while it works without a mouse, it is not easy to navigate around my sheets.

I have looked at everydollar.com and ynab. Neither seem to work the way I need them to.
 
I use MS Excel on my iPad Pro. Since you already use Excel, why not continue? (I get the harder nav in some use cases, but hasn’t been huge problem for me).
 
Newtons Apple said:
I use Excel on my iPad everyday. Not quite as nice as using a full computer but it gets the job done for me.
Click to expand...

Yeah Word and Excel on iOS has actually gotten very usable (with an external bluetooth keyboard). I use them all the time on my 8+. Makes me want to get an iPad again.
 
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I just use the notes app and have for years. I like that it syncs between all my devices and I can make updates on the fly. Probably not the most glamorous solution but it works.
 
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Thanks for the replies. For those folks using Excel - are you storing your files on iCloud, OneDrive or locally? I really don’t like the thought of having them stored locally without some form of backup somewhere, so I am leaning more toward iCloud or OneDrive.
 
370zulu said:
Thanks for the replies. For those folks using Excel - are you storing your files on iCloud, OneDrive or locally? I really don’t like the thought of having them stored locally without some form of backup somewhere, so I am leaning more toward iCloud or OneDrive.
Click to expand...

OneDrive - iCloud isn't bad but I much prefer OneDrive because I use Windows for work.
 
I've been using Google Sheets for years to do this. I routinely edit it on my PC, Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Whenever it comes to personal docs/spreadsheets/etc, I almost always use Google's offerings so I don't have to worry about buying/installing/etc MS Office and so I can easily access it anywhere. I like to avoid MS Office at all costs.

I've tried lots of financial apps over the years as well and I keep coming back to my trusty old spreadsheet. I like to plan out my budget months in advance so I can see what my finances will look like in the future. The problem is I have yet to find an app that does exactly what I want. So, I just go back to manually updating my spreadsheet every week or so.
 
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have you considered using an actual finance app like Mint. it's made for iOS devices and can be linked to TurboTax. if you prefer HRBlock there's probably a similar app that works with it
 
thisismyusername said:
I've been using Google Sheets for years to do this. I routinely edit it on my PC, Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Whenever it comes to personal docs/spreadsheets/etc, I almost always use Google's offerings so I don't have to worry about buying/installing/etc MS Office and so I can easily access it anywhere. I like to avoid MS Office at all costs.

I've tried lots of financial apps over the years as well and I keep coming back to my trusty old spreadsheet. I like to plan out my budget months in advance so I can see what my finances will look like in the future. The problem is I have yet to find an app that does exactly what I want. So, I just go back to manually updating my spreadsheet every week or so.
Click to expand...

Sheets is great and I love how it's store safely on the cloud.

I've used it now and then on the iPhone as well. It's usable.
 
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charlituna said:
have you considered using an actual finance app like Mint. it's made for iOS devices and can be linked to TurboTax. if you prefer HRBlock there's probably a similar app that works with it
Click to expand...

Also consider Budget Touch - built around the envelope system. Works well though the look seems old. MoneyWell uses a similar concept but uses buckets instead. It is more recently updated so may have more features you may need.
 
kupkakez said:
I just use the notes app and have for years. I like that it syncs between all my devices and I can make updates on the fly. Probably not the most glamorous solution but it works.
Click to expand...
Me too and one of my favorite features of notes that helps me manage my finances: tables!
 
I use Sheets on my iPad for this purpose. It is about 10% as nice to use on iPad as it is on the desktop, but it is usable.
 
If using Google Sheets (a great product) just make sure to back up the file. I've had users accidentally delete those things and when they're gone, they're gone for good. (File --> Make a Copy) --- (File --> Download As)
 
BigMcGuire said:
If using Google Sheets (a great product) just make sure to back up the file. I've had users accidentally delete those things and when they're gone, they're gone for good. (File --> Make a Copy) --- (File --> Download As)
Click to expand...

Deleting a file in Google Drive (e.g. a Sheets file) moves it to the trash, like on Windows and MacOS. You can restore it if you delete it by accident, assuming you didn't also permanently delete it while in the trash can.
 
thisismyusername said:
Deleting a file in Google Drive (e.g. a Sheets file) moves it to the trash, like on Windows and MacOS. You can restore it if you delete it by accident.
Click to expand...

Tis true - but only for the owner of the file - not all the people he/she shared it with.

The problem we had with Google Apps is - the guy's account was deleted and whoever did the deletion chose to delete all the files.

So the 30+ people he had shared the file with (myself included) - the file poof disappeared. And because his account was deleted, the file was gone - no way for us to get it back (it wasn't in our deleted folder either because we didn't own the file).

I guess this is kind of a specialized case.
 
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Excel on iPad Pro 10.5 with Smart Keyboard cover here. I’m a heavy O365/OneNote user to begin with for distance learning studies, so Excel is ‘just there’.

IPad Office is an excellent suite of products, easy to use for light/moderate productivity (desktop Office inevitably wins in heavier use scenarios, plus things like entering mathematical formulae etc). Coupled with storing everything in OneDrive and my household budget sheet is available from everywhere - phone, iPad, mac, Windows machine and web. Office is one of the few products that Microsoft do really well in the consumer sphere, easy to use with OneDrive and they keep the iOS apps well supported.

If you wouldn’t need the rest of the Office suite, Numbers + iCLoud or the Google app + Drive combos would likely meet your needs just as well.
 
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