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iPad - Does it play nicely with iMac

N

nickb1984

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 10, 2013
47
6
Quick question, say I am writing a thesis on the iMac and then away with work for a few days, how would an iPad fair in terms of using that to connect to the iMac to continue working - mainly word, blackboard, accessing journals, files, etc...?

Cheers.
 
nickb1984 said:
Quick question, say I am writing a thesis on the iMac and then away with work for a few days, how would an iPad fair in terms of using that to connect to the iMac to continue working - mainly word, blackboard, accessing journals, files, etc...?

Cheers.
Click to expand...
Options:
1) Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive
2) Use any other cloud service (Google Drive/Dropbox/OneDrive to name a few) to store your files that you want access to everywhere.

Then you find a corresponding app to install on iPad that can open your files.

I guess one could use some kind of Remote Desktop solution to gain full access to your Mac when away from it. Only compelling reason I see with using Remote Desktop would be if one needed access to a specific Mac app that isn’t available on iPad.
 
Sounds like remote work. If you have an iCloud subscription, handoff might work if you have Word on both the iPad and Mac.

If you mean accessing your desktop remotely, I know Citrix makes an app, but you might want to investigate that. I've never used either of these things so hopefully someone who has can clarify.
 
kazmac said:
Sounds like remote work. If you have an iCloud subscription, handoff might work if you have Word on both the iPad and Mac.

If you mean accessing your desktop remotely, I know Citrix makes an app, but you might want to investigate that. I've never used either of these things so hopefully someone who has can clarify.
Click to expand...

LogMeIn also makes a VNC app that I use all the time to access Mac and Windows desktops remotely (eg, when you're out and about) from my iPad (and even my iPhone in a pinch).
 
You've been given loads of options. Myself, I have an Office 365 subscription so my Word documents and Excel spreadsheets are on Onedrive, but I could just as well have them in the iCloud Documents folder. I can edit them on my iMac, MacBook Pro, iPad Pro or even my iPhone.

If you want to go the Remote Desktop route, so your essentially working on your iMac, Microsoft Remote Desktop is good, and free. I find Jump Desktop better but that's not free.
 
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I think more detail is needed from the OP. Do you just need to access files and documents? If so, then iCloud Drive (or a similar third-party service) will work very well, assuming (1) you have internet access while traveling with the iPad, and (2) there is an iPad app capable of opening and working with the particular file type at issue. As others have pointed out, there are also various screen-sharing apps that allow you to actually control your Mac remotely from the iPad (with a full view of your Mac's screen), but this probably would be cumbersome for what you probably have in mind. Beyond that, what do you mean by "play nicely"? This seems to suggest interactivity beyond merely opening files, but it's hard to say for sure.
 
Thanks all and sorry for being a little vague. It does appear iCloud will suffice.

Essentially, I want to access word files that have been predominantly worked on via the iMac and work on these (and access filed acedemic research) when away from home.
 
Have a look at MS Office 365 personal, it’s $70/year or you can pay $7/month if you aren’t sure. I believe there’s also a free trial. I just started using it on my 2018 iPad with a keyboard case. Haven’t done a lot with it yet, but it appears quite similar to the Mac version and has opened all my existing files without problem. The subscription includes 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage which makes it easy to work on the same files between platforms.
 
nickb1984 said:
Thanks all and sorry for being a little vague. It does appear iCloud will suffice.

Essentially, I want to access word files that have been predominantly worked on via the iMac and work on these (and access filed acedemic research) when away from home.
Click to expand...
You might ask at the school you attend, many schools use Google’s suite of apps or several other academic programs and apps, some very specialized for particular fields ,that would make research and cataloging much easier.
 
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