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Am I using the Files app wrong?

S

Sill

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 14, 2014
881
565
Updated to iOS 11 the night of. I clicked open the Files app hoping that I'd now be able to browse around my iPhone, looking at every downloaded attachment, every Pages doc and PDF, all my music files, delete things willy nilly, etc.

The first thing I saw was a screen full of colored file tags to select, along with an iCloud drive link. I don't use either. What was completely missing was a list of all the files I know reside on my device. No music, no PDFs, no attachments.

When Files was first announced, the chorus here of "finally - a proper file manager on iOS!" reached to the sky. Why isn't this new app showing the files on my phone? What do I need to set up to get the thing to behave the way I was led to believe it would behave?
 
Nope, the Files apps is a way to aggregate each document provider and apps documents folders in one place.

If your files are inside the app documents folder, it's up to the app to show the documents folder in Files or not. Hopefully in the future third party apps will be updated to integrate better with iOS.

Pages is one good example on how a document based app should work on iOS. Try the latest version.
 
When Apple showed the Files app it did have a ‘On My iPhone’ and ‘On My iPad’ folder but these appear to have been omitted on release for some reason.

Neither folder shows on either of my devices so when I download a file from iCloud, I cannot get it off my device.

:confused:
 
Downloaded videos that no longer have the iCloud icon are still on iCloud too. It just means they are temporarily on your device so you don't need an internet connection to access them.
 
Ritsuka said:
Downloaded videos that no longer have the iCloud icon are still on iCloud too. It just means they are temporarily on your device so you don't need an internet connection to access them.
Click to expand...

When that happens in the Music App, you can select the file to remove it from your device. I wish there was a way to do this with video downloads too.

Very frustrating.
 
Ritsuka said:
Nope, the Files apps is a way to aggregate each document provider and apps documents folders in one place.

If your files are inside the app documents folder, it's up to the app to show the documents folder in Files or not. Hopefully in the future third party apps will be updated to integrate better with iOS.

Pages is one good example on how a document based app should work on iOS. Try the latest version.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure I have the latest version. I know I updated it about a week ago, and that update was for iOS11 compatibility. I think.

I'll most likely never see what I'd really like, which is Xtree for iOS. :( I can dream though.
 
they way they demoed Files app prior to release of iOS 11,led to people believe they can finally access files on their iPhone/iPad and manage them..
it seems all Files app does is just providing a shortcut to iCloud Drive,google drive, dropbox and such..
completely useless, we could already access those cloud folder via their own app.
what's the point?
and what happened to "on my iPhone" and "on my iPad"?
unbelievable..so disappointed..
:mad::(
 
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ColdShadow said:
they way they demoed Files app prior to release of iOS 11,led to people believe they can finally access files on their iPhone/iPad and manage them..
it seems all Files app does is just providing a shortcut to iCloud Drive,google drive, dropbox and such..
completely useless, we could already access those cloud folder via their own app.
what's the point?
and what happened to "on my iPhone" and "on my iPad"?
unbelievable..so disappointed..
:mad::(
Click to expand...

The power of Files actually lies in its extensibility, the ability for 3rd parties to add functionality.

If you want local storage which you can freely create, copy, move files and folders in it was available on day 1 via Documents by Readdle. I don’t doubt others have followed suit since then. “On my iPhone/iPad” were never intended for that, as explained by someone above.
 
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matjamca said:
When Apple showed the Files app it did have a ‘On My iPhone’ and ‘On My iPad’ folder but these appear to have been omitted on release for some reason.

Neither folder shows on either of my devices so when I download a file from iCloud, I cannot get it off my device.

:confused:
Click to expand...

No, no, no... The Files app is what used to be iCloud Drive -- that is, a repository for documents like Word files or PDFs that you can store in iCloud and sync with your Mac. It's not like a true Files Browser such as you have on your Mac where you can see system files, plists, music files, etc. It's designed to be a cloud-based document browser that can connect to other similar services like Dropbox or OneDrive, and is a productivity tool.
 
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tgara said:
No, no, no... The Files app is what used to be iCloud Drive -- that is, a repository for documents like Word files or PDFs that you can store in iCloud and sync with your Mac. It's not like a true Files Browser such as you have on your Mac where you can see system files, plists, music files, etc. It's designed to be a cloud-based document browser that can connect to other similar services like Dropbox or OneDrive, and is a productivity tool.
Click to expand...

Agree 99.9% except it doesn’t have to be cloud based. You can use it very successfully to manage files without ever using iCloud or any other cloud service.
 
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Feenician said:
The power of Files actually lies in its extensibility, the ability for 3rd parties to add functionality.

If you want local storage which you can freely create, copy, move files and folders in it was available on day 1 via Documents by Readdle. I don’t doubt others have followed suit since then. “On my iPhone/iPad” were never intended for that, as explained by someone above.
Click to expand...
so basically "Files" app is just new name for "iCloud Drive" (with added supports for Dropbox/etc)..
that's so un-impressive.
such a wasted opportunity.
:confused:
 
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ColdShadow said:
so basically "Files" app is just new name for "iCloud Drive" (with added supports for Dropbox/etc)..
that's so un-impressive.
such a wasted opportunity.
:confused:
Click to expand...

Did iCloud Drive allow for freely and simply moving files and folders between Cloud services, fully customizable local storage, NAS drives and with lots more to come?

It did not.
 
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It’s just a confusing mess. It doesn’t do anything well. I’m really disappointed in this app. I held high hopes for it.

It creates folders from some apps that can’t be deleted.

Dragging and dropping is a multi fingered faff.

Tags keeps opening. I never use them and don’t want the to open all the time.

Views are by grid or big bulky list. No streamlined view.

I could go on and on but it’s nighttime here in the UK and I need to sleep.

Again, a great opportunity missed.
 
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Pagemakers said:
It’s just a confusing mess. It doesn’t do anything well. I’m really disappointed in this app. I held high hopes for it.

It creates folders from some apps that can’t be deleted.

Dragging and dropping is a multi fingered faff.

Tags keeps opening. I never use them and don’t want the to open all the time.

Views are by grid or big bulky list. No streamlined view.

I could go on and on but it’s nighttime here in the UK and I need to sleep.

Again, a great opportunity missed.
Click to expand...

Some interesting feedback. Couple of suggestions and thoughts

- Dragging and dropping: Yes, half done. They demoed spring loading and haven’t yet delivered it. Another of the many little things wrong in 11.0 that end up adding up to something larger

- Tags: :mad: Always hated them in macOS but you can like macOS you can delete them. Give them a swipe and they’re gone.

For your other points they’re not anything I’ve considered a problem but they are your so I’m definitely not going to say they’re wrong or argue the toss.

Cheers
 
Feenician said:
Did iCloud Drive allow for freely and simply moving files and folders between Cloud services, fully customizable local storage, NAS drives and with lots more to come?

It did not.
Click to expand...
“freely” and “simply”?
been using all sort of computers and platforms for decades and moving files never been so awkward.

Look how much complaints and frustration people are sharing about this “simplicity” here on the forum..

fully customisable local storage? what is that?

Files seems to be an slightly more advanced version of iCloud drive,which was extremely restricted and incapable.

I really had high hopes for it even made a thread here when it was announced and called it a possible game changer.so disappointed.
 
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Another way to use it is to "Save to Files" when you click on the share button. For example, if you open this thread on Safari, click on the share button, create PDF - and once the PDF is created, you can click the share button again, and a "Save to Files" will show up. Click on it, and "On My iPhone" should show up along with Dropbox or whatever other cloud services (it did for me anyways.) Keynote, Numbers, Pages folders should be available for you to save under "On My iPhone." I didn't have those folders in the Files app, but in the "Save to Files" dialog box, they're there. So now, you can save PDFs directly to your phone, instead of the cloud.

ColdShadow said:
so basically "Files" app is just new name for "iCloud Drive" (with added supports for Dropbox/etc)..
that's so un-impressive.
such a wasted opportunity.
:confused:
Click to expand...

It's kind of like the TV App. It brings multiple sources into one hub.
[doublepost=1506148804][/doublepost]
matjamca said:
When Apple showed the Files app it did have a ‘On My iPhone’ and ‘On My iPad’ folder but these appear to have been omitted on release for some reason.
Click to expand...

I'm using a third-party app called FileApp. It shows up in Files as "On My iPhone." I can see all the files I have in that app (which are all locally stored,) but when I click on them, it just opens them in that app. However, I can use the drag-n-drop feature in Files to organize the files stored in the third-party app, directly from Files. The third-party app refreshes to the updated organization from Files, as I assume they're physically moved.
 
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Really not sure of the point behind Files - at least, from offering anything different than the apps who use the files can find on cloud storage.

For example, I can open Word, click Open, and it will show the cloud locations I have set up with it previously, plus it finds the files on the device (done through iTunes > iPhone > File Sharing).

Files offers the cloud locations (albeit with the addition of iCloud) as above and the opportunity to view the files in them, but then its another step to open the applicable app. And I get that's okay, its not intended for that. But there's no sign of the locally stored files at all. So its doesn't actually 'open up' access to files on the device at all.
 
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Bazza1 said:
Really not sure of the point behind Files - at least, from offering anything different than the apps who use the files can find on cloud storage.

For example, I can open Word, click Open, and it will show the cloud locations I have set up with it previously, plus it finds the files on the device (done through iTunes > iPhone > File Sharing).

Files offers the cloud locations (albeit with the addition of iCloud) as above and the opportunity to view the files in them, but then its another step to open the applicable app. And I get that's okay, its not intended for that. But there's no sign of the locally stored files at all. So its doesn't actually 'open up' access to files on the device at all.
Click to expand...

Office hasn’t been updated to the new APIs so it’s just making a copy.

As far as local file management, you will need an app to open that up.
 
And you can’t delete documents in other apps via Files. So frustrating that once gain Apple releases a half-baked system. It’s 80% there
 
Imagine how great it would be to be able to write or change any file anywhere on the device!

Imagine how great it would be for the malware writers!
 
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