It’s my “quick” up and running device for surfing, emails, travel-buddy, one-note use for class notes, and the expansive utilization of the Apps. I tried to use it as a computer replacement a few years ago but that ended quickly for me. I spent more time trying to make it function like a computer rather than just getting after all of the tasks at hand.
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All iPads How do you use your personal iPad at work to help you if you are in an office job?
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I have been using pdf expert for years. No subscription. The free version has been very good.
I think if I still had my 12.9” Pro with Magic Keyboard I could still do my current job with only that. But I can also do a full work day on my mini when I have to, as long as I can hook it up to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
For me, it still goes back to Apple Silicon coming to Mac. I was humming along fine using my iPad Pro as my main device until the M1 MacBook Air turned my attention back to the Mac.
I use both in so many situations though. It’s not that I draw a line and say I’ll use this device for only these things and this one for these things. I just pick up what’s closest and easiest and do what needs to be done. A LOT of times that ends up being my iPad to this day.
I utilize my IPP + MKB for note taking during meetings, utilizing Excel if I need a second screen (I have a laptop and typically have a lot of applications open during the day). So the IPP is definitely helpful for me throughout the day. It’s always great taking it off the MKB and using it as a tablet at night once work is done.
I don't have personal experience in using an iPad for office work, but I can suggest some popular apps that may help with productivity and organization:
Microsoft OneNote - this app allows you to take digital notes and organize them in notebooks, sections, and pages. It also integrates well with other Microsoft products such as Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint.
Apple Reminders - this app is great for creating to-do lists and setting reminders. It integrates with Siri, so you can use voice commands to create reminders.
Trello - this app is a popular project management tool that helps you organize tasks and collaborate with others. It uses a visual board and cards system to track progress.
Notion - this app is a versatile productivity tool that can be used for note-taking, task management, project planning, and more. It allows you to create databases, templates, and custom workflows.
In addition to these apps, there are many others that can help with productivity and organization, such as Evernote, Google Keep, Asana, and Todoist. It's important to find the app that works best for your needs and workflow. Good luck with finding the right tools for your productivity!
I have a split ergonomic keyboard (ErgoDox, for the curious). It just so happens that the space between the keyboard fits my IPad Pro 12 w/Magic Keyboard. When working from my desk, I use my iPad as a task/productivity manager and for notes. I keep Todoist, Obsidian, and a few other apps up in either stage manager or split screen, depending. This setup helps me keep my ADHD brain organized and on track.
I also find that teams/zoom, etc video call apps usually work better from the iPad than their Windows/Linux counterparts. So if the apps are being finicky that day it also handles video meeting duty as well.
I like having it in that position as it forces my hands to leave the Ergo Keyboard and use the Magic Keyboard when taking notes. This allows for a more seamless "context" switch in my head and I'm able to focus on actually writing notes, documents, and tasks completely before continuing with what I want as doing on my computer.
I also find that teams/zoom, etc video call apps usually work better from the iPad than their Windows/Linux counterparts. So if the apps are being finicky that day it also handles video meeting duty as well.
I like having it in that position as it forces my hands to leave the Ergo Keyboard and use the Magic Keyboard when taking notes. This allows for a more seamless "context" switch in my head and I'm able to focus on actually writing notes, documents, and tasks completely before continuing with what I want as doing on my computer.
I use Webex and Outlook in split screen on my iPad a lot and find that works better on iPad as well. Webex is a really good citizen on iOS, but on Mac some of the windows don't work with Magnet and I use that app daily for almost all my software. Long story short, sometimes when all my busy work is done for the day and I'm just monitoring things, an iPad with those two apps in split screen is all I really need.
My iPad is mostly for 1. Using as a second screen whenever I'm on my laptop only but need the extra real estate and 2. Teams meetings. I work with people who have no respect for developer time so I'm pulled into meetings usually 7-8 times per day and in order to get work done I put teams on the iPad and continue to work on my laptop.
I like the way OneNote organizes things into a sort of tabbed organizer. Makes it really easy to get where I need.
When I tried to write my papers, it became a hassle for me to move with ease. I just went back to my mac and left it at that. I may have been able to give it more time to get use to but I didn’t have the appetite for it then. I have the Magic Keyboard and only use the track pad. Maybe the mouse would change my view on it.
Why would you use your personal device at work???
I provide the experience, they should provide the tools/space/environment for me to accomplish it.
Even if they somehow compensated for personal device usage, I wouldn't want to mix worlds like that. My personal life is far too valuable and higher priority over work.
I provide the experience, they should provide the tools/space/environment for me to accomplish it.
Even if they somehow compensated for personal device usage, I wouldn't want to mix worlds like that. My personal life is far too valuable and higher priority over work.
Because mobile work is just the reality now, especially since more and people are working from home full time. For me personally, as a busy parent who works from home for a large corporation, I need to be able to take care of things during the day if the situation comes up and I happen to be in the waiting room at an orthodontist appointment for one of the kids, in line at the pharmacy, etc. I am limited on my personal devices to what I can access through Office 365 through Duo 2FA, so there are no profiles or security measures from my company installed anywhere--they are completely out of my business other than what's on their MS instance.
In order to be sure I prioritize my personal life, I have focuses set up so that after a certain time, I'm not going to see work emails or messages, and I have notification badges turned off for those apps so they're never bugging me when the Personal focus is on. Because iOS now has this capability, I am much more willing to at least have the key work apps I need on my iPhone/iPad in order to take care of things on the fly.
In my eyes, this is a win/win/win. I have very nice work-issued MacBook Pro that is my main work machine. I have my mobile devices that can fill in when needed but don't have any prying eyes installed. I have my own MacBook Pro that can't access any of it and is completely walled off.
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If it's the reality then your organization can supply you with the appropriate devices. I'm not going to use my personal device for work related task no matter how convenient it might be, and I certaily do not want work related apps there as well. I can, and will, always separate those worlds.
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I use some personal devices in the mix because it's simply a better experience. I use my Apple Watch for security access at work, and I simply prefer to have one iPhone 14 Pro Max with my work and personal number on it rather than carry two phones. All work has to provide me with is a standard iPhone 14, and they'd tell me to use that for door access. But the watch is far better.
I don't expect them to provide me an iPad either, but it can be useful as a second display to the work-issued 14" MacBook Pro when I'm away from the desk for extended periods and could use more things open at once to do some complicated work. Again, it's something that makes things better for me but that work would never provide.
YES! Duo 2FA and Apple Watch is so great. Log in, wait for the tap, hit approve on your wrist, you're in. And yes, why carry two phones? My company routes our phone lines through Webex anyway, so as long as I have the Webex app, I can do what I need to do. They would give me a company phone if I wanted/needed one, but I definitely don't.
I don’t use mine as much as I used to when in the office except for signing documents. Reason is I have 2 external displays now and Don’t need an additional display for teams / outlook compared with before When I had just the 1.
When working from home I often use it for teams and Outlook with universal control along with my iMac. Today for example I was doing an Anaplan course on my iMac and meanwhile had the iPad in the magic keyboard next to it to keep my mail and teams open + make the occasional notes
universal control is great because I can just use the iMac keyboard (with number pad) and the trackpad to control the iPad and make notes
Sometimes I use it with Microsoft apps like SharePoint and such to keep up to date with news posts when I’m sitting on my couch in the evenings.
other than that I can look up data in our accounting system Dynamics 365 when I get a question without having to turn on the work laptop or my iMac.
I can perform much of my monthly group consolidation as well as both Dynamics and the conso software are web based apps.
When working from home I often use it for teams and Outlook with universal control along with my iMac. Today for example I was doing an Anaplan course on my iMac and meanwhile had the iPad in the magic keyboard next to it to keep my mail and teams open + make the occasional notes
universal control is great because I can just use the iMac keyboard (with number pad) and the trackpad to control the iPad and make notes
Sometimes I use it with Microsoft apps like SharePoint and such to keep up to date with news posts when I’m sitting on my couch in the evenings.
other than that I can look up data in our accounting system Dynamics 365 when I get a question without having to turn on the work laptop or my iMac.
I can perform much of my monthly group consolidation as well as both Dynamics and the conso software are web based apps.
Aha yes 2FA with the Apple Watch is great and something else I use it for - however I meant swipe access to the buildings and offices with my watch! We recently got rid of physical swipe/ID cards and replaced with digital.
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I use mine daily. It’s great for taking notes in meetings, and admin on the go. Plus the integration with M365 helps and things like ToDo (though still learning) are helping me improve my productivity and stay on top of things.
That said, my company has some pretty strict data sharing rules in place which sometimes makes things hard. Like I cannot open files from my corp OneDrive account unless it’s an Office app file. But that’s my companies fault, not the iPad and I can quite easily upload to the OneDrive so if I’m working in something like Affinity Designer, I just save locally and upload when done.
That said, my company has some pretty strict data sharing rules in place which sometimes makes things hard. Like I cannot open files from my corp OneDrive account unless it’s an Office app file. But that’s my companies fault, not the iPad and I can quite easily upload to the OneDrive so if I’m working in something like Affinity Designer, I just save locally and upload when done.
I don’t understand the attitude of “I don’t use my personal devices for anything work related”. My work is not something I hate, my personal life and my work are very closely intertwined and there’s nothing problematic about that. Using my personal devices for work improves my QoL.
I wish I would have just said it this way. I love my job too and don't mind being able to take care of things more easily on whatever device is nearby.
It depends a lot on the nature of your job and whether or not there is an issue of having company-related data on your personal device. My company explicitly forbade the use of personal devices and I was quite fine with that - I personally did not want to comingle work and personal data. And I loved my job.
I’m retired now but I used my iPad all the time when I was working:
1. Used GoodNotes and a Franklin Covey Style pdf for daily planning and taking notes. Was awesome as I could search even my handwriting.
2. Used as a 2nd monitor when traveling for work.
3. The best for me was downloading my presentations into GoodNotes and presenting/training right off my iPad. I could annotate and highlight as I went. Left open pages for use as a flip chart. You can even add audio notes. It was so much better than using a laptop.
4. Used it for responding to emails on the go - just easier and have cellular so always available.
1. Used GoodNotes and a Franklin Covey Style pdf for daily planning and taking notes. Was awesome as I could search even my handwriting.
2. Used as a 2nd monitor when traveling for work.
3. The best for me was downloading my presentations into GoodNotes and presenting/training right off my iPad. I could annotate and highlight as I went. Left open pages for use as a flip chart. You can even add audio notes. It was so much better than using a laptop.
4. Used it for responding to emails on the go - just easier and have cellular so always available.
There are a couple of reasons:
1. 'If work wants me to do things, they can damn well provide the tools to do them.':
I think this is fair enough. For me, they give me enough that I don't mind using personal devices. They give me an iPhone 14 that sits unused in a drawer while I use my personal iPhone 14 Pro Max for both personal and work use. They are under no obligation to provide me with a watch, but I use my Apple Watch for 2FA and for building access and ID card. They also provide a 14" MacBook Pro that I use as a personal laptop as well, so I think fair's fair in my case.
2. 'I need my work life and personal life to remain separate'
This is also fair enough for people whose work life can easily intrude into their personal life. Having the devices separate can be a way to shut down, and prevent themselves from working when they shouldn't be. For me, this isn't a worry, as when I walk out the door at 5pm nobody ever hassles me until 9am the next day.