iCloud, Office and Mountain Lion

[OllieJP]

Right, so I've had a little look around and I don't think I can see an obvious solution to this, but what I want to do is the following.

Ideally,

1. Right now, load my documents onto iCloud.
2. Be able to access, and edit those documents on other devices, and have the edited version on all devices.

I'm not overly fussed about it actually being iCloud, if there is a dropbox solution then that might work, but i'm not sure syncing is possible that way.

Any advice guys?!

Thanks!

 

[James_C]

Ollie,

If by Office, you mean Microsoft Office, then iCloud will not work at the moment, as iCloud needs an iCloud aware App, and Office 2011 does not support it at the moment. Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) does have iCloud support, and that will work fine.

Dropbox is the best option for syncing Microsoft Office files between multiple Macs and supports PC's as well. It is how I sync all my documents between multiple Macs and PC's. More info on dropbox here.

 

[hafr]

Ollie,

If by Office, you mean Microsoft Office, then iCloud will not work at the moment, as iCloud needs an iCloud aware App, and Office 2011 does not support it at the moment. Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) does have iCloud support, and that will work fine.

Dropbox is the best option for syncing Microsoft Office files between multiple Macs and supports PC's as well. It is how I sync all my documents between multiple Macs and PC's. More info on dropbox here.

What makes Dropbox a better option than say Google Drive, iDriveSync or Skydrive (Microsoft)? All four work the exact same way, with a dedicated folder that sync between computers.

Other alternatives, such as Cubby, Sugarsync and Synplicity also have the option to choose any given folder to sync in addition to the dedicated folder.

Some of these options won't even count certain synced items between your computers against the free space that you get (although that requires both computers to be turned on at the same time, syncing those files to each other instead of through their servers), which has an additional bonus: extra security for the paranoid.

Then you have alternatives such as box.com which gives you 50 GB for free if you use a mobile device to sign up (they now have a desktop client by the way), Wuala, SpiderOak, iDrive...

What makes Dropbox the best option available?

 

[James_C]

What makes Dropbox a better option than say Google Drive, iDriveSync or Skydrive (Microsoft)? All four work the exact same way, with a dedicated folder that sync between computers.

Other alternatives, such as Cubby, Sugarsync and Synplicity also have the option to choose any given folder to sync in addition to the dedicated folder.

Some of these options won't even count certain synced items between your computers against the free space that you get (although that requires both computers to be turned on at the same time, syncing those files to each other instead of through their servers), which has an additional bonus: extra security for the paranoid.

Then you have alternatives such as box.com which gives you 50 GB for free if you use a mobile device to sign up (they now have a desktop client by the way), Wuala, SpiderOak, iDrive...

What makes Dropbox the best option available?

I guess it is user preference, I have been using Dropbox shortly after it was first released, it has always been stable, easy to use and quick to sync your files. Apple's .Mac /.Me cloud service was always a poor relation to Dropbox. Apple (Steve Jobs Himself) was famously turned down by the founders of Dropbox when he tried to buy it.

Recently more companies are offering cloud based document storage services, but Dropbox has been doing it a lot longer than most of the others you mention. Yes you only get 2GB free with dropbox, but that can store a lot of office documents, to be honest I think it is worth paying for more if you need it, the service is that good.

I am sure the services that you list are good as well, but the issues I have with them are :

Google - They make their money via advertising, and I would not trust them with my data (but that is my personal viewpoint).

Microsoft Skydrive - May be a good option for office documents, but last time I checked there is not a dedicated iOS App - btw there a lot of iOS Apps that support syncing via Dropbox.

iDrive Sync - The interface is hardly intuitive and a number of users have suggested that it is not 100% reliable.

That is why I prefer Dropbox personally.

 

[d21mike]

Microsoft Skydrive - May be a good option for office documents, but last time I checked there is not a dedicated iOS App - btw there a lot of iOS Apps that support syncing via Dropbox.

Are you aware of this:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skydrive/id477537958?mt=8

 

[James_C]

Are you aware of this:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skydrive/id477537958?mt=8

Thanks , I did look, but the article that I looked up must have been slightly out of date. However most iOS Apps that support syncing don't offer Skydrive as an option, however that may change now that Microsoft have added support.