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Can iPad access docs on networked iMac?

I

ILikeTurtles

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 17, 2010
320
2
I have a home wireless network of a iMac and mini. Can and ipad join that network to access documents stored on my iMac?
 
ILikeTurtles said:
I have a home wireless network of a iMac and mini. Can and ipad join that network to access documents stored on my iMac?
Click to expand...

Generally speaking, no. You can email docs, to you iPad email or sync them in iTunes sharing. You can view documents in iDisk but cannot alter them in iPad version of Pages, Numbers, Keynote. Please write to Apple feature request and ask them to enable file sharing with the iPad version of iWorks.
 
Not that I know of. You can store it on your iDisk if you're a MobileMe subscriber and can access your iDisk on the iPad with the free app from Apple.
 
Yes it can with third party software. I'm using filebrowser right now. It works but has some quirks.
 
I canceled my iPad order this morning.

The inability to do network file-sharing was a deal-breaker for me.

I don't subscribe to MobleMe. There's no reason network file-sharing should have be left out in the cold.
 
ILikeTurtles said:
I canceled my iPad order this morning.

The inability to do network file-sharing was a deal-breaker for me.

I don't subscribe to MobleMe. There's no reason network file-sharing should have be left out in the cold.
Click to expand...

Hopefully this makes an impression at Apple. When I was at the Apple store picking mine up, I asked about files on network drives and all the geniuses got that deer in the headlights look. It turns out they only had a couple of hours to play with the things before the store opened and this topic didn't come up. Didn't come up? They are selling iwork for the ipad and this didn't come up? What do they think we want to do? Write our papers and make the prof read them on our ipad cuz we can't get the doggone paper off onto another device? Geez. Meanwhile, I created a spreadsheet in numbers, then went into the 3rd party app "filebrowser" to see if I could find it and copy it to the network. It wasn't there. I'll investigate later when I have more time and come back and let you know. If it turns out there is a free or low cost workaround for getting files on and off the iPad, you might decide you want to reinstate your order. But I agree that Apple blew it when it comes to handling files. I hope they don't expect me to get my iwork docs on and off the ipad using the usb cable. That is so fifteen years ago. Don't forget that the last time Apple tried to make a tablet, they got their heads handed to them by Palm. Apple has learned a lot since then but they haven't learned everything.
 
The customer service guy at Apple told me I can move documents from my iMac to an iPad using iWork.com, but that's a crappy solution. I have all my documents on my iMac that I can access with my Mini, why can't iPad have the same ability? Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Anyway - you might want to check out iwork.com for your situation. Looks like it's a free "beta" service for now.
 
Has anyone been using AirSharing Pro for file sharing on their network? I have it installed but have used it limitedly so far.
 
I just purchased ezShare Pro yesterday and it's the only full fledge network accessing file management utility on the iPhone. It is currently the only application, that I know of, that can access shares via SMB, AFP, FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, and NFS file protocols. (Note that many other file access apps can only access online storages, but not AFP and SMB like the home network computers or NAS storage device sitting on your desk)

However, it is still an iPhone native application at this moment. I have emailed their technical support team yesterday and they confirmed that they will be coming out with an iPad update for the program. They have already worked on it with the iPad SDK, but they just received their iPads so they will now be testing it out on the real iPad. So, the native iPad support updates will be coming very soon. If you like, you can still access it on the iPad with the native iPhone emulator and just wait for the iPad support update to arrive.

iTunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ezshare-pro/id301589535?mt=8
 
Get good reader tablet edition. You can copy files over to the iPad from a networked computer or download files from the Internet straight from within the app. Great program and only $.99
 
Just saw an Apple iPhone ad where an iPhone user accessed a computer at work using a program called Here, File File. You could try that.
 
ILikeTurtles said:
I canceled my iPad order this morning.

The inability to do network file-sharing was a deal-breaker for me.

I don't subscribe to MobleMe. There's no reason network file-sharing should have be left out in the cold.
Click to expand...

Good Reader will connect to your networked Mac. Cost = $.99

It will also connect to Dropbox and a host of other similar services.
 
r0k said:
Hopefully this makes an impression at Apple. When I was at the Apple store picking mine up, I asked about files on network drives and all the geniuses got that deer in the headlights look. It turns out they only had a couple of hours to play with the things before the store opened and this topic didn't come up. Didn't come up? They are selling iwork for the ipad and this didn't come up? What do they think we want to do? Write our papers and make the prof read them on our ipad cuz we can't get the doggone paper off onto another device? Geez. Meanwhile, I created a spreadsheet in numbers, then went into the 3rd party app "filebrowser" to see if I could find it and copy it to the network. It wasn't there. I'll investigate later when I have more time and come back and let you know. If it turns out there is a free or low cost workaround for getting files on and off the iPad, you might decide you want to reinstate your order. But I agree that Apple blew it when it comes to handling files. I hope they don't expect me to get my iwork docs on and off the ipad using the usb cable. That is so fifteen years ago. Don't forget that the last time Apple tried to make a tablet, they got their heads handed to them by Palm. Apple has learned a lot since then but they haven't learned everything.
Click to expand...

iWork iPad apps can access files on your host computer through iTunes. Under the Apps tab, at the bottom there is a File Sharing Section. You can use this to move files to and from the iPad. You have to prepare the iWork document for exporting on the iPad by clicking the shareing box, and it presents an option called "export" that will send it to the file system so iTunes can export it.
 
ILikeTurtles said:
I canceled my iPad order this morning.

The inability to do network file-sharing was a deal-breaker for me.

I don't subscribe to MobleMe. There's no reason network file-sharing should have be left out in the cold.
Click to expand...


Did you read any of the replies in this thread? There are apps that do this. File Browser was mentioned above, which is the one I'm using:

http://www.stratospherix.com/products/filebrowser/

I had no trouble getting it to work with my iMac, but it took a little work (had to open some UPD ports on the software firewall) to get it to work with my PC.
 
Good reader looks great, but it's just for viewing content rather than actually bringing it over to the iPad for editing, right?

I have FileBrowser, but I haven't been able to use it at all. Doesn't support AFP, which has posed big problems for getting it to talk to my airport-networked drive and old iBook. Ezshare, on the other hand, was able to at least see all of my material painlessly when I downloaded the free version of the iPhone app.
 
These are exactly the products I'm looking for, but I think I'll wait for the iPad versions to come out.
 
ILikeTurtles said:
I canceled my iPad order this morning.

The inability to do network file-sharing was a deal-breaker for me.

I don't subscribe to MobleMe. There's no reason network file-sharing should have be left out in the cold.
Click to expand...

I echo your concerns about this, but I can hardly believe you are telling the truth here, that you actually ordered the ipad with no idea of how the network sharing would and then cancelled it in dread. To sensationalist for my liking.

You can re-order it however, because network shares do work in some way. For example you can have a really nice nas from synology who have an iphone app to share the contents of that with your idevices. I haven't used it, so I don't know how well it works, but it's out there.
 
applesupergeek said:
I echo your concerns about this, but I can hardly believe you are telling the truth here...
Click to expand...
Its July 19, 2010. I just found out today that this was the case with the iPad.
And Im a freakin Apple FanBoi.
I guess not a serious one :(
Has there been any updates to this situation?
I just want to access Read files of any NAS unit.
 
Here is an easy way to access files

I have a dropbox account (free up to 2gb.) I have all the files I want to access reside in my dropbox file. I can easily access any of those files on any computer, or my iPad. On iPad, use the dropbox app. any changes I make to a file are automatically updated in the cloud. Works great!
 
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