iPad Pro w/ MS Word for iPad multiple instances

[Tiwe]

is it possible to run multiple instances of ms word in the iOS 9 split view mode? For example when I wanna compare two documents side by side ?

Or is it even possible to open two different documents in the same word instance and have the documents placed side by side ?

 

[Fuchal]

Good question, I was also wondering if you can run two Safaris side by side.

 

[UltimateSyn]

No, you can't run two instances of any app. I'm hoping iOS 10 remedies this.

 

[Tiwe]

Does MS Word for iPad at least have option to open two different documents and place them side by side (with in the same instance)? Or even multiple tabs for opened docs?

can anyone with iOS 9 iPad test this ?

 

[pacorob]

Does MS Word for iPad at least have option to open two different documents and place them side by side (with in the same instance)? Or even multiple tabs for opened docs?

can anyone with iOS 9 iPad test this ?

No unfortunately Word doesn't offer the functionality to show two different documents side by side unfortunately. Also other Apple iWorks (e.g. Pages) doesn't offer this functionality i'm afraid.

I have also been looking for apps that offer this functionality.
I can say this:

1) If you have a recent iPad Air 2, iPad mini4 or iPad Pro you can use Split View functionality with apps that support this functionality and open two different apps side by side so e.g. Microsoft Word on one side and Apple's Pages on the other.

2) If you don't have a recent iPad which has official Split View support you can either go for:

2.1) Jailbreak your iDevice and use e.g. Medusa or
2.2) You could use one of the few apps that can show multiple documents side by side but unfortunately the majority of apps can only show PDF and if they can show iWorks or Office documents it's in most cases only read modus so you can't actually change anything. See this wiki topic i created a while ago.

I dont think there is a tab feature in Word or other Office for iPad apps see also this Office page at File viewing - Split and Multiple window, i'm not seeing it but i'm not using it often and i don't have a Office 365 subscription.

I do know that Microsoft Word (and other Office iOS apps) currently supports Office 365, Microsoft OneDrive (ofcourse), Google Drive, Apple's iCloud Drive (oddly enough not for Dropbox although i do have that option but it says that it's not supported? It is in fact mentioned in the App Store description that it is) for viewing e.g. Word documents in the Microsoft Word app.

Apple's Pages and other iWork apps also don't support tabs i think.
One of the few (if not the only one) which supports tab viewing is hopTo (Office Cloud Editor) which i just discovered today. The only downside is that you need to create an account before you can start using the app. I did notice that it isn't updated for quite a while (April '14) now but it works great on my iPad mini2 running iOS9.1 so far. There is also a hopTo Work app which seems to have been updated earlier in this year.

 

[jclardy]

iOS apps from a development perspective have always had a concept of a "window", but up until this point your app only gets one main window. Apple would have to change this and developers would have to update their apps to handle it, but the concept is there (Part of iOS's original foundation coming from OS X)

 

[newellj]

No, you can't run two instances of any app. I'm hoping iOS 10 remedies this.

Maybe - but that's almost a year out...

This, by the way, is one of the reasons that I don't believe Cook's prediction that this will be a laptop replacement. Maybe for people who literally never do anything more than read email, surf the web and watch videos...not for any real "productivity" scenario, I think.

 

[UltimateSyn]

Maybe - but that's almost a year out...

This, by the way, is one of the reasons that I don't believe Cook's prediction that this will be a laptop replacement. Maybe for people who literally never do anything more than read email, surf the web and watch videos...not for any real "productivity" scenario, I think.

I mean iOS JUST got Split-Screen Multitasking, so it's not like it's as fleshed out as it's going to get. You're right though, it is many months away and it's a limitation that a productivity device shouldn't have, but there are workarounds. For now, multiple browsers for having multiple tabs open, Pages/Word for multiple docs. Very clunky if you often encounter scenarios where you need multiple instances.

 

[newellj]

I mean iOS JUST got Split-Screen Multitasking, so it's not like it's as fleshed out as it's going to get. You're right though, it is many months away and it's a limitation that a productivity device shouldn't have, but there are workarounds. For now, multiple browsers for having multiple tabs open, Pages/Word for multiple docs. Very clunky if you often encounter scenarios where you need multiple instances.

Yes, I was going to mention Pages, but in Real Life(tm), by which I mean corporate work life, Pages doesn't cut it (ha, or paste it... ) at all. There may be a good reason for not being able to run multiple instances of a compatible app - it's not my field - but even light recreational users have cited that as a failing of iOS 9. If Apple really wants this to be a laptop replacement, they have a way to go. (IMHO/YMMV, that really means getting a desktop OS on the platform, but I digress...)

 

[UltimateSyn]

Yes, I was going to mention Pages, but in Real Life(tm), by which I mean corporate work life, Pages doesn't cut it (ha, or paste it... ) at all. There may be a good reason for not being able to run multiple instances of a compatible app - it's not my field - but even light recreational users have cited that as a failing of iOS 9. If Apple really wants this to be a laptop replacement, they have a way to go. (IMHO/YMMV, that really means getting a desktop OS on the platform, but I digress...)

Do you actually want a desktop OS on here, or just some of the components of it? I mean, what are you really asking for when you ask for a desktop OS? It would be awful if they had OS X on here, all the elements are designed for a mouse. What we should be fighting for are all of the features which, to us, would make iOS feel competitive with a 'desktop OS' in terms of our productivity workflows. Throwing a desktop OS on tablets is why they failed until 2010.

 

[newellj]

Thinking out loud...just some of the attributes. You're right, OS X on a touch screen would be if-fy. Windows 8.1 and 10 actually seem to work pretty well for my wife and 28 YO son on their Surface Pro 3s. What I would want would be HID improvements (gimme a mouse please), easy access to files that can be shared with real desktop OS programs, the ability to run multiple instances of a single program side by side (especially Word and Excel).

However, all of that only matters if you're trying to use the iPad as a laptop replacement. If we don't feel like we need to check that box, chuck everything i just wrote. I should edit this post and put that sentence first, but...it's late...been up since 03:30.

Do you actually want a desktop OS on here, or just some of the components of it? I mean, what are you really asking for when you ask for a desktop OS? It would be awful if they had OS X on here, all the elements are designed for a mouse. What we should be fighting for are all of the features which, to us, would make iOS feel competitive with a 'desktop OS' in terms of our productivity workflows. Throwing a desktop OS on tablets is why they failed until 2010.

 

[Codeseven]

So if I understand correctly, iOS 9 does not allow you to run two different programs at one time. If so, what is meant by 'Multitasking'? Just more than one web page open at a time?

 

[blackoutRF]

Random solution that came to mind: Run MS Word app for one half of screen then use Chrome/Safari and Office 365 on the web for the 2nd half?

A little cumbersome but a potential workaround.

 

[mrklaw]

You could surely work around it fairly easily if the app developers supported multiple window views? So you'd run one instance of the app full screen like normal, but the app would show two documents side by side.

That would be useful for word and safari I think

 

[pacorob]

So if I understand correctly, iOS 9 does not allow you to run two different programs at one time. If so, what is meant by 'Multitasking'? Just more than one web page open at a time?

Yes you can run two different apps at once in iOS9 either with Split View (only available on iPad Air 2, iPad mini4 or iPad Pro) or Slide Over but that is more helpfull for copy and pasting from a main app to another notes app (you can't use them at the same time as with Split View). Please note that the app has to support the iOS Split View / Slide Over functionality see a list of apps here.

You could surely work around it fairly easily if the app developers supported multiple window views? So you'd run one instance of the app full screen like normal, but the app would show two documents side by side.

That would be useful for word and safari I think

Indeed apps (especially Microsoft Word, Documents 5 and Pages) should come up with split view / side by side option within their apps so also users with older iPads (i own an iPad mini2) can use this. See also my message earlier in this topic regarding the limited amount of apps that have this feature (mainly PDF viewers and internet browsers). If you actually want to edit Office documents you have to have a recent iPad Air 2, iPad mini4 or iPad Pro and open two apps e.g. Microsoft Word and Safari/Chrome with Office 365 open.

I'm a user of an iPad mini2 and my only options are these apps and for editing Office apps the best option is now using HopTo (Office Cloud editor) but that uses tabs not side by side viewing.

Random solution that came to mind: Run MS Word app for one half of screen then use Chrome/Safari and Office 365 on the web for the 2nd half?

A little cumbersome but a potential workaround.

That indeed a way to do it if you want to work in two Office documents at the same time.

 

[newellj]

So if I understand correctly, iOS 9 does not allow you to run two different programs at one time. If so, what is meant by 'Multitasking'? Just more than one web page open at a time?

No, it doesn't allow you to run two instances of the SAME program at the same time. Two different programs are no problem.