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How does iCloud Drive work?
- Thread starter Monique1
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I made a thread about this earlier. Apparently it is not an app like dropbox (i think that it should be). You will only be able to open the files in your iCloud Drive when you are inside an app that can open them it seems.
I prefer dropbox, i put a movie in there earlier from my Mac and opened the dropbox app and it started playing. I did the same thing with iCloud Drive and I was unable to open it with any apps that I have.
Thanks Lucky.
I will never understand this app-centric mentality of Apple. I organize my work projects on my mac by putting all the various files into a single project folder. Then, I simply launch those documents without a single care as to what application they originated from.
I will never understand this app-centric mentality of Apple. I organize my work projects on my mac by putting all the various files into a single project folder. Then, I simply launch those documents without a single care as to what application they originated from.
I'm with you on that, I usually agree with the way Apple implements things but I think they have it wrong here. Dropbox seems like a much better solution for always having files accessible.
With Drive, all of your iCloud files are available right inside Finder, letting you access documents and media wherever you are on your Mac. Because they're on iCloud, they're automatically auto-synced across devices and are fully searchable and taggable.
iOS 8 will also include iCloud Drive functionality, letting you to work with a single version of a document on all of your devices read more about this here https://www.apple.com/ios/ios8/icloud-drive/
iOS 8 will also include iCloud Drive functionality, letting you to work with a single version of a document on all of your devices read more about this here https://www.apple.com/ios/ios8/icloud-drive/
Based on a couple of those images, it looks like there will be a stand alone iCloud Drive app. If you look closely, you'll see different folders in the screenshot with different types of documents (pages, numbers, keynote, good reader, sketchbook pro)
Maybe we will see it for the first time in the GM?
Or it will be a separate download from the app store (though the logic of doing that while the awful Podcast bloatware is put in to the main OS eludes me)?
You have to hope, at least. It's currently a bit of a mess.
i theory this would be great, the only problem is that when I put files in iCloud Drive on my mac they are no where to be found on my iPhone and do not show up in a search.
You can do that on the mac still. Finder can access iCloud Drive directly. It is just on iOS you first have to launch an app that supports iCloud Drive.
Yes, that's what's confusing me. Those iOS images look like a "finder" type application to me. There are folders and even loose files there.
I just don't know what invokes those screens. Again, if iCloud Drive is a separate app (like DropBox or SkyDrive) then it makes sense.
No, I'm sorry but there won't be an official separate iCloud-Drive Finder-style App. What you are seeing on that iPhone screenshot is a full-screen modal popup; similar to the photo picker. On the iPad it's a modal sheet.
The reason there are folders with different app names is because apps can now access files created by other apps. So you could, theoretically, import a Numbers spreadsheet or a Sketchbook drawing or whatever in to a Pages document. Or you could edit your Numbers spreadsheet in another app, and then open Numbers again and see those changes reflected there, too.
Previously, iOS would copy the file when opening it with another app. So if I had that Numbers spreadsheet, and there was an "Open in..." feature and I opened it with some other app, it would be copied to the other app and I'd be left with two disjoint copies of the same document.
Apps used to work on the "every app is an island" principle - they couldn't see or edit each-others data. That has now changed - there's a system file picker which will carve out a little exception so the app can see and edit the specific file you select. There are security mechanisms in place to protect that file picker and make sure that only an actual user finger-press carves out an exception.
It may be possible to build a third-party Finder app. The only problem is that the process works in reverse right now - you open the app you want to use, then browse for the document (which may be inside another app). I don't know if there's a way to do the "Open in..." function while handing over the same file instead of a copy.
Edit: from that same site:
If OS X ends up going the way of Final Cut Pro X, you'll eventually be able to have it both ways at the same time.
I'm a little surprised to not see more of that kind of thing in Yosemite, honestly.
Well, this is all discouraging to me. It's why I can never quite make the full plunge into iOS for my work (ipad).
I have dozens of different file types in distinct project folders and would rather "act" on the document like I do in OSX rather than figure out which app that document belongs to, find said app, run it then load the doc.
When I learned of iCloud Drive I was hoping it would work this way. I guess this is what happens when you use an OS designed for a telephone.
I have dozens of different file types in distinct project folders and would rather "act" on the document like I do in OSX rather than figure out which app that document belongs to, find said app, run it then load the doc.
When I learned of iCloud Drive I was hoping it would work this way. I guess this is what happens when you use an OS designed for a telephone.
Well, this is all discouraging to me. It's why I can never quite make the full plunge into iOS for my work (ipad).
I have dozens of different file types in distinct project folders and would rather "act" on the document like I do in OSX rather than figure out which app that document belongs to, find said app, run it then load the doc.
When I learned of iCloud Drive I was hoping it would work this way. I guess this is what happens when you use an OS designed for a telephone.
But that's the point of iCloud Drive....
You don't have to figure out what app is attached to the file. Apps that take advantage of iCloud Drive access can open whatever file.
So its not about picking the file to work on, or about picking the correct app the file is in. It's now a matter of deciding which app best suits the task at hand. iCloud Drive gives you the ability to open the file you're planning on working on with the right app/tool.
Seems like a good step forward to me.
How can I open a Word file in Excel?
This may be true for content creation but not consumption.
Again, I have multiple file types in a folder... I really don't care what app created them and I just need to read them. Tapping each document thereby letting the OS figure out which app to load is a lot easier than me figuring it out. I don't create most of these documents... they are merely things sent to me by others that I need to group together for the sake of organization. I can do this in DropBox but need to jump through that "open with..." hoop if I want to load that document in its native app.
Not trying to be difficult. I am surely missing something.
I don't think Apple will introduce a Cloud Drive app which organizes your cloud stuff in to folders and such. Yosemite still has Finder functionality but I think that both Apple and Microsoft are moving away from it because there are a lot of incredibly stupid people out there in the public who will never be able to grasp anything more complicated than "this is the app with my pictures!!!111". Computer filesystems with folders and directories just don't work out well for those people, they end up deleting something important on accident.
Your average Mac user is a bit smarter than that and can work with Finder just fine, but most (not all, but most) iPhone owners don't own macs and don't have much experience with computers. And these people cost Apple a fortune when they call AppleCare to find pictures of their grandkids.
Your average Mac user is a bit smarter than that and can work with Finder just fine, but most (not all, but most) iPhone owners don't own macs and don't have much experience with computers. And these people cost Apple a fortune when they call AppleCare to find pictures of their grandkids.
So the average Mac user is smarter than a Windows user because Mac user can work with Finder? How do you think people work on Windows? oh and Apple also mentioned there will be a windows application or an addon to manage iCloud drive just like on Mac.
Well, this is all discouraging to me. It's why I can never quite make the full plunge into iOS for my work (ipad).
I have dozens of different file types in distinct project folders and would rather "act" on the document like I do in OSX rather than figure out which app that document belongs to, find said app, run it then load the doc.
When I learned of iCloud Drive I was hoping it would work this way. I guess this is what happens when you use an OS designed for a telephone.
Well for one thing, Apple is moving towards a tag based system which gives you more flexibility than just using folders. I think their overall goal is that you just create documents without worrying about where the app places them. And you actually organize documents with tags instead. So you would tag a document with a certain project name and if that document is used in multiple projects you have the option of giving it multiple tags. You can't do that with folders which is a significant limitation that is actually unnecessary in the digital age. If you're familiar with how Gmail works with labels, it's the same concept.
At least that's what I think they are trying to achieve. They made adding tags front and center on the Mac when creating and saving files and also incorporated it into searches, the Finder, and it's sidebar. But there is still a long way to go to make this work well. But yes, once their vision is complete, the app centric model in combination with the superior flexibility of tags should be make for a better organization system than the folder one which dates back to decades ago before searching and filtering became a thing.
Heck, the fact that Google search won out over the old Yahoo Directory model proves that folders only work for the simplest of data organization needs. It always breaks down as the number of files increase and the organization of them become more complex... which unfortunately always ends up happening over time.
Not that you won't be able to organize with folders anymore. You'll just have better options with tags, search, and filters being more front and center. And the app centric model just make more sense as the reliance on finding files in a particular "location" is reduced in importance.
possibly, but Apple hasn't either apparently. How can I not be able to open a video and we are in Beta 5? Only about a month away from the GM.
Apple doesn't want you storing data like dropbox. It's meant for apps to mess with. iMovie will gain support for iCloud drive alongside Pages, Keynote and Numbers. I'm sure there will be apps that let you open documents in iCloud drive and view them... just have to wait until they are released.
I really hope it's a standalone app. Being able to access it on Finder on our Macs is such a good idea. That way we're able to organize our files more for search rather than all over the place
You recall Final Cut Pro X being one of the biggest disasters in Apple's history, yes?
We're clearly talking about file management here which is one of the areas for which FCPX was widely praised for.
The things that people had problems with (like the new timeline) are clearly irrelevant to an OS so I'm not sure why you'd think I was talking about them. Surely you didn't think I was suggesting that OSX needs to have a video timeline?
Or are you one of those people who thinks that if a program has some bad things in it then it's not allowed to have any good things in it?
No it wasn't.
I mean, it just wasn't. It was specifically widely criticised for having an awful file management system that was completely unusable in practice and was widely mocked.
And yes, I am saying that no ideas tend to be taken forward, fairly or unfairly, from projects that are considered to be complete disasters.