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iPad Pro Transfing things rMBP -> iPP conundrum.

SS4Luck

SS4Luck

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 23, 2014
171
33
SoCal
So I carry my 15" rMBP and my iPP with me at all times. I use both for specific reasons, and sometimes they overlap and that is where I ran into an issue.

Tonight while doing stats homework I created a chart in excel on the rMBP, which I needed to insert into the notes I was taking on noteability on my iPP. Now, here is where things get stupid. I had no way to get it from one machine to the other without emailing it to myself.

I sat at the bar and said to myself, I have two "top of the line" mac products,that I have purchased to make my technological life "streamlined" by only using one manufacturer, and here I am stuck with no better way to transfer images, let alone files, between them without emailing them to myself, which eventually leads to me de-railing my train of though and ending up watching "How to be a brain surgeon" videos on YouTube or lost in the endless infomation highway known as Wikipedia.

So I ask, is there a way to transfer things easier that I am overlooking? Im pretty sure the bluetooth in the iPad doesnt allow for file transfer (which is ****ing stupid if its true) but its all i could think of.I live out in the middle of no where and currently dont have WiFi availble to me most of the time until there is a JB for my 6S Plus so I can use that as a hotspot like I did my i5
 
I didnt know Airdrop was an option on the laptops, Ive never used it on my phone so it doesnt come to mind when i think "file sharing"

thanks!!
 
I may be misunderstanding but here are two ways:

1. Create chart in Excel
2. Use grab to make an image/output the chart as an image file from excel.
3. Save to iCloud drive. (The image will be in the root or if more organised put it in the Preview folder or one of your own making).
4. Open iCloud drive app on iPP and save photo to iPad.

1. Create chart in Excel
2. Use grab to make an image/output the chart as an image file from excel.
3. Open notability on Mac and import in the note.
4. On iPP open notability and the note. The chart should be there when the note has synced.

An additional step is to have a dropbox set-up that notability notes backup to as PDF's. That way I have 'live' notes on my Mac and iPad, backed up to iCloud and also synced to Dropbox as PDF's.
 
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AirDrop is the best way to transfer files between devices. It doesn't require a wifi network so it works anywhere.
 
Reading the OP, I'm wondering -- how do you email things to yourself if you have no wifi? You can do email on MacBook over Ethernet, but not on the iPad.
 
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Night Spring said:
Reading the OP, I'm wondering -- how do you email things to yourself if you have no wifi? You can do email on MacBook over Ethernet, but not on the iPad.
Click to expand...

I was sitting at the bar next to school when i originally was doing this. I live on a farm and dont have wifi at home so I was panicking a bit as to getting work off of my laptop and onto my ipad to submit for school. My iPad has LTE
[doublepost=1453748041][/doublepost]
Smeaton1724 said:
I may be misunderstanding but here are two ways:

1. Create chart in Excel
2. Use grab to make an image/output the chart as an image file from excel.
3. Save to iCloud drive. (The image will be in the root or if more organised put it in the Preview folder or one of your own making).
4. Open iCloud drive app on iPP and save photo to iPad.

1. Create chart in Excel
2. Use grab to make an image/output the chart as an image file from excel.
3. Open notability on Mac and import in the note.
4. On iPP open notability and the note. The chart should be there when the note has synced.

An additional step is to have a dropbox set-up that notability notes backup to as PDF's. That way I have 'live' notes on my Mac and iPad, backed up to iCloud and also synced to Dropbox as PDF's.
Click to expand...


I had the chart created and saved as a jpeg, it was getting it to my ipad that i was having the issue with
 
AirDrop
Cloud storage (DropBox, iCloud Drive, OneDrive, etc)
Email (don't see why you feel it's not a reasonable way to transfer something simple, but whatever)
iTunes file transfer


AirDrop is probably easiest as it doesn't require network access, but BT and wifi do at least have to turned on on both machines (uses direct connections).
iTunes file transfer requires a USB cable.
Cloud storage and email require either a wifi network or Bluetooth tethering from iPhone.
 
SS4Luck said:
I live on a farm and dont have wifi at home so I was panicking a bit as to getting work off of my laptop and onto my ipad to submit for school. My iPad has LTE
Click to expand...

First, as someone else already asked, why no wifi? A wifi router can be had for less than $100.

And if your iPad has LTE, then a cloud storage/syncing solution can also work. Might be even simpler than AirDrop for some things.
 
Night Spring said:
First, as someone else already asked, why no wifi? A wifi router can be had for less than $100.

And if your iPad has LTE, then a cloud storage/syncing solution can also work. Might be even simpler than AirDrop for some things.
Click to expand...


They don't offer Internet in my area that isn't dial up speed and platinum pricing is all. With my signal repeater I got about 2 bars of 4g on my iPad/phone. It not that I don't have access to wifi I don't really have access to the Internet at home not on my phone or iPad
[doublepost=1453756181][/doublepost]
midwestfisherma said:
You've got ~$4,000 in Apple products yet no WiFi at home? That seems odd.
Click to expand...
See post above
[doublepost=1453756722][/doublepost]the root of this problem is i had my droid Rommed and used it as a hotspot for my house. That phone got crushed by my tractor and I decided to go back to the iPhone family not knowing jailbreak wasn't out for currently signed iOS, but I planned to use my phone to run all of my internet needs once the Jed is out
 
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SS4Luck said:
They don't offer Internet in my area that isn't dial up speed and platinum pricing is all. With my signal repeater I got about 2 bars of 4g on my iPad/phone. It not that I don't have access to wifi I don't really have access to the Internet at home not on my phone or iPad
Click to expand...

O-kay. But in that case, your original plan to email the file to yourself wouldn't work either????
 
Night Spring said:
O-kay. But in that case, your original plan to email the file to yourself wouldn't work either????
Click to expand...

The original file I needed to transfer was while i was sitting at the bar next to school over their wifi, emailing myself that file was not the issue. It was the ability for me to easily be able to tranfer files, possibly without wifi down the road that I was monst interesed in
 
SS4Luck said:
The original file I needed to transfer was while i was sitting at the bar next to school over their wifi, emailing myself that file was not the issue. It was the ability for me to easily be able to tranfer files, possibly without wifi down the road that I was monst interesed in
Click to expand...

Ah, gotcha. Well, keep us updated on how Airdrop works for you.
 
AirDrop is incredibly unreliable and essentially useless. One of my main gripes with iOS, iCloud, etc is that in 2016, the quickest way to shares files between devices is still to email it to yourself.
 
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yep-sure said:
AirDrop is incredibly unreliable and essentially useless. One of my main gripes with iOS, iCloud, etc is that in 2016, the quickest way to shares files between devices is still to email it to yourself.
Click to expand...
I've been messing with it all day, seems to be pretty solid so far?
 
SS4Luck said:
I've been messing with it all day, seems to be pretty solid so far?
Click to expand...

Yeah I use airdrop alllllllll the time and it is nothing but great for me. It's weird though, my iPad and iPhone will show up immediately, but airdropping to my MacBook has a bit of a delay before it does up. It's minor tho. Works fantastically for me.
 
SS4Luck said:
I've been messing with it all day, seems to be pretty solid so far?
Click to expand...

Perhaps the latest OSX/iOS updates have fixed the issues as suggested above.

I can honestly say I've only ever managed to use it successfully less than 5 times ever. Usually the iPhone/iPad/rMBP doesn't show up on whatever device I'm trying to transfer the file from. By the time you toggle it on/off a bunch of times (which doesn't seem to make a difference in my experience), you could have just emailed the file to yourself. Obviously what I have experienced isn't the same for everyone, but I'm definitely not the only person on this forum to have issues with it.

Anyway, glad to hear it's working for you.
 
GrindedDown said:
Yeah I use airdrop alllllllll the time and it is nothing but great for me. It's weird though, my iPad and iPhone will show up immediately, but airdropping to my MacBook has a bit of a delay before it does up. It's minor tho. Works fantastically for me.
Click to expand...
Yeah I've noticed the rMBP doesn't show up as quick, but it's a sub 10 second delay.
 
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