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iPad for Professional Use

I

iSam21

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 22, 2010
16
15
Two things that I think the iPad REALLY needs before Apple can genuinely say it is configured for business:

Better formatting in emails and Print to PDF.

I am an office worker and love the combination of the new iPad Pro 9.7 with Smart Keyboard and Pencil BUT, I and my colleagues do a huge amount of communication via email. It has kind of replaced internal memos written in Word.

It is infuriating me that I can't get the iPad to do effective bullet points. That is all I ask. Bullet Points. Why oh why can't it do Bullet Points?

It can do basic bold, underlining, etc but I NEED bullets.

Also, Print to PDF would make my workflow much better. When we have meetings and I want to make notes on said emails, etc, I would like to export them to a Notes app (I use Notability) as a PDF so I can scribble notes on them. I should look harder to see if there is a solution for this already.

I really don't think Apple can call the iPad Pro a laptop replacement until it can do bullet points in email.

Sorry - just needed to rant following a recent business trip where I wanted to leave the laptop behind.
 
Hello iSam21,
I agree with you. For me, I just wish I could save a document as a PDF, then attach several from my email. I know that I can get a third party app to do this, but that is really quite stupid. That capability should be programmed into pages from the get go.
 
Foggydog said:
Hello iSam21,
I agree with you. For me, I just wish I could save a document as a PDF, then attach several from my email. I know that I can get a third party app to do this, but that is really quite stupid. That capability should be programmed into pages from the get go.
Click to expand...

You can attach multiple documents to an email, though. So just export your documents from Pages as PDF, save them to iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc, then attach to email. No third party app required.
 
iSam21 said:
Two things that I think the iPad REALLY needs before Apple can genuinely say it is configured for business:

Better formatting in emails and Print to PDF.

I am an office worker and love the combination of the new iPad Pro 9.7 with Smart Keyboard and Pencil BUT, I and my colleagues do a huge amount of communication via email. It has kind of replaced internal memos written in Word.

It is infuriating me that I can't get the iPad to do effective bullet points. That is all I ask. Bullet Points. Why oh why can't it do Bullet Points?

It can do basic bold, underlining, etc but I NEED bullets.

Also, Print to PDF would make my workflow much better. When we have meetings and I want to make notes on said emails, etc, I would like to export them to a Notes app (I use Notability) as a PDF so I can scribble notes on them. I should look harder to see if there is a solution for this already.

I really don't think Apple can call the iPad Pro a laptop replacement until it can do bullet points in email.

Sorry - just needed to rant following a recent business trip where I wanted to leave the laptop behind.
Click to expand...

I agree with your points. However, I did want to suggest Airmail...I can put bullet points in my email anytime with Airmail...and the app is just awesome. It's the first app that is better than the stock app. I think it's worth the money.

As far as the PDF...you have the ability to do that within the context of Notability...simply go to "open in another app" and export as PDF. I use Goodreader for all my PDF and file management on my iPad. If you don't have that app, I'd check it out. Between those apps, the iWork suite and Evernote, my workflow has been great. I just got the Smart Keyboard and it's nice to have a little laptop when I need it. The Apple Pencil allows me to finally take handwritten notes on my iPad...and I LOVE it!
 
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bigdog5142 said:
I agree with your points. However, I did want to suggest Airmail...I can put bullet points in my email anytime with Airmail...and the app is just awesome. It's the first app that is better than the stock app. I think it's worth the money.

As far as the PDF...you have the ability to do that within the context of Notability...simply go to "open in another app" and export as PDF. I use Goodreader for all my PDF and file management on my iPad. If you don't have that app, I'd check it out. Between those apps, the iWork suite and Evernote, my workflow has been great. I just got the Smart Keyboard and it's nice to have a little laptop when I need it. The Apple Pencil allows me to finally take handwritten notes on my iPad...and I LOVE it!
Click to expand...

Thanks - I will check Airmail out. Will need to see whether it can integrate with my company's Outlook servers... I tried Microsoft Outlook for iPad and it also can't do bullet points which led me to believe it was some iPad level restriction on text formatting. Perhaps Microsoft just chose to use Apple's text engine for email.

Re creating PDFs, yep Notability creates them fine. What I want to do, however, is turn an email into a PDF and then import that INTO Notability. That would let me scribble notes on it and keep it. Haven't found a way to turn the email into a PDF yet. If I could use the print command to print to PDF (like the Mac can) and then share that to Notability, it would be perfect.

Cheers
 
iSam21 said:
Thanks - I will check Airmail out. Will need to see whether it can integrate with my company's Outlook servers... I tried Microsoft Outlook for iPad and it also can't do bullet points which led me to believe it was some iPad level restriction on text formatting. Perhaps Microsoft just chose to use Apple's text engine for email.

Re creating PDFs, yep Notability creates them fine. What I want to do, however, is turn an email into a PDF and then import that INTO Notability. That would let me scribble notes on it and keep it. Haven't found a way to turn the email into a PDF yet. If I could use the print command to print to PDF (like the Mac can) and then share that to Notability, it would be perfect.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Airmail also lets you export an email as PDF - plus it works with my works OWA and Office365 accounts so you should be fine.
 
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Night Spring said:
You can attach multiple documents to an email, though. So just export your documents from Pages as PDF, save them to iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc, then attach to email. No third party app required.
Click to expand...

Thank you night spring. With your help, I see what I had been doing wrong. I have sent a practice email with PDF docs to the office.
 
And until the Mail app gets a Share sheet to simplify conversion to a PDF, for now there is a free service where you forward your message and it automatically returns the email as a PDF. No sign-up required. (I have not yet tried this myself, but found it when looking for a way to make this possible myself).

https://pdfconvert.me
 
Good thread. Does Airmail support logos remaining in signatures forever? My biggest pet peeve with IOS Mail is that it removes my logos after a few days. My MacBook keeps them forever.
 
DougFNJ said:
Good thread. Does Airmail support logos remaining in signatures forever? My biggest pet peeve with IOS Mail is that it removes my logos after a few days. My MacBook keeps them forever.
Click to expand...
It does! I have a logo in my signature for work...and separate signatures for my personal account. It also includes some of the Mailbox "snooze" functions and allows for sending to GROUPS pulled from your contacts. I'm loving the app. Universal on iOS and also available for the Mac.
 
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iSam21 said:
Two things that I think the iPad REALLY needs before Apple can genuinely say it is configured for business:

Better formatting in emails and Print to PDF.

I am an office worker and love the combination of the new iPad Pro 9.7 with Smart Keyboard and Pencil BUT, I and my colleagues do a huge amount of communication via email. It has kind of replaced internal memos written in Word.

It is infuriating me that I can't get the iPad to do effective bullet points. That is all I ask. Bullet Points. Why oh why can't it do Bullet Points?

It can do basic bold, underlining, etc but I NEED bullets.

Also, Print to PDF would make my workflow much better. When we have meetings and I want to make notes on said emails, etc, I would like to export them to a Notes app (I use Notability) as a PDF so I can scribble notes on them. I should look harder to see if there is a solution for this already.

I really don't think Apple can call the iPad Pro a laptop replacement until it can do bullet points in email.

Sorry - just needed to rant following a recent business trip where I wanted to leave the laptop behind.
Click to expand...

Great points. There are a number of other apps that will allow you to accomplish what you want. Personally I switched to Airmail a while back on advice of a poster here (CDM). Never looked back.

IMO, what the iPad, heck, all of iOS needs to be a true business potential; the ability allow defining the default app and a centralized file management tool - usable off-line.

For those who mentioned a way to put alternative items in your email, these are not true bullet points.
 
I've looked at the AirMail App but have some concerns about their Privacy Policy and "built-in" data mining by both the developer and 3rd parties.

Can some of these issues be toggled off?
 
RedOrchestra said:
I've looked at the AirMail App but have some concerns about their Privacy Policy and "built-in" data mining by both the developer and 3rd parties.

Can some of these issues be toggled off?
Click to expand...
That's a good point and I am also not sure how secure it is linking my corporate email to a third party client like Airmail. I have to enter my credentials (obviously). What happens to them?
 
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The iPad Pro has boosted my productivity immensely. I work in the world of techincal sales (data centers, etc..) and the ability to jot notes with the apple pencil and easily store them for instant look-up has revolutionized my field sales ability. The problems of having to fumble through notepads is now non existent
 
iSam21 said:
That's a good point and I am also not sure how secure it is linking my corporate email to a third party client like Airmail. I have to enter my credentials (obviously). What happens to them?
Click to expand...

A smart question to ask, in their privacy policy, under "Collected Data" they say:

No data is transmitted to our servers if you do not have push notifications enabled for an account.
Click to expand...

Additionally I remember during account set up when I was asked if I wanted push they explained very clearly how it works. There's a lot more detail in the privacy policy (inside the app). Essentially, without retyping the whole thing, if you choose to sync something across devices (e.g. You use it on an iPad and an iPhone and you want to sync the snooze status, for example), that has to go via their servers. All of these are things that can be turned off very easily though.
 
zhenya said:
The basic bullet point is available by long-pressing the hyphen key.
Click to expand...

Wow! I have been using iPads since day one and never knew that. Thanks!

I also learned that by long pressing other keys you can get other symbols.

/ and \ is the same key.
¥ ＄ £ € is all the same key! ( very useful for me)

I have little use for them but õ ö œ ô etc can all be found by long pressing the vowels.

• thanks!
• cheers
• thank you
 
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windowpain said:
Wow! I have been using iPads since day one and never knew that. Thanks!

I also learned that by long pressing other keys you can get other symbols.

/ and \ is the same key.
¥ ＄ £ € is all the same key! ( very useful for me)

I have little use for them but õ ö œ ô etc can all be found by long pressing the vowels.

• thanks!
• cheers
• thank you
Click to expand...
That is not a formatted bullet list though with indenting and follow on bullet points. A bullet list is a VERY useful tool.

Also, long pressing the hyphen key on the Smart Keyboard just results in a whole lot of hyphens...
 
Aluminum213 said:
Let's see what Apple has in store for iOS 10 at WWDC


hint: don't expect much
Click to expand...
Better Photo albums and a Home control center. I'm giving Apple one more cycle of this downward trend before I dump my stock. They are letting iOS literally die.
 
TheRealAlex said:
Better Photo albums and a Home control center. I'm giving Apple one more cycle of this downward trend before I dump my stock. They are letting iOS literally die.
Click to expand...

Of all the lacking productivity features, it's photo albums that bothers you?
 
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