Experiences Incorporating iPad Pro at Work

[Bozley0621]

I'm considering the iPad Pro and pencil for note taking capabilities with work. Has anyone gone from not using a tablet at all in their work life to incorporating it into their workflow with the iPad Pro. I'm particularly interested in user cases in which your work computer is locked down.

(The technological hangup is getting my computer to access a network hard drive. I work from home and am forced to use my work computer through VPN. The computer is locked down from accessing and using a lot of stuff. I need to be able to get files from the iPad to a hard drive that my computer can access.)

 

[Night Spring]

So you use your home computer to VPN into your work computer and you can read and write to the hard drive on the work computer, correct? Then I imagine you should be able to do the same with a VPN app on an iPad.

 

[Bozley0621]

So you use your home computer to VPN into your work computer and you can read and write to the hard drive on the work computer, correct? Then I imagine you should be able to do the same with a VPN app on an iPad.

I have to use a laptop provided by work to log into VPN, but I do have read and write privileges to the hard drive on the computer. Beyond that, I need to figure out a way to get files (I'm specifically looking at using Goodnotes as my note app) from the iPad to the computer. Onedrive, Googledirve, Evernote, etc aren't options.

I'm wondering if the Lacie fuel wifi hard drive is an option. I could connect the hard drive to my laptop via USB and access it via wifi from the iPad.

 

[Eric5273]

This should work for you:

http://www.hypershop.com/products/i...r-iphone-ipad-ipod-mac-pc?variant=13829529222

 

[Night Spring]

I have to use a laptop provided by work to log into VPN, but I do have read and write privileges to the hard drive on the computer. Beyond that, I need to figure out a way to get files (I'm specifically looking at using Goodnotes as my note app) from the iPad to the computer. Onedrive, Googledirve, Evernote, etc aren't options.

I don't have experience with VPN myself, but I use an app called FileBrowser to read/write files to and from my iPad to my computer hard drives over our wifi network. Any file from almost any app can be passed to FileBrowser and from there to my computer. I imagine VPN apps should provide similar functionality, once you connect your iPad to your VPN. That only works, of course, if your work allows VPN from your own devices.

 

[Bozley0621]

I don't have experience with VPN myself, but I use an app called FileBrowser to read/write files to and from my iPad to my computer hard drives over our wifi network. Any file from almost any app can be passed to FileBrowser and from there to my computer. I imagine VPN apps should provide similar functionality, once you connect your iPad to your VPN. That only works, of course, if your work allows VPN from your own devices.

My computer is locked down from accessing wifi storage - it must be plugged in via USB. I definitely can't access the work network from my iPad. A security card has to be inserted in my laptop to access work's network through VPN. There's absolutely no connecting my iPad to my work laptop. This is why I'm thinking that a USB (to connect to comp) storage device with wifi (for iPad) is my best bet.

 

[Night Spring]

My computer is locked down from accessing wifi storage - it must be plugged in via USB. I definitely can't access the work network from my iPad. A security card has to be inserted in my laptop to access work's network through VPN. There's absolutely no connecting my iPad to my work laptop. This is why I'm thinking that a USB (to connect to comp) storage device with wifi (for iPad) is my best bet.

Okay then. Sounds like a usb wifi drive or usb to lightning drive like the link the other poster posted are your only solution. Transferring files back and forth that way can get clumsy, though, so I'd think hard about whether the benefits of note taking on the iPad is worth it. Of course, it could be the best thing ever for you, but personally, I feel like I'd have given up on trying to use iPad for work if not for DropBox syncing.

 

[marmiteturkey]

Can you use something like Evernote or onenote that allows browser-based access from your work machine?

 

[Mystro]

I use a tablet 98% of the time for the last 3 years.

 

[Cnasty]

For my workflow its incorporating it to replace my old school paper and pen notebook combo for note taking for meetings. I do feel kind of awkward coming in there with a big iPP and utilizing that as it will greatly replace my old combo but trying to get that into the flow of things will be my challenge.

I can handle the looky lookers goggling it in every meeting but it will take some time. For me I want to have the ability take a photo the agendas that are always provided and mark them up. I am assuming thats very easy with the plethora of note apps and the iPP cam.

 

[Bozley0621]

I use a tablet 98% of the time for the last 3 years.

For my workflow its incorporating it to replace my old school paper and pen notebook combo for note taking for meetings. I do feel kind of awkward coming in there with a big iPP and utilizing that as it will greatly replace my old combo but trying to get that into the flow of things will be my challenge.

I can handle the looky lookers goggling it in every meeting but it will take some time. For me I want to have the ability take a photo the agendas that are always provided and mark them up. I am assuming thats very easy with the plethora of note apps and the iPP cam.

I'm very interested in reading your experiences in working this into your workflow from both the three-year perspective and the newly added.
[doublepost=1454279538][/doublepost]

This should work for you:

http://www.hypershop.com/products/i...r-iphone-ipad-ipod-mac-pc?variant=13829529222

Thanks, this is an even better option than the Lacie Fuel, which would admittedly be overkill. I also found this at a lower price point that I'm thinking of giving a whirl, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZCFYT5K?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

I'm replacing my trusty yellow pads with an iPad pro.

I either email myself screenshots or manually retype if the note is short enough. Not super efficient but I'm just starting down the rabbit hole.

I'm worried about data loss so I also screenshot important notes.

 

[phillyboy82]

Can you get to icloud.com on your work device? You can get to your notes, iCloud drive, etc. that way.

 

[bpmou]

I'm in a very similar situation. I too work for a very large company with a work laptop that's tipping the scales at close to 8 pounds and circa 2006 (no joke, had the same model at a previous company in 2006-2008). It's a piece of crap, and when ever something dies on it, they replace the part and button it back up.

That said, the company supports iphones and ipads only using Mobile Iron. On my work computer, I'm required to access VPN outside of the network. What I've found to work really well for me is two fold.

1. I use go to my PC and leave the laptop at work on the dock so I can access it 24/7 from my iPad Air 2 or my Macbook.
2. My computer is pretty locked down, so I save my notes and scanned documents in OneNote, which allows me to back up to the outlook.com account and syncs to all devices. For some reason this software allows me to sync while the rest of my other programs are pretty locked down.

Between these work arounds I feel like I'm able to get 90% of what I need done. I'm on the fence right now deciding if the iPad Pro will allow me to do do anything different than I have from the iPad Air 2.

Best of luck.

 

[Robnsn2015]

Newer versions of OneNote are "cloud based" similar to Evernote. You should be able to access OneNote notes in a way similar to Evernote.

I have to use a laptop provided by work to log into VPN, but I do have read and write privileges to the hard drive on the computer. Beyond that, I need to figure out a way to get files (I'm specifically looking at using Goodnotes as my note app) from the iPad to the computer. Onedrive, Googledirve, Evernote, etc aren't options.

I'm wondering if the Lacie fuel wifi hard drive is an option. I could connect the hard drive to my laptop via USB and access it via wifi from the iPad.

Why aren't OneNote and Evernote options? I've been able to use Evernote's web interface in some pretty locked down situations.

 

[Bozley0621]

Newer versions of OneNote are "cloud based" similar to Evernote. You should be able to access OneNote notes in a way similar to Evernote.

Why aren't OneNote and Evernote options? I've been able to use Evernote's web interface in some pretty locked down situations.

Evernote is blocked and I deal with a lot of outside entity individual and organizational data that can't be put in the cloud, even if they are just my notes and not actual records.

For perspective, I was apprehensive to use my gmail to call in sick when I was in the ER.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Figured out this morning that I can export GoodNotes notebooks in pdf format. Makes it wicked easy to export a pdf to a new email to send wherever.

 

[sparksd]

Evernote is blocked and I deal with a lot of outside entity individual and organizational data that can't be put in the cloud, even if they are just my notes and not actual records.

For perspective, I was apprehensive to use my gmail to call in sick when I was in the ER.

I'm retired now but I worked somewhere where any use of a personal device for any work-related activity was absolutely verboten.

 

[brent12]

I'm in a very similar situation. I too work for a very large company with a work laptop that's tipping the scales at close to 8 pounds and circa 2006 (no joke, had the same model at a previous company in 2006-2008). It's a piece of crap, and when ever something dies on it, they replace the part and button it back up.

That said, the company supports iphones and ipads only using Mobile Iron. On my work computer, I'm required to access VPN outside of the network. What I've found to work really well for me is two fold.

1. I use go to my PC and leave the laptop at work on the dock so I can access it 24/7 from my iPad Air 2 or my Macbook.
2. My computer is pretty locked down, so I save my notes and scanned documents in OneNote, which allows me to back up to the outlook.com account and syncs to all devices. For some reason this software allows me to sync while the rest of my other programs are pretty locked down.

Between these work arounds I feel like I'm able to get 90% of what I need done. I'm on the fence right now deciding if the iPad Pro will allow me to do do anything different than I have from the iPad Air 2.

Best of luck.

A big benefit of iPad Pro is if you use RDP (I like Jump) the bigger screen makes the experience much better.

 

[Robnsn2015]

Evernote is blocked and I deal with a lot of outside entity individual and organizational data that can't be put in the cloud, even if they are just my notes and not actual records.

For perspective, I was apprehensive to use my gmail to call in sick when I was in the ER.

Sounds like a HIPAA situation. I usually avoid using any personal equipment with US healthcare environments because HIPAA regulations make it such a pain that I don't even feel dealing with it.

You'll have to use physical storage solutions for sure.