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All iPads What's on your iPad for productivity?

paulmeyers42 said:
iOS does have a file system, perfectly usable by any app that uses Document Pickers - Office, Pages/Numbers/Keynote, Pixelmator, MindNode, etc.
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I actually think the bigger strength of Document Pickers is that it enables automatic integration with Dropbox, SFTP apps (Transmit) and other tools for getting files moved on and off my iPad. For the most part, I don't try to carry too much stuff with me, but with SFTP, I have secure access to my NAS from anywhere with WiFi, and I keep copies of files synced as needed via other ways if I need a local copy. It's just a shame that not more apps actually enable access to it currently, or hide it behind unfamiliar controls (Cabinet, I'm looking at you).

But for productivity, these tend to be where I spend my time:
- Things & Fantastical (Time Management)
- Office (Excel and Word mostly)
- Paper (Design / Investigation Notes)
- Cabinet & Pocket (Research Articles and PDFs)
- Transmit, Dropbox, Documents (File Storage / Access)

Hobby productivity:
- Ulysses (Writing / Blogging)
- Lightroom / Pixelmator (Early Tweaks on Photography)
- Web Browser / SkySafari (Control of my Astrophotography Rig, using a Web-based Linux Stick)

But it's still worth pointing out that this really shows that the iPad is part of my productivity, rather than the whole package. I don't write code on it for my job. And I do head over to the Mac to do heavier processing of photography. Writing is about the closest I can get to fully doing on an iPad, since Ulysses can export to Word for final tweaks and saving as a PDF. But I like it since I can continue work on both the iPad and Mac.

But it handles everything that I want to do away from my desk right now well enough, and is the lightest device I have for doing so. The fact that I can research, take notes on that research, and mull over my design decisions for code from the iPad is honestly plenty. Trying to do complicated coding tasks is something I've gotten far too used to having big screens for, and I also like the big screens for heavy photo editing.
 
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Astropad, procreate, Adobe sketch, Lightroom, Wordpress (although tend to use the website In safari more than the app)

Only just got my first iPad (iPad pro) so any suggestions for design, illustration and blogging are much appreciated :)
 
paulmeyers42 said:
Sure, it's definitely close.

The quoted post talks about keeping files of different types in folders, that can be opened by different applications. In the "old days" of iOS this wasn't possible, but it's very possible today and easy to do.

"I need a home folder where I can create subfolders for each project." - Yes, you can create sub-folders in iCloud Drive using the iCloud drive app. I have many folders and sub-folders for projects, reference, material, etc. You can use other Document Providers like DropBox, Box, OneDrive, or keep files local using something like Documents, and they all have this feature.

"I want any app I work with to be able to open/save files from/to any folder." - Any app that supports iCloud Drive & Document Pickers can do this. Does every app in iOS support this? No, not yet, the developers need to support it. But the capability is there. Not every app on OS X actually uses File/Open/Save, the developers actually have to build that into their apps as well.

"I need an app which allows me to organize my files and folders. Something like Finder. Okay, maybe not as complex as the Finder, but at the very least I want to browse, view info, copy, move, rename, sort and ZIP files and folders." - yes, iCloud Drive app, the DropBox app, the Box app, the OneDrive app, the Documents app, etc. support this (with the exception of zipping files/folders).

Is the current solution perfect and on parity to OS X? Absolutely not, but I'd say it's finally at a 1.0 state. The Finder took 30 years to get to the point it's at, we've had this on iOS for only a couple years. It'll get better, but it's definitely a viable system to work with.
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You must be much more of a power user because it really doesn't work well for me (or I just don't know how to use it). A lot of the things you mention can be done, but require many steps and drilling up and down and making copies of things and is not real user friendly IMO.

For example: I can create folders using the iCloud Drive app and move documents to them - but a copy of it still shows up in Numbers or Pages and any changes made to the documents are made in both places. I don't really want multiple copies everywhere.

If I move an Excel spreadsheet into the folder, the iCloud Drive app will only let me open with Numbers, not Excel. And if I do open it, it makes a copy of it in the Numbers folder. Yes, I can open Excel, browse to the folder and open it, but that is clunky. An Open with option would dramatically streamline this. It does the same thing with a Word document that opens in Pages.

It did take many years for Finder to get to this point, but I guess I'd expect that they already learned what does and doesn't work and could have made this a lot more polished with a little more work - maybe it will get there someday. Or perhaps I just don't know how to use it as well as others and there are ways around it.
 
I don't do any productivity tasks on my iPad Air 2, but I might do in the future like photo editing and video editing. :)
 
richpjr said:
You must be much more of a power user because it really doesn't work well for me (or I just don't know how to use it). A lot of the things you mention can be done, but require many steps and drilling up and down and making copies of things and is not real user friendly IMO.

For example: I can create folders using the iCloud Drive app and move documents to them - but a copy of it still shows up in Numbers or Pages and any changes made to the documents are made in both places. I don't really want multiple copies everywhere.

If I move an Excel spreadsheet into the folder, the iCloud Drive app will only let me open with Numbers, not Excel. And if I do open it, it makes a copy of it in the Numbers folder. Yes, I can open Excel, browse to the folder and open it, but that is clunky. An Open with option would dramatically streamline this. It does the same thing with a Word document that opens in Pages.

It did take many years for Finder to get to this point, but I guess I'd expect that they already learned what does and doesn't work and could have made this a lot more polished with a little more work - maybe it will get there someday. Or perhaps I just don't know how to use it as well as others and there are ways around it.
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Yeah, I 100% agree - it needs a lot of polish. I guess I'm already used to the weird quirks and different workflow from OSX :)

Regarding the problem with copies of documents showing up in iCloud Drive as well as in Pages/Numbers, this is really weird UI issue that I hope Apple addresses. It actually doesn't make a copy of the file, it creates an alias to that file in the Pages app folder. There's still only one version of the file, in the original iCloud Drive folder, but iOS made an alias in Pages so it shows up in the Pages home screen (and its app folder). I think it's a convenience thing but can get confusing. Same thing with Numbers and Keynote. And of course, it's inconsistent - other apps that use iCloud Drive don't seem to do this. It's something that you get used to be, but I hope it gets cleaned up.
 
My iPad Mini 4 is pretty much for consumption, and less about productivity. I have about 9 different synthesizer/sequencer apps (most by Korg and Native Machines) for playing around with, a handful of drawing programs (procreate, artrage, sketchbook pro, etc.). Dropbox for moving files around, File Manger for sharing files locally (over built in http server), Netflix and some games. Telegram for chatting, and lots of music :D

When I need to edit something, I use Pages and Numbers as needed.

If/when I get an iPad Pro, it will likely mirror this mini's use.
 
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paulmeyers42 said:
Yeah, I 100% agree - it needs a lot of polish. I guess I'm already used to the weird quirks and different workflow from OSX :)

Regarding the problem with copies of documents showing up in iCloud Drive as well as in Pages/Numbers, this is really weird UI issue that I hope Apple addresses. It actually doesn't make a copy of the file, it creates an alias to that file in the Pages app folder. There's still only one version of the file, in the original iCloud Drive folder, but iOS made an alias in Pages so it shows up in the Pages home screen (and its app folder). I think it's a convenience thing but can get confusing. Same thing with Numbers and Keynote. And of course, it's inconsistent - other apps that use iCloud Drive don't seem to do this. It's something that you get used to be, but I hope it gets cleaned up.
Click to expand...

I figured it was something like that and it is kind of confusing as it makes the main folder kind of unwieldy.

I have an iPad Air 1 and have been trying to decide if I want an Air 3 or whether to go for an iPP and try and use it as a laptop replacement, but I'm not sure it's quite ready for the way I use a laptop (or else I streamline my approach).
 
paulmeyers42 said:
Yeah, I 100% agree - it needs a lot of polish. I guess I'm already used to the weird quirks and different workflow from OSX :)

Regarding the problem with copies of documents showing up in iCloud Drive as well as in Pages/Numbers, this is really weird UI issue that I hope Apple addresses. It actually doesn't make a copy of the file, it creates an alias to that file in the Pages app folder. There's still only one version of the file, in the original iCloud Drive folder, but iOS made an alias in Pages so it shows up in the Pages home screen (and its app folder). I think it's a convenience thing but can get confusing. Same thing with Numbers and Keynote. And of course, it's inconsistent - other apps that use iCloud Drive don't seem to do this. It's something that you get used to be, but I hope it gets cleaned up.
Click to expand...

It is this behavior of iCloud that makes it so confusing and confounding and the inconsistency only multiplies that. Is there clear documentation on this anywhere that I can point someone to instead of going through a painful explanation every time I'm asked?
 
Jasmynp said:
Mine looks like this
Click to expand...

I use the following and have had great results to date:
O365 - OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and O365 Administrator
OneDrive client for both personal and ODfB
Power BI
Cisco Jabber, Skype and WebEx
Good reader, PDF Expert
Splashtop
SharePlus for accessing content on SharePoint Online

Microsofts recent update to the office products to allow draw has been great!
The Apple Pencil makes all the difference with some of these programs.
Roy
 
I just started using FileBrowser Business on my iPad Pro and love it. It allows me to connect to my work server and access all my shared files. With the markup feature in office now, I can use my pencil on an excel file and It uploads back into our work drive. This has really helped almost 100% transition from the MacBook to the iPad. The only thing I can't do is run my financial database because it is flash based. I just use Remote Desktop for that. (I'm an accountant)
 
Roygnh said:
I use the following and have had great results to date:
O365 - OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and O365 Administrator
OneDrive client for both personal and ODfB
Power BI
Cisco Jabber, Skype and WebEx
Good reader, PDF Expert
Splashtop
SharePlus for accessing content on SharePoint Online

Microsofts recent update to the office products to allow draw has been great!
The Apple Pencil makes all the difference with some of these programs.
Roy
Click to expand...

I have to ask what it is you do for a living? I use very similar products on a daily basis as I am an account manager for a technology company that is a Cisco partner. At times i want to get rid of my macbook pro retina and go to a IPP but not sure yet
 
Koder
Prezi
Paper
PS Touch (no available in appstore anymore)
Google Drive
My Cloud
Documents
Noteshelf
Procreate
Pixelmator
Pinacle pro
iThoughts
 
Roygnh said:
I use the following and have had great results to date:
O365 - OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and O365 Administrator
OneDrive client for both personal and ODfB
Power BI
Cisco Jabber, Skype and WebEx
Good reader, PDF Expert
Splashtop
SharePlus for accessing content on SharePoint Online

Microsofts recent update to the office products to allow draw has been great!
The Apple Pencil makes all the difference with some of these programs.
Roy
Click to expand...
I have a question about O365. Does it have any of the pro features of its Windows counterpart, on iOS or OS X? Power pivot, 64 bit, waterfall?
 
Need to get more apps on here really, notability, Evernote is all I have. Need to look into other options.
 
Goodnotes
Omniplan
Omnigraffle
O365
Turboviewer
AutoCAD 360
Documents
Dropbox
Portfolio
 
The Game 161 said:
Need to get more apps on here really, notability, Evernote is all I have. Need to look into other options.
Click to expand...

Same here. I utilize it as my work device for 90% notes and email but I am sure there is more I can utilize to get more productivity and use it more efficiently as well.
 
Roygnh said:
I use the following and have had great results to date:
O365 - OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and O365 Administrator
OneDrive client for both personal and ODfB
Power BI
Cisco Jabber, Skype and WebEx
Good reader, PDF Expert
Splashtop
SharePlus for accessing content on SharePoint Online

Microsofts recent update to the office products to allow draw has been great!
The Apple Pencil makes all the difference with some of these programs.
Roy
Click to expand...

I am curious why you have both good reader and PDF expert when they appear to do the same thing or are they completely different?
 
uh,nothing. mine turned out to just be for fun. i just like making art on desktop software to much. i should probably get the smart keyboard. i might type on it then for school stuff.
 
I use these on a regular basis:
GoodNotes
PDF Expert
Iannotate
Microsoft OfficeWord ( still clunky to use on the IPP for me)
iWork Pages,
Dropbox
The Calendar, Mail, Notes, Reminders, Safari, Clock (for the stopwatch and alarm) that come with it
 
The main "productivity" apps (by productivity I mean things that I use to create something or get work done rather than consume it) use on my iPP are:

Word
Excel
OneNote
PowerPoint
Outlook
RD Client
Sway
Skype
WordPress
WebEx
Doxie
Lightroom
iMovie


I'm heavily invested in Office 365 as I use it for my corporate e-mail / documents, etc. All the company documents are stored in Office 365 (OneDrive for Business or SharePoint) and the integration that the MS Office apps have with those mean I really don't miss not having a local file system at all.
I did look at FileBrowser and it's a pretty neat piece of software (and integrates really well with the document picker), but I don't really want to be creating files that live only on my iPad and for us, OneDrive For Business and SharePoint have become our corporate network storage (backed up locally and remotely before anyone says anything about trusting documents to the cloud ;))
 
MartyCan said:
Dropbox? Works for. Me.
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Agreed. Dropbox has been my file system now since I started using multiple devices. With the ability to open and save Office files right into Dropbox, this system is better than ever. With Dropbox and Evernote, I can access and work in my files on everything from my iPhone to my Macbook Pro.
 
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