Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iCloud, Office documents, PC

T

thelookingglass

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 27, 2005
2,211
689
Has anyone figured out the implementation for iCloud with Office documents and PCs? I understand docs are automatically synced between, say, Pages on my iPhone and Pages on my iPad. But what about Pages on my iMac? How does that play into this? I would assume there would be some way to sync docs that are on my iMac as well? If so, does this work like Dropbox where there'll be one specific folder that's an iCloud folder?

Not sure if anyone can tell from the currently released beta ...
 
I've been wondering the same thing. I suppose we'll find out more... whenever Apple decides to tell us! :rolleyes:
 
I am not certain that Documents in the Cloud is coming to the PC & Mac. I would hope it was, but on the iCloud site it seems to purposefully tip-toe around the issue. On the "What is iCloud" page they have an animated graphic displaying how syncing works. It shows photostream, music, apps and books syncing between an iPhone, iPad and a Mac. However, when it comes to Documents the graphic changes and the Mac disappears, showing documents syncing between a iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Also the Documents in the Cloud page makes no mention of Mac or PC and only shows iOS devices.

Seems like Apple is trying to tell us something by not telling us something. Hopefully, they just haven't figured it out. However, it maybe more difficult since I believe Pages documents on an iPhone aren't stored as .pages files like on a Mac, but as some iOS specific document type, since you have to export them to Pages. Perhaps this complicates syncing since all files would have to be constantly imported and exported for the process.

Plus, iOS lacks many fonts used on desktop machines. Synced documents would suddenly look very different on the iOS than on the Mac. For people in offices where certain fonts are required, this could cause issues.
 
HelveticaNeue said:
I am not certain that Documents in the Cloud is coming to the PC & Mac.
Click to expand...

You make very good points. But when I watched the keynote, I remember Jobs saying iWorks will sync to Mac and PC as well as iOS devices. It made an impression on me, because like you say, there are many difficulties about syncing iWorks documents between iOS and Mac/PC, so I was a bit surprised to hear Jobs say it will sync. But we'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.

I really hope they do get it to work, though. I don't much care about keeping fonts and other formatting, but I do like the idea that I could edit a document on my iPad, then seamlessly continue working on it on my desktop or laptop. Right now, I often find myself at my desktop wanting to work on a document, only to realize that the latest edits are on my iPad and I haven't mailed it to myself yet. I then have to locate my iPad, open it, email the doc, etc. Fonts and formatting can be adjusted at the end, I just need the text to sync without manual intervention!
 
I think I know the part you are talking about. You can watch the keynote again on YouTube and the Documents in the Cloud stuff is between 1h30 and 1h35. Steve doesn't actually say that iWork on the Mac will work with Documents in the Cloud. I thought he did as well, until I re-watched it last week.

He mentions Documents in the Cloud then says "If I'm on my iPad and make a document, it pushes to all the devices I have with Pages on it." However the image behind him only shows iPad, iPod and iPhone. He goes on "We've put this in Pages, Numbers and Keynote. In fact, the version we shipped last week have this built in there."

Then he has that VP of iWork do the demo showing sync across only iPad and iPhone.

Then Steve returns and mentions how this eliminates the filesystem on iOS. Then he brings up the APIs for developers, which allows developers "to store documents and key value data that works across all devices ... and Mac and PC, too."

He never mentions iWork syncing between Mac and iOS. I pray it does and perhaps Apple just doesn't want to announce iWork 11, which it perhaps requires. However, it seems like Apple is doing a lot of dancing around the subject and if it did sync between Mac iWork and iOS iWork, I think he would have said it outright and had the graphics used reflect that.

But like I said, I could be wrong. Let's just hope.
 
The thing that gives me hope is the iCloud API. So, for example, the good folks who develop Documents To Go or Quick Office could use the API to allow users to sync docs with iCloud. With the equivalent desktop software, this could potentially be a Dropbox replacement.
 
thelookingglass said:
The thing that gives me hope is the iCloud API. So, for example, the good folks who develop Documents To Go or Quick Office could use the API to allow users to sync docs with iCloud. With the equivalent desktop software, this could potentially be a Dropbox replacement.
Click to expand...

I hope so. I was worried that Documents To Go might stop bettering their iOS apps after being bought by RIM, but it seems like they are still upgrading their apps with new features.
 
I am 99% certain there will be the MacOS iWork update with iCloud support for documents sync. Without desktop-side support - the whole premise of "documents in the iCloud" falls flat on its face.

All Apple marketing materials strongly allude to desktop side support for iCloud/documents. It may be short on specifics because the exact mechanics of desktop iWork / iCloud integration are still in the works.
 
hitekalex said:
All Apple marketing materials strongly allude to desktop side support for iCloud/documents. It may be short on specifics because the exact mechanics of desktop iWork / iCloud integration are still in the works.
Click to expand...

I agree that I think it will be a terrible oversight. However, I am curious what marketing materials you are taking about that "strongly allude" to desktop iWork syncing with iCloud documents.
 
HelveticaNeue said:
I agree that I think it will be a terrible oversight. However, I am curious what marketing materials you are taking about that "strongly allude" to desktop iWork syncing with iCloud documents.
Click to expand...

http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/documents.html

"iCloud is already seamlessly integrated with Apple iWork apps. And we’ve given developers the tools to make their apps work with iCloud, too. So you’ll be able to paint a masterpiece, create reminders, edit stock lists, and more — and have it all stay with you on all your devices, including your Mac or PC."
 
Which documents get synced is controllable, right? I don't want every damn thing on my iPhone! But controlled syncing would be handy for loading docs on the iPad from the iMac.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; zh-cn) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

propita said:
Which documents get synced is controllable, right? I don't want every damn thing on my iPhone! But controlled syncing would be handy for loading docs on the iPad from the iMac.
Click to expand...

It has to be the case. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Dropbox-like implementation where you drag docs into an iCloud folder. Apps utilizing the iCloud API can then detect any relevant files. I'm not sure how file management would work though given Apple's insistence on doing away with a file system.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back