Files App is pretty useless

[Adelphos33]

When Apple announced the Files App, I assumed it would be an easy way to view and open files from all sorts of directories (iCould Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc).

However

• Dropbox and iCloud Drive don’t really work in Files
• When I click on a word or excel file in Files, I get a kind of preview window - Word and Excel don’t open the file like they do on a Mac

As a result, Files is pretty useless now. When will these issues be fixed?

 

[throAU]

Suspect that files is a framework that 1drive and dropbox will need to update their apps to support better.

So i suspect it is up to microsoft and dropbox to fix...

 

[stulaw11]

Files can preview cloud files but isn't mean to open/edit them. That's what Pages/Word, numbers/Excel apps are for.

Word and Excel are not native apps and it will never work that way from Files to click on a .doc and it opens in the Word app. There are no file type associations between iOS and the apps that can edit them; there never we in iOS so Files is no different.

Simply use the "open in" dialog, it's all of 1 extra press.

 

[Ritsuka]

Dropbox and iCloud Drive don’t really work in Files

They do on my iPhone

When I click on a word or excel file in Files, I get a kind of preview window - Word and Excel don’t open the file like they do on a Mac

Because Microsoft has yet to implement the "open in place" feature. They had just 3 years to do it, but I guess they will do sooner or later.

 

[chabig]

Dropbox and iCloud Drive don’t really work in Files

Sure they do. Those are the bread and butter clients for the Files app, along with Box, Microsoft OneDrive, Baidu, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Google Drive.

 

[Adelphos33]

Sure they do. Those are the bread and butter clients for the Files app, along with Box, Microsoft OneDrive, Baidu, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Google Drive.

What I really meant is that I can’t

1) Open Files
2) Select a Word App
3) Have Word Open the App in an editable format
4) Have the ability to save edits directly into my cloud drive of choosing

Much of this is just legacy issues with these services (Mainly Office), but the point is Files doesn’t really improve things yet

 

[chabig]

What I really meant is that I can’t

1) Open Files
2) Select a Word App
3) Have Word Open the App in an editable format
4) Have the ability to save edits directly into my cloud drive of choosing

Not to be argumentative, but...

1) I can
2) I can
3) This seems to be a limitation of Word for now. Microsoft is often slow to support new features.
4) I can

Spend a little more time with the Files and explore it. You'll figure things out. It's just a different workflow than on a desktop computer.

 

[stulaw11]

Because step 2-3 may not even happen. Files (Apple) is not going to allow you to default apps to file types in Files, just like you cannot default a mail app in iOS.

If anything, it will be on Microsoft to make Onedrive's integration into Files somehow have some deep link to the Word and Excel apps where .doc/docx would open Word app, and .xls would open Excel app, etc.

But I would not count on that as they still dont have edit in place in the Onedrive app after all of thee years.


it's actually easier to set up your cloud locations in the Word app itself under the "open" tab and access the cloud service hierarchy in the Word app itself to edit a Word (or Excel same thing) doc. You stay all in 1 app and word saves the new doc version over the old version back up into the cloud.

Or, you enter the preview in Files and the icon at the top right and open in Word. Just more clicks though if you dont mind that, BUT that will "copy to Word" and create other copies of the doc, it is not edit in place. The method above is a much better way for now. (Again for now, as Onedrive has still not updated their app for Files so we dont know how they will do it officially yet).

 

[Theophil1971]

Dropbox works great for me on iPhone 8 and iPad Pro 10.5, both running iOS 11... what's missing for you? Dropbox shows up as any other server/folder...

 

[itsmilo]

Until i can finally download any file from safari in a dedicated download folder within files like ive been doing for the last 20+ years on a computer it will remain useless to me. One of the big reasons i laugh when Apple claims iPad is a PC replacement.

Having multiple copies of the same file in different app folders instead of simply saving any changes back to the original file is still a pain in the ass too

 

[lexvo]

I wish I could add Webdav and (S)FTP servers to Files.

Edit: just now Webdav showed up in the list of shares on my iPhone. But only from Numbers, not when I open the Files app itself?

 

[nanogirl21]

Hmm i'm not sure what issue you are having but the files app works great for me. I am about to open folders and navigate thought the app without any fuss. I don't use dropbox or any other cloud storage. Just iCloud and my destop & documents folder on my app. I have multiple folders on my desktop and in my documents folder and am able to update and save files without any issues on my device into the correct location.

 

[chfilm]

It works absolutely great for me on iPad 10.5 too! None of these issues occur to be a problem to me actually.

 

[Nikhil72]

Blame Microsoft in your example.

For instance with Apple pages, if I click on a pages file in the files app, it opens in pages as an editable document. After doing my edits, it saves in place. That’s on iCloud, but as an example, i copied said file into Dropbox and google drive, both of which are plugged into the files API, and the same behavior is noted

If you want full support, wait for Microsoft to implement it. And from what I’ve heard, it’s coming soon along with onedrive support.

 

[stulaw11]

Blame Microsoft in your example.

For instance with Apple pages, if I click on a pages file in the files app, it opens in pages as an editable document. After doing my edits, it saves in place. That’s on iCloud, but as an example, i copied said file into Dropbox and google drive, both of which are plugged into the files API, and the same behavior is noted

If you want full support, wait for Microsoft to implement it. And from what I’ve heard, it’s coming soon along with onedrive support.

I agree, many of the Files app complaints are on the 3rd party devs, not Apple

 

[Nikhil72]

I’m not familiar enough to know what rules are there for file association, but my bet is in iOS 12, we’ll see default “open in” APIs, at least for select file types

 

[lexvo]

I’m not familiar enough to know what rules are there for file association, but my bet is in iOS 12, we’ll see default “open in” APIs, at least for select file types

That would be great. Now we are too dependent on the developers to make their apps work with new features in iOS like document picker.

 

[fiveainone]

Until i can finally download any file from safari in a dedicated download folder within files like ive been doing for the last 20+ years on a computer it will remain useless to me. One of the big reasons i laugh when Apple claims iPad is a PC replacement.

Having multiple copies of the same file in different app folders instead of simply saving any changes back to the original file is still a pain in the ass too

I just downloaded a .dmg and .zip into the Keynote folder in Files. I don't see why it couldn't download any other types of files if those work. Just think of the Keynote folder as your download folder.

I also AirDropped a .fbx and .app into iCloud Drive, and dragged them into the Keynote folder in Files as well.

This follow comment is not targeted at you, but honestly people are so quick to judge without even giving it a try. Dozens of complaints on Files before they even know how it works.

 

[Nikhil72]

Until i can finally download any file from safari in a dedicated download folder within files like ive been doing for the last 20+ years on a computer it will remain useless to me. One of the big reasons i laugh when Apple claims iPad is a PC replacement.

Having multiple copies of the same file in different app folders instead of simply saving any changes back to the original file is still a pain in the ass too

So you haven’t used Files yet?

Tap a file in Safari—->hit the action menu button—>save to Files. Beyond that, file association is up to the developer. But if I download a PDF, pages document, etc and the developer has full Files support coded in, the edited file stays in place.

 

[sdwaltz]

Apple DESPERATELY needs to at a local option. Desperately. Until they do, the files app won't be worth its salt.

 

[dallas112678]

Yup, not impressed with the files app. If you don't use the cloud, it's basically useless. One of the things I want, is a files system that works just like finder on computer. Just drag and drop from computer to phone, and vice versa. One of the final straws for me was I had a video on my iPhone (in the TV app), and it was IMPOSSIBLE to transfer the video back to my computer (as I accidentally deleted the copy on my mac). I mean, seriously, iTunes will let me play the video on my computer when it's only on my phone, but doesn't let me actually move the file back from my iPhone to the computer...Ugh. Not to mention, if you want to a file to your iPhone, you have to drag it over to a number of sections in iTunes hoping the little "add" icon appears saying you can actually do it.

On my note 8, it's just like a SD card, super easy to move back and forth and put it wherever you want. It seems so simple for Apple to do, but they just won't do it.

 

[fiveainone]

Apple DESPERATELY needs to at a local option. Desperately. Until they do, the files app won't be worth its salt.

No one reads on this forum.

 

[Floris]

Doing creative stuff here, .. as a prosumer.
And the files app really helped.

Different needs I guess

 

[itsmilo]

So you haven’t used Files yet?

Tap a file in Safari—->hit the action menu button—>save to Files. Beyond that, file association is up to the developer. But if I download a PDF, pages document, etc and the developer has full Files support coded in, the edited file stays in place.

Doesnt seem to work for me. When i want to download an mkv for example it just starts to play the video instead of letting me download it

 

[66gonzo]

Because step 2-3 may not even happen. Files (Apple) is not going to allow you to default apps to file types in Files, just like you cannot default a mail app in iOS.

If anything, it will be on Microsoft to make Onedrive's integration into Files somehow have some deep link to the Word and Excel apps where .doc/docx would open Word app, and .xls would open Excel app, etc.

But I would not count on that as they still dont have edit in place in the Onedrive app after all of thee years.


it's actually easier to set up your cloud locations in the Word app itself under the "open" tab and access the cloud service hierarchy in the Word app itself to edit a Word (or Excel same thing) doc. You stay all in 1 app and word saves the new doc version over the old version back up into the cloud.

Or, you enter the preview in Files and the icon at the top right and open in Word. Just more clicks though if you dont mind that, BUT that will "copy to Word" and create other copies of the doc, it is not edit in place. The method above is a much better way for now. (Again for now, as Onedrive has still not updated their app for Files so we dont know how they will do it officially yet).

I think what he’s saying is that once you open the preview, you can go to the “share” icon in the top right, select that, and then open in whatever program you want. Then, you should be able to save it back to any place you want. It’s not as streamline as most users would want, but it does actually work.