Documents in iCloud question

[Tknull]

After upgrading to ML, and updating Numbers, Pages, etc... I decided to try and figure out storing documents in the cloud. I opened one of my spreadsheets, and from the menu selected "Move To.." and chose the cloud. I then opened Numbers on the iPad, and selected that document (which now appears),and it alerted me to the fact that it is converting the document to be compatible with the iPad (Lose comments, sheet settings, etc.. I was a little surprised it gave no option to cancel at this point, you have to click ok and have your document converted).
Three issues i'm confused about:
1) To opent that cloud document on my mac, i have to click on Numbers app, and select the document from the list. Is there a way to still get an icon for the document to the dock?
2) Every time I open the document on the mac, it takes a while... and has the "Progress" bar. Is this longer time lag due to retrieving the file from the server online, or is it because it is having to convert from iPad compatible version every time i want to open it?
3) Of all the settings and things it said i'd lose by having it converted to iPad versions.... are they completely gone for the document, or do they still exist for when opening that doc on the mac?

Thanks..

 

[robgendreau]

I can't speak to the differences between the iPad/desktop versions of Numbers docs; I have a feeling though that it's more in the metadata than anything that affects content.

But be aware that iCloud storage of documents like this is more like iOS than like Dropbox. Each document is associated with its application for storage as well as opening; the idea is that anytime you run Numbers on any Apple platform that document is available in Numbers. So you wouldn't have it in the Dock, and it wouldn't be available to other applications.

Read the Ars Technica review of ML relating to iCloud; it gives the best description of how this works. It may not be what you want.

 

[mmomega]

You can basically use iCloud like a makeshift Dropbox.

You can drag and drop your Pages, Numbers or Keynotes to a folder on your mac and it will sync it to iCloud and will show up on iCloud.com.

You can also a random folder yourself and drop any file you want into it to store. If you have another Mac, this folder will automatically show up and basically allow you to sync files through iCloud to all of the other Macs tied to your account.


1. Open a Finder Window then click Go from the Menu bar.
- Hold Option and Library will populate in the drop down menu
- Click Library

2. Scroll until you see Mobile Documents
- Open Mobile Documents (screenshot)

3. You should see folders labeled such as com~apple~Pages
- Open this an you will see a Documents folder
- Drag and Drop any of your Pages files into this folder and they will sync directly to iCould.
- You can also create your own folder to "group up" your pages files and this will create an iOS app like folder on iCloud.com(screenshot)

4. Inside the Mobile Documents folder you can create a folder to name whatever you like. I made one called iDisk and dropped a few random file types into it.
I then went to my other Mac and opened the Mobile Documents folder and within 30 seconds the "iDisk" folder I created populated itself along with the files I dropped in.
I then dragged and dropped the folder into my Finder sidebar so I can very quickly drop and sync files across all of my Macs.