Partners Sharing Mac/iOS files and data

[HSVBamaBob]

So, here is a possible outlier user issue, but it has bugged me ever since I retired so I am pitching this issue out there for discussion:

When we retied a couple of years ago my wife and I wanted to consolidate and be able to share all of our info - the Mac/iOS made this a hell of aa lot easier than our retired friends who use that "other" PC/phone OS

Still there are issues - and I am not sure I have come up with the best solution set, so let's discuss!

BLUF: with the exception of holiday & gifts to each other, my wife and I prefer to share all of our digital info. The goal here is *everything* Unfortunately, the "Personal" in computers can make seamless and automagic data sharing a real PITA or at least inconvenient at times ?

So far, we have been @ 90% successful in our quest by using the following apps:

Files and data: iCloud shared folders FTW! This was the EASIEST goal to accomplish.
For file organization other than folders, Spotlight is good, but we have been using EagleFiler as a file database. IMO, DevonThink is overkill (although I was a Devon SW Power User when I was working).

Notes: Apple Notes - when we were working, we were Notability Power Users but the inability of Notability to seamlessly share notes like Apple Notes does (shared Folders for example) made me stop using the software (yes, I have repeatedly emailed the DEVs about adding this feature).

Passwords, web sites & wallet info - 1Password for Families - I have not found anything else out there that can compare to 1Password. Have you?

Contacts and Calendars: I guess iCal & Contacts would work for us, but we have been BusyCal & Busy Contacts users since its release.
Calendars, ToDos are easy-peasy to share with shared ToDo Lists and Calendars.

Contacts, however are a PITA to remember to share (why can't Apple have a shared contacts group like a shared calendar?) Still, contacts are fairly static so not a big deal. It does seem like our Doctors group is getting larger though ?

Now the fun begins...

Email: Apple Mail works for us with a workaround: we have a custom domain hosted on iCloud with a "family" email address for most correspondence (still have personal emails but all the monthly expenses, banking, and ADL emails are in a shared mailbox). Before we got the email alias, we used the rules in apple mail to auto-forward mail to each other but this is messy and there is no good way to see if a email has been handled by your partner.
Our email alias lets both of us see if the email has been read, and whoever handles the email either files it away when complete or deletes the message. Manually forwarding other emails for action takes care of the emails that slip through the Alias/Rules crack.
Still, does someone out there have a better solution?


Photos - this is the big one: Yeah there are shared folders in Photos, and sure you can have a shared photos folder in iCloud - we use these BUT what we want to do is share *every* photo we take. Photography is our hobby and even though sharing photos is easy in Mac/iOS, it's a extra step I hate to take. And there are times when we just do not have the time to do this...
Example: Yesterday we were at a Ren Faire and shooting a Jousting match from different locations...It would be nice for my wife to see my photos and I hers in real time on our iPhones or iPad. Our personal workflow is to shoot with our iPhones and have our iPads running photos so we can real-time review the photos we shoot.

It would be awesome if there were a way for each of our photos to automagically appear in each of our photos apps. IS there an App for that? ?

Looking for advice here: is there is a better Photos workflow (or other Photo Software app) we should use? Any solution must be able to transparently sync across Mac & iPhone/iPad for both of us.

Software in general (Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Photo Editing, et al) are easy to share with iCloud file storage; the tough thing to find are apps that have both Mac & iOS versions. So, if someone has a software solution they use, please feel free to share!

Hoping this will be a great discussion and of interest to a lot of folks!

 

[mollyc]

offhand i would say the easiest way to accomplish this is to use a single computer with a single user/login.

 

[rhett7660]

Hey, were you at the Renfair in Irwindale... So was I... Great day! And we watched the jousting too!

I don't know if you want to invest in a NAS box or not, which makes sharing files pretty darn easy. I have pretty much been using Synology. We use their photo's app so that we can share all our photos with each other. There is an upload to the main server... however once they are uploaded, everyone can view them. It also serves as a back up if you will. I also have it backed up to another drive connected to my NAS so that I can back it up there too. I am also looking to move a third back up to the cloud. Photos are important...

 

[afterhours]

Email: Apple Mail works for us with a workaround: we have a custom domain hosted on iCloud with a "family" email address for most correspondence (still have personal emails but all the monthly expenses, banking, and ADL emails are in a shared mailbox). Before we got the email alias, we used the rules in apple mail to auto-forward mail to each other but this is messy and there is no good way to see if a email has been handled by your partner.
Our email alias lets both of us see if the email has been read, and whoever handles the email either files it away when complete or deletes the message. Manually forwarding other emails for action takes care of the emails that slip through the Alias/Rules crack.
Still, does someone out there have a better solution?

Um, this is one of the reasons for the development of IMAP accounts rather than POP accounts. With IMAP, everything is held on the server, including all organization. Your Mail app (what geeks call a 'client') can handle IMAP as easily as POP. Now, when you end up with thousands or many tens of thousands of email in an INBOX, you may want to be patient or better yet use the delete key alot -- or organize into other folders.

 

[afterhours]

Software in general (Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Photo Editing, et al) are easy to share with iCloud file storage; the tough thing to find are apps that have both Mac & iOS versions. So, if someone has a software solution they use, please feel free to share!

Why not simply use Pages/Numbers for your word processing and spreadsheet requirements? They are capable on all three types of apple devices.

 

[Ruggy]

You said you share all your digital info and there are only two of you?
Ok, so any password manager will do. I have nothing against 1password but you don't need a family account if you are sharing everything you just need one account and you both log into it.
I do this with my wife and it works fine. It's also a great way to share files and notes securely (I have a different password manager so I don't know what 1Password can do)
As for photos, if you are sharing all your digital info then you can log into each others cloud accounts in a browser like Safari.
So your wife could be shooting and looking at her pics in Photos then going to her browser where she's logged into your iCloud to see what you are doing.
I don't know any apps that would allow you to do it.
LibreOffice is a free full document suite available for both Windows and Mac. I expect there are still some differences though.
You could also try Google docs?? It is pretty good and it allows you to collaborate on documents because it does everything in the cloud, so you could create a document and your wife could look at it and correct your spelling ?
Schools use it a lot for that reason although I'm not a fan of using google. It is also free (if you forget they are making money out of your data).
Affinity photo by Serif has Windows and Mac versions. It's brilliant and very reasonably priced. Really brilliant!
Again, I expect there are some differences- bound to be. They have a suite so they have Publisher and Designer too. Very complete.