I can't seem to get much information on how Documents in the Cloud will work with iWorks on my Mac. Is this a feature that will even be available with Mac iWorks apps or is it just restricted to iOS devices? If it does work will you be able to access the iCloud files in Finder or just within the app itself? I know the iCloud website talks about how the API's will be available for developers to use even on a Mac or PC, but it really doesn't say if Apple itself has used them in Mac iWorks. Does anyone have any information on this or even what is your best guess?
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Lion, iWorks and iCloud Documents
- Thread starter wolfpackfan
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I am fairly certain this will work on a Mac
the idea is you save your document to the 'documents in the clouds', this same document is then available on your other devices
Pages on mac will read/write to it, pages on iOS will do the same
The way Apple seem to be against people needing a file system, I wouldnt be surprised if this is not accessible through finder, for pages files, you will need to open pages
I expect you are right on both points. I sure wish we would find out something definitive from Apple though. On the iCloud Documents page it shows the Cloud documents synching between an iPhone and an iPad. I sure wish it had a MacBook in the picture also. If they don't provide this option, it would be a huge omission IMO. Basically you're giving away the entire iDisk replacement market to DropBox.
http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/documents.html
iCloud is already seamlessly integrated with Apple iWork apps. And weve given developers the tools to make their apps work with iCloud, too. So youll be able to paint a masterpiece, create reminders, edit stock lists, and more and have it all stay with you on all your devices, including your Mac or PC.
It doesnt show a picture of a Mac but it mentions working with it
Unless Apple releases updates for the iOS versions of iWork I'm not sure how iCloud will sync iWork files between the desktop and mobile versions. As things stand right now, the iOS versions of iWork break a lot of a user's work done on the desktop versions. Many themes, graphs, transitions, charts, etc, created on the desktop versions of iWork are simply stripped away when imported into the mobile version of the apps. So while round syncing could be supported for very basic documents, a big update to the mobile apps would be necessary before most users would really be satisfied with desktop-mobile-desktop syncing.
Apples and oranges. The OP is about access to files, at least that is my understanding of it. You are talking about supported features and compatibility. iWork for the Mac is a different suite than iWork for iOS. You seem to have discovered that one of the biggest differences is that the iOS version does not support a lot of the features in the Mac version. This is a serious concern. However, the iOS version clearly has access to the Mac version of the file. FWIW, Keynote on my iPad has no trouble accessing a huge PowerPoint presentation on my iDisk.
You miss his point entirely. His point is until there is a full-featured iworks for ios, and perhaps even a update to iworks for OS X, even thinking of auto-syncing between files will be impossible, and that does address the OP. If I start a file on my desktop, and then it synced to the mobile app, deleted a bunch of stuff, then as soon as I would edit the file on the mobile version, it would replace my desktop version with the stripped down one, which is unacceptable. Therefore, if icloud documents is going to "just work" across ios devices and OS machines, the ios iworks suite needs to incorporate the missing features.
I hope the reason Apple said nothing about the desktops is because they intend on releasing an iworks 11 or iworks 12 along with, or very soon after, their release of Lion. I hope they want to "surprise us". iOS 5 could add in the new iwork ios updates...
OP back here. I guess my concern is without synching iCloud Documents to your Mac, with the demise of iDisk, Apple is going backwards. At least now, I can save my Pages files to my iDisk and then open it in Pages on my Mac (albeit without 100% compatibility). But unless iCloud provides this capability, then we're loosing a lot of capability. I can't imagine Apple would go backwards like this (at least I hope they wouldn't).
it says on the web page that it syncs with all your devices including Macs & PC's (as i mentioned above)
not sure why you think this wont happen
not sure why you think this wont happen
Go back and read again. It really doesn't say that. That is under a section where it is talking about developers using the iCloud API's. My take on that section is that apps CAN BE developed that will sync with your desktop. No where does it say that iWorks on your Mac is going to provide this capability. Since it is obvious that there is no iWorks for PC's, is Apple going to provide a solution that only works with Macs?
yup, just re read this bit
iCloud is already seamlessly integrated with Apple iWork apps. And we’ve given developers the tools to make their apps work with iCloud, too. So you’ll be able to paint a masterpiece, create reminders, edit stock lists, and more — and have it all stay with you on all your devices, including your Mac or PC.
iCloud is already set up to seamless sync between all devices (including mac, obviously not PC as iWork doesnt exist)
developers have been given the API for this, so for example microsoft can add this to word if they choose, enabled word on Mac/PC to share files, not sure if its on iOS devices
if the app doesnt exist on one of the platforms then it wont work on that
pages
Mac = yup
iOS = yup
so these 2 will sync
Word
Mac = yup
PC = yup
so if Microsoft add the featre these 2 will sync, and if an iOS version of words exists this will be included
Documents in the cloud is designed to sync Mac, PC, & iOS devices if the app has this feature added
iCloud is already seamlessly integrated with Apple iWork apps. And we’ve given developers the tools to make their apps work with iCloud, too. So you’ll be able to paint a masterpiece, create reminders, edit stock lists, and more — and have it all stay with you on all your devices, including your Mac or PC.
iCloud is already set up to seamless sync between all devices (including mac, obviously not PC as iWork doesnt exist)
developers have been given the API for this, so for example microsoft can add this to word if they choose, enabled word on Mac/PC to share files, not sure if its on iOS devices
if the app doesnt exist on one of the platforms then it wont work on that
pages
Mac = yup
iOS = yup
so these 2 will sync
Word
Mac = yup
PC = yup
so if Microsoft add the featre these 2 will sync, and if an iOS version of words exists this will be included
Documents in the cloud is designed to sync Mac, PC, & iOS devices if the app has this feature added
I don't think on the non-iOS side an iCloud-enabled app will be required. Since it syncs to PCs, my gut feeling is it'll work like it does for pictures: It'll show up somewhere in your Documents folder (photos via iCloud works off the Pictures directory).
this is where I start to get confused over it
still can get my head around the versions etc
by what you are saying there it sounds quite good, I was assuming it would be a folder somewhere that is hidden and only access via the apps
If it does indeed create a folder called 'Documents via Cloud' or similar, should be able to copy own things to it.........in theory
Yeah, Apple's been quiet on the whole Documents in the Cloud thing. Even watching the WWDC video didn't spill any info on how it syncs back to the desktop.
I know iOS apps will sync within each app's sandbox because that's all they can do. No file system on iOS means iOS Pages will have to go to the sandbox on iPhone and iPad.
PC and Mac apps don't have sandboxes. While Lion introduces sandboxes for apps, it's not a requirement. Photos on the PC go to My Pictures; on OS X they go to iPhoto, which has its own database that's external to the app package.
A part of me can see iWork '11 having a sandbox that ties into iCloud. But, the fact they have said it'll work on Windows means it's going to end up in a file system someplace.
I know iOS apps will sync within each app's sandbox because that's all they can do. No file system on iOS means iOS Pages will have to go to the sandbox on iPhone and iPad.
PC and Mac apps don't have sandboxes. While Lion introduces sandboxes for apps, it's not a requirement. Photos on the PC go to My Pictures; on OS X they go to iPhoto, which has its own database that's external to the app package.
A part of me can see iWork '11 having a sandbox that ties into iCloud. But, the fact they have said it'll work on Windows means it's going to end up in a file system someplace.
there are to many unanswered questions
Even with photos it seems to be confusing
I use Aperture with a referenced library which is stored in the Pictures folder, so for me I would want it to work the same on my Mac as it does on a PC
Personally, I don't believe that Documents in the Cloud will sync with the Mac. The Documents in the Cloud section of the iCloud page is the only one that doesn't show a Mac syncing data with an iOS device or mention it in the text. It only shows and mentions iOS to iOS. These same Mac-less images were used during the keynote. Steve didn't mention it and the demo was only iOS to iOS.
Apple is very careful about everything they do and, to me, they seem to be purposely avoiding mentioning the Mac and Documents in the Cloud in the same sentence.
My hope is that the just haven't totally worked this out yet and don't want to say it until they know for sure that it will be there in the Fall.
Apple is very careful about everything they do and, to me, they seem to be purposely avoiding mentioning the Mac and Documents in the Cloud in the same sentence.
My hope is that the just haven't totally worked this out yet and don't want to say it until they know for sure that it will be there in the Fall.
From Apple's iCloud page said:
Granted, it gives no actual info on how the data will reside on a Mac or PC.
Yeah, I can also see them introducing the long-overdue iWork update when iCloud launches this fall, if not around the Lion launch. Didn't we get clues that a new iWork was coming earlier in the year? Perhaps they waited on releasing it in order to not give away any references to the iCloud integration. In any event, iWork is long overdue for an upgrade anyways, iCloud or no iCloud.
iWork X or whatever they call it has to work on Lion because Lion has the architecture to do Delta updates which is vital in keeping the data that must be kept in sync to only the bare minimum. So there's no reason to deliver a new iWork with iCloud support before delivering Lion.