Syncing documents from Mac to iPhone?

[sonicrobby]

iTunes has an option to sync all my music and videos from iTunes and pictures from iPhotos, and videos; however, there is no easy way to sync my documents in finder.

I have an extensive folder structure of files from old college papers and digital textbooks to very important tax information, bank statements, and insurance papers. The formats are in pdfs, excel, word, ppt, and .zip files.

What Im looking for:
- An easy one click sync that will pick up all of my folders and files and sync them to my iPhone
- Preferably something that is not stored in the cloud, as I am uncomfortable having some sensitive documents stored on other's servers. [Though I am considering iCloud Drive once it becomes available]
- Maybe an app that exists for iOS and Mac that has a simple sync? (evernote or iBooks)?

Any recommendations?

 

[r0k]

iTunes has an option to sync all my music and videos from iTunes and pictures from iPhotos, and videos; however, there is no easy way to sync my documents in finder.

I have an extensive folder structure of files from old college papers and digital textbooks to very important tax information, bank statements, and insurance papers. The formats are in pdfs, excel, word, ppt, and .zip files.

What Im looking for:
- An easy one click sync that will pick up all of my folders and files and sync them to my iPhone
- Preferably something that is not stored in the cloud, as I am uncomfortable having some sensitive documents stored on other's servers. [Though I am considering iCloud Drive once it becomes available]
- Maybe an app that exists for iOS and Mac that has a simple sync? (evernote or iBooks)?

Any recommendations?

There is no folder structure on the iPhone. I use goodreader to keep documents on my iPhone as it supports a folder structure within the app itself. I also use iCloud, dropbox, evernote and even google docs. I know you aren't interested in the cloud but the most seamless way to get data on and off an iOS device is through the cloud. Either use Apple's, Google's, dropbox or any other.

Without using a cloud, you can use the rather quaint method of sending files via the usb cable or you can email files to yourself and when you receive them on the iPhone you can pick "open with" and the files get copied to whatever app you choose such as goodreader. To me the cloud is better because I treat it like a really long really thin usb cable. I tend to pick complex passwords and 2 factor authentication so my data safety is improved over the average user who tends to use the same simple password for half a dozen sites.

One thing to keep in mind about iOS is that if you open a file with 7 apps, you now have 7 copies of that file on your iPhone. This is a compelling reason to move to iCloud drive... someday.

I've got mixed feelings about iCloud drive right now. It seems that if I turn it on, sync with my Mac will stop working for notes, numbers, pages, etc until I install Yosemite on my Mac. I'm not willing to do without sync for months and I'm not willing to install a preview OS to do real work so I won't be using iCloud drive for several months.

 

[rishi.talreja]

Documents by Readdle does this perfectly. It even does this wirelessly. The only thing is that you need to manage synced folders on the device itself as it connects using smb or ftp to the Mac. Of course, it also connects to your online storage providers like Dropbox, Google drive and what not. And it is free.

Documents 5 - Fast PDF reader, media player and download manager by Readdle
https://appsto.re/in/Vw_Vv.i

 

[sonicrobby]

There is no folder structure on the iPhone. I use goodreader to keep documents on my iPhone as it supports a folder structure within the app itself. I also use iCloud, dropbox, evernote and even google docs. I know you aren't interested in the cloud but the most seamless way to get data on and off an iOS device is through the cloud. Either use Apple's, Google's, dropbox or any other. Without using a cloud, you can use the rather quaint method of sending files via the usb cable or you can email files to yourself and when you receive them on the iPhone you can pick "open with" and the files get copied to whatever app you choose such as goodreader. Keep in mind that if you open a file with 7 apps, you now have 7 copies of that file on your iPhone. This is a compelling reason to move to iCloud drive... someday.

I've got mixed feelings about iCloud drive right now. It seems that if I turn it on, sync with my Mac will stop working for notes, numbers, pages, etc until I install Yosemite on my Mac. I'm not willing to do without sync for months and I'm not willing to install a preview OS to do real work so I won't be using iCloud drive for several months.

Thanks for your response!

Actually, I think I found my best solution with iBooks right now. I can add "new collections" as folders, and a simple checkbox on my iTunes will sync them all. These files are still stored in my iBook on the mac (hence, I can delete the ones in finder) and are nowhere on the cloud.

But I didnt get to play with it much yesterday, just a quick test. I dont think it will solve my issues with non-pdf files, but most of my files being pdfs, iBooks is a good way to offload most of those documents to my iOS devices in a more automated process.

I still wont be able to do folders within folders (or collections withing collections in this case), but Im hoping I can rearrange my existing folder structure to accommodate that.