All iPads How do you use your personal iPad at work to help you if you are in an office job?

[i4k20c]

Hi all,

I was curious for those who work in an office environment - do you use your iPad to help you throughout your day with workflows? I get a company laptop, but was thinking about using my iPad as well to take notes digitally, and help me stay organized with things to do between meetings.

I'm curious for those who need to use Windows for work, what apps do you use to help with productivity? I assume OneNote is best here if the organization uses MS products, but what about to-do lists or tasks? Do you end up using Notion/Trello/Apple Reminders?

I am trying to find ways to get more organized and as someone who grew up on laptops and pencil/paper notes, I'm not sure of the best way to incorporate the iPad into my work!

Thanks so much for any tips and suggestions you have!

Also: I specified office job as I'm a Business Intelligence Analyst and I know musicians for instance use the iPad for sheet music or teachers use it for grading, so was just trying to find more applicable cases to myself.

 

[outlawarth]

Hello. I am the perfect example of someone that uses an iPad (12.9) for an office job (middle management finance).

I also have a company issued windows laptop but I use the iPad extensively throughout the day for: note taking, reading and signing of documents, MS Teams meetings, Email and Remote Desktop into a Windows environment.

I also use the iPad as a secondary screen when I need to reference a document whilst working on the laptop.

I probably use the iPad more than my laptop as I find it more convenient for meetings and carrying it around. If it wasn’t for certain legacy windows systems that my company still uses the laptop would even get less use.

Any questions ask away.

 

[phillytim]

I was mostly using my iPad+Pencil to take notes at meetings with Notability, and then convert meeting notes into text. Thereafter, the text would be copied to my work OneDrive document for long-term records.

That happens much less nowadays, where meetings are mostly remote and I just type up notes during my meetings at my work-issued laptop directly to OneDrive.

So now my iPad still comes to work with me, but pretty much only for personal use.

I do have my work OneDrive & Edge browser profiles connected, so I can gain access to a bunch of work documents for when I need to reference something from home - if I'm working on work at home. Having those in the cloud really help when needed.

 

[Isamilis]

I don’t use much my iPad (and Magic Keyboard) for work. I have office laptop (windows). Few things that I work on iPad are:

• Review process, papers, spreadsheets, presentation
• Ms Teams meeting (including presentation and shared screen)
• Writing emails. I found using iPad for this is very efficient and straightforward than in laptop

Sometime, if I am on vacation but have some simple office stuff to do, I will bring the iPad only. I do like its portability, but it’s not comfortable for long hour work.

edit: one thing that was very very annoying is I cannot open zip file in onedrive (I can not use other unzip app like iZip due to my company locks down all apps access the company‘s onedrive other than Microsoft 365and Teams). Also, there is no app in Office 365 that can open simple TEXT file.

 

[RaphaZ]

I love using the iPad as a device for media consumption and also for PDF reading (Zotero mainly but also One Drive).
Honestly, I give it a lot of use, more than I expected.
I do think that nothing can replace the computer (at least for my work), but the iPad is complementary.

 

[muzzy996]

OneNote and OneDrive for me as a Windows user at work, along with email and PDF reading. Generally the workflows are just OK on iPad but now that my reliance upon OneDrive has increased at work with more collaborative workflows I've moved to a Surface Pro to be more efficient at file management. The share sheet method of file management in iOS is fine in a pinch but I just can't work like that for extended periods of time, not when I'm collaborating on dozens of documents in a day.

 

[rui no onna]

PDF markup, emails, messaging, document scanner, etc.

I don't have a webcam on my office desktop so instead of firing up the laptop, I often just do video conferencing on the iPad.

 

[spiderman0616]

OP, this is my favorite topic, as "filling in for other things" is my favorite way to use an iPad these days. Here are all the ways I use it during the work day:

1. Taking notes, marking up documents, signing documents

2. A general mobile desktop computer where I can keep tabs on work communication and projects via all the same apps and services I use on my Mac.

3. A second monitor. I won't bore you with all the different configurations and setups I have put my iPad in using Universal Control and/or Sidecar, but long story short, it's been a huge convenience and makes me feel like I can be productive anywhere.

4. A media controller/display. As a project manager, I do have days here and there where I'm doing a lot of tedious work for several hours at a time, and it's wonderful for controlling the "background noise" I play to keep myself from going insane.

I continue keeping the iPad in my workflow because it continues to have so many features that my iPhone doesn't. Add keyboard and mouse, Pencil, and full 4K monitor support to iPhone and I would probably get rid of my iPad, but I don't think that's happening any time soon.

 

[secretk]

I do use OneNote for organisation at work - like the integration of OneNote with Outlook. I can access OneNote on the iPad but the iPadOS version does not have everything that the Windows has so sometimes I struggle with it - namely things like integration with Outlook, tags usage and things like that.

When it comes to the iPad and how I use it for productivity related to work there are 3 scenarios:

1. Digital planner - I like to plan my days in digital planner. Do not enjoy the typical tasks managers app. I like to brain dump ideas and take notes during the day so bullet journal or planner work better for me. And having it digitally in the iPad is easier.
2. Taking handwritten notes for courses I do to advance my career
3. Reading non fiction books for upskilling
4. Checking work chat after work hours

 

[Shanghaichica]

No. I have work issued laptop and phone. Due to the sensitive nature of the information I work with I cannot use my personal devices for work related tasks.

 

[sparksd]

No. I have work issues laptop and phone. Due to the sensitive nature of the information I work with I cannot use my personal devices for work related tasks.

I'm retired now but we were not allowed to use personal devices for work. There were security concerns regarding both classified and proprietary information and all of our engineering notebooks, etc. were considered the intellectual property of the company and were archived when a project was finished. The very last thing you wanted to have happen to you was to receive an email containing inadvertently leaked protected information on your personal device - it would be given a thorough "cleaning".

 

[i4k20c]

OP, this is my favorite topic, as "filling in for other things" is my favorite way to use an iPad these days. Here are all the ways I use it during the work day:

1. Taking notes, marking up documents, signing documents

2. A general mobile desktop computer where I can keep tabs on work communication and projects via all the same apps and services I use on my Mac.

3. A second monitor. I won't bore you with all the different configurations and setups I have put my iPad in using Universal Control and/or Sidecar, but long story short, it's been a huge convenience and makes me feel like I can be productive anywhere.

4. A media controller/display. As a project manager, I do have days here and there where I'm doing a lot of tedious work for several hours at a time, and it's wonderful for controlling the "background noise" I play to keep myself from going insane.

I continue keeping the iPad in my workflow because it continues to have so many features that my iPhone doesn't. Add keyboard and mouse, Pencil, and full 4K monitor support to iPhone and I would probably get rid of my iPad, but I don't think that's happening any time soon.

Super interesting. What do you use to take notes out of curiosity? I think the big benefit that i am noticing from a lot of people on this thread is that they use a Mac and iPad. My work only issues a windows laptop - so it’s a little more tricky to incorporate the iPad into the workflow because i have to find cross compatibility apps. Are you a project manager? I only ask because i just had an interview for an entry level project manager role and would love to talk to someone who is in this field.

I do use OneNote for organisation at work - like the integration of OneNote with Outlook. I can access OneNote on the iPad but the iPadOS version does not have everything that the Windows has so sometimes I struggle with it - namely things like integration with Outlook, tags usage and things like that.

When it comes to the iPad and how I use it for productivity related to work there are 3 scenarios:

1. Digital planner - I like to plan my days in digital planner. Do not enjoy the typical tasks managers app. I like to brain dump ideas and take notes during the day so bullet journal or planner work better for me. And having it digitally in the iPad is easier.
2. Taking handwritten notes for courses I do to advance my career
3. Reading non fiction books for upskilling
4. Checking work chat after work hours

Interesting. How do you use tags out of curiosity? What app do you use as a digital planner? Is it called bullet journal? Are those work chats happening via email or slack or something?

I'm retired now but we were not allowed to use personal devices for work. There were security concerns regarding both classified and proprietary information and all of our engineering notebooks, etc. were considered the intellectual property of the company and were archived when a project was finished. The very last thing you wanted to have happen to you was to receive an email containing inadvertently leaked protected information on your personal device - it would be given a thorough "cleaning".

This is a really good consideration and something I need to be mindful of. To keep work on work issued equipment and personal on personal. the thing is that our work already “goes against this norm” by expecting us to use personal phones for email/phone so didn’t think of the personal iPad as much of a problem, but it might be for sure.

 

[spiderman0616]

Super interesting. What do you use to take notes out of curiosity? I think the big benefit that i am noticing from a lot of people on this thread is that they use a Mac and iPad. My work only issues a windows laptop - so it’s a little more tricky to incorporate the iPad into the workflow because i have to find cross compatibility apps. Are you a project manager? I only ask because i just had an interview for an entry level project manager role and would love to talk to someone who is in this field.

My company mainly uses MS products for collaboration, and they allow us to authenticate them on our iOS devices through our company login, so I use my company's OneNote instance on my iPad with my Pencil. As others have mentioned, I am trusted with highly sensitive data so I definitely make sure to NOT keep any sensitive files in any downloads folders or anywhere else on my own devices. My personal Mac I just completely leave out of the equation because I don't want to install security profiles, VPN clients, etc. but on the iPad it's as simple as an app download and a login, so I don't mind one bit.

Yes, I am a project manager and have been for several years. I would love to answer any questions you might have--DM me sometime!

 

[sparksd]

This is a really good consideration and something I need to be mindful of. To keep work on work issued equipment and personal on personal. the thing is that our work already “goes against this norm” by expecting us to use personal phones for email/phone so didn’t think of the personal iPad as much of a problem, but it might be for sure.

Yeah, it's always a good idea to check what the rules and policies are. I left my personal gear in my bag at my desk. I did get to watch security take a hammer to a customer's phone after they took it into a closed (and posted) area.

 

[secretk]

Interesting. How do you use tags out of curiosity? What app do you use as a digital planner? Is it called bullet journal? Are those work chats happening via email or slack or something?

In terms of tags I would just mark specific things in OneNote with tags. For example questions are marked with the question mark tag. Tasks are marked with the TO DO tag. Ideas are marked with the light bulb task. Important stuff are marked with star tag. Critical things are marked with the Exclamation mark tag. There are lots of tags in OneNote but I use mostly those and I have keyboard shortcuts for them and I use them. I also use Heading styles to mark the different topics (in a meeting). Usually Heading 2 is to denote each topic.

When it comes to digital planning I use PDF planner (with hyperlinks) and the Apple Pencil. I use Notability and GoodNotes (switch between both). I do not like to type my tasks, I prefer to hand write them with the pencil. If you are after typing for planning though I would suggest either DayOne or Notion. DayOne is for journaling and Notion is for everything but you can create your own dashboard for planner. I use the planner to organise in general my life - it contains my personal tasks, my work tasks, my meetings etc. I also use it to Brain Dump stuff and ideas for work. Overall I am just more productive when I use planner. It is not for everyone but it works for me.

I like this planner btw - https://thedashplanner.com/shop/2023-digital-planner. I do not use all of its templates but it definitely has for the most part what I need to organise my life .

For chat in the past it was Teams, now it is Slack.

 

[Davefevs]

I used to use mine quite a lot in my old company:

1. For taking notes
2. Drawing process flows and connecting up to a large screen

in my current company, we cannot connect our own devices, so I sometimes draw quick process flows, or storyboard ideas…and then turn my iPad to the camera on my laptop and show the team what I’m thinking. Pretty crude, but better than having to use Visio when i can draw something in 30 seconds.

 

[frownface]

No. I have work issued laptop and phone. Due to the sensitive nature of the information I work with I cannot use my personal devices for work related tasks.

My company is the same.

Except, we are allowed to use personal devices IF (and only if) we agree to install MS Intune on the device, in doing this we also would have to agree to allow the company to remotely lock and wipe the device (in case we lose it), plus a bunch of restrictions. Like running all traffic via their proxy.

I promptly said f' off.

 

[sparksd]

No. I have work issued laptop and phone. Due to the sensitive nature of the information I work with I cannot use my personal devices for work related tasks.

Besides the device ban, I made sure not to do any personal emails through my company account. I was involved in a legal dispute between our company and our customer - the US Government. As part of the discovery process, both sides were given the complete archived email data from project personnel on both sides. Needless to say, some of the non-work-related emails made for some very interesting reading. If the data goes through company devices, they have ownership of it.

 

[spiderman0616]

My company is the same.

Except, we are allowed to use personal devices IF (and only if) we agree to install MS Intune on the device, in doing this we also would have to agree to allow the company to remotely lock and wipe the device (in case we lose it), plus a bunch of restrictions. Like running all traffic via their proxy.

I promptly said f' off.

My company has that for personal iPads and Macs but not iPhones for some reason. So I also said “f off” to that option. I draw a hard line when IT wants admin access to my personal devices.

 

[sparksd]

My company has that for personal iPads and Macs but not iPhones for some reason. So I also said “f off” to that option. I draw a hard line when IT wants admin access to my personal devices.

I remember a particularly creepy IT guy asking my coworker if she was planning to move. While "reviewing" tracking history he had access to, he saw that she had visited several real estate sites on her company device. Best to keep a hard firewall between work and personal life.

 

[spiderman0616]

I remember a particularly creepy IT guy asking my coworker if she was planning to move. While "reviewing" tracking history he had access to, he saw that she had visited several real estate sites on her company device. Best to keep a hard firewall between work and personal life.

So gross. Unacceptable.

 

[floral]

If I were to work for a BYOD company, here's my thoughts on potential policies:

Let me do my thing, no interruptions: This is ideal. What most employers fail to see is that privacy really increases the productivity of people that are given it. The thought of you being able to do basically whatever activates your inner rebel and invigorates you to only do what you're told (or at least, that's the case for me).

Occasionally peek at the device when passing by: A little creepy, but definitely within reason. I won't think any less of you if you do this.

Taking the device for "inspection" on occasions: Soft no, unless I trust you with my device and know you won't peek through anything that isn't visibly open.

Install software/profiles on the device: Absolutely not. Get your grubby hands off of the thing I spent a fortune on. I will happy take your paperweight Chromebook with said software, of course.

 

[Stoianski]

PDF markup, emails, messaging, document scanner, etc.

I don't have a webcam on my office desktop so instead of firing up the laptop, I often just do video conferencing on the iPad.

Which PDF app are you using? Or which are supposed to be best? Thanks.

Long time ago I had iPad (3) and was using PDF Expert. Then I switched to Samsung tablets, where the choice was limited - ended up using Xodo. Recently bought M1 Pro (11inch) and now having both iOS and Android I am wondering whether to stay on Xodo across the platforms or to use again PDF Expert on Apple (don't use much Cloud; I see PDF Expert have subscription plans, no willing to pay for this).

 

[CalebEdenburn]

I'm a student, and I use my iPad mini 6 and Apple Pencil to do math problems in class, and take notes in other classes using the Notes app.

 

[rui no onna]

Which PDF app are you using? Or which are supposed to be best? Thanks.

Long time ago I had iPad (3) and was using PDF Expert. Then I switched to Samsung tablets, where the choice was limited - ended up using Xodo. Recently bought M1 Pro (11inch) and now having both iOS and Android I am wondering whether to stay on Xodo across the platforms or to use again PDF Expert on Apple (don't use much Cloud; I see PDF Expert have subscription plans, no willing to pay for this).

GoodReader. I believe I started using it since the iPad 2 days (2011?).