iCloud Drive documents viewing

[n-evo]

Apple, in all their wisdom, decided against an iCloud Drive app on iOS because file managing on a phone or tablet is apparently considered pure evil. So just now I downloaded a PDF file on my work PC and added it to the iCloud Drive Preview folder through iCloud.com. It doesn't show up in iBooks. I tried moving the PDF file to a newly created folder, which doesn't work either.

Does anyone have an idea how to access it from my iPhone running iOS 8?

 

[reese2147]

Apple, in all their wisdom, decided against an iCloud Drive app on iOS because file managing on a phone or tablet is apparently considered pure evil. So just now I downloaded a PDF file on my work PC and added it to the iCloud Drive Preview folder through iCloud.com. It doesn't show up in iBooks. I tried moving the PDF file to a newly created folder, which doesn't work either.

Does anyone have an idea how to access it from my iPhone running iOS 8?

You can't unless you use a third party app on your iOS device.

"Any kind of file. On all of your devices." Pure lies.

 

[GlenK]

Not using iCloud drive completely yet but the app Documents 5 works well to view ALL files in your iCloud drive.

There was also initially a iCloud Drive app that apple pulled soon after launch. It was the app shown in the photo on the Yosemite summary on the Apple Web site. The picture is still there but the app is not available.
I was able to download it before Apple pulled it and it still works.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

"Any kind of file. On all of your devices." Pure lies.

There is no reference to editing the said files - just that they will appear in the document viewer. This is because a file types invariable gain/lose support over time. Days ago I could have had a Pixelmator document in my drive and that would have been incompatible with all the apps on my iPad. Now, I can open it through a dedicated app.

 

[reese2147]

There is no reference to editing the said files - just that they will appear in the document viewer. This is because a file types invariable gain/lose support over time. Days ago I could have had a Pixelmator document in my drive and that would have been incompatible with all the apps on my iPad. Now, I can open it through a dedicated app.

"Now you have the freedom to **work** with the document of your choice on the device of your choice" Key word in this statement from Apple is **WORK**.

Editing files is a pretty big component to "working" with them wouldn't you say? Furthermore... what document viewer? There is none.

 

[n-evo]

Wait, what? Apple actually released an iCloud Drive app and pulled it? I've never ever seen an article about that anywhere.

 

[thewitt]

iCloud Drive is just a folder in the Finder in Yosemite

 

[Rigby]

Apple, in all their wisdom, decided against an iCloud Drive app on iOS because file managing on a phone or tablet is apparently considered pure evil. So just now I downloaded a PDF file on my work PC and added it to the iCloud Drive Preview folder through iCloud.com. It doesn't show up in iBooks.

Why would you put a file into the folder of the Mac OS Preview app and expect it to show up in iBooks?

I tried moving the PDF file to a newly created folder, which doesn't work either.
Does anyone have an idea how to access it from my iPhone running iOS 8?

For direct access you need to put it in the folder of an app that supports iCloud and can handle PDFs. You can also put it into any folder and access it using an app that supports the iCloud Drive document picker. Goodreader or Documents 5 can handle both.

A lot of the confusion comes from the hybrid nature of iCloud Drive, which is a mixture of the old app-centric model (which is why you have all the undeletable app folders) and new Dropbox-like file-centric one.