Two questions for “serious” iPad users

[pja2536]

Hi! I'm two weeks into my iOS only experiment.

I have a Mac mini M1 but have turned it off (actually, it's starting to have the odd problem, not serious, just annoying) and am using either my iPad Air 6 13" or my iPad mini 7 as my computer device.

By-and-large, I'm enjoying the experiment. However, I have two questions that I would like some help with.

Firstly, on my Mac I have a very good image editor called Acorn. I use this app almost exclusively for resizing images for wallpaper or for inline inclusion in documents I am preparing. It would be nice if the iPad app could produce drop shadows for images. I also use it for image file type conversion (.webp to .jpg for example). I am looking for something similar for the iPad. I don't need high-end image editors, just something simple and easy to use. I have an app called CropSize which, as it's name implies, resizes image files - it does this very well but that's all it does.

I have a recommendation from another forum for HushPhotos - it certainly looks quite good. Others have suggested Affinity Pro 2, it’s just too complicated for my modest needs.

Secondly, is there a way to directly copy formatted text and paste it as plain text (with straightened quotes)? I have written a Shortcut that can do this; but I'm looking for something simpler (an easier workflow).

Thanks in advance,
Peter

 

[It’s always something]

Secondly, is there a way to directly copy formatted text and paste it as plain text (with straightened quotes)? I have written a Shortcut that can do this; but I'm looking for something simpler (an easier workflow).

You can copy as plain text from the share menu, but I don’t think this replaces curly/smart/typographical quotes with straight quotes. The Drafts app might be able to do something similar to what you want with the quotation marks, but I doubt that it would be an easier workflow than your existing Shortcut.

 

[Slartibart]

you can use Apple‘s Shortcuts for that. This Shortcut will resize the selected images and save them as jpeg:

This will allow to convert any image format support by iPadOS (if you just need the conversion, remove the resizing). The Shortcut will be available via the »Share«-menu for selected images in e.g. Apple Files (or FileBrowser, FE Explorer, etc.).

For a drop shadow one could use an overlay image via:

Or you just import the image into e.g. Apple‘s Pages, add the drop shadow there, and drag&drop/copy&paste/export from there.

 

[Ctrlos]

Firstly, on my Mac I have a very good image editor called Acorn. I use this app almost exclusively for resizing images for wallpaper or for inline inclusion in documents I am preparing. It would be nice if the iPad app could produce drop shadows for images. I also use it for image file type conversion (.webp to .jpg for example). I am looking for something similar for the iPad. I don't need high-end image editors, just something simple and easy to use. I have an app called CropSize which, as it's name implies, resizes image files - it does this very well but that's all it does.

I have a recommendation from another forum for HushPhotos - it certainly looks quite good. Others have suggested Affinity Pro 2, it’s just too complicated for my modest needs.

Pixelmator will do everything you need for $10. You can happily resize, layer, drop-shadow, crop and export in a variety of formats. I'd skip downloading a .webp myself and use a higher-resolution screenshot as the source. If you need something simple to drop-shadow don't forget the Photo's app has a really good object isolation tool. You can just hold down on the subject and drag it into Pixelmator to add it as a layer.