some simple things I would like to know about how the ipad manages documents

[PAC88]

I'm thinking about getting one of these tomorrow (or at least try) but before I do, there are a few things I want to understand first.

1. How does the ipad manage documents. For example, if I'm using pages or something on the the ipad and save a document.. where does it save to if I want to open it later to work on? Then, more importantly, can I quickly transfer documents through bluetooth to and from my computer? or do you have to use itunes for tranfering everything? I've never owned an iphone, ipod touch and rarely use itunes so I have more learning to do than others.

My last two questions are.. can you print from the ipad? and will there be external keyboards for landscape mode?

thank you!

 

[DreamPod]

Taken from Andy Inahtko's review:

There are a bunch of ways to move your desktop files onto your iPad. The conventional conduit is iTunes. iTunes manages and syncs data between your desktop PC or Mac and the iPad in the same way it manages an iPhone or iPod. The iPad lacks the open file system of most computers, but via iTunes, you can copy files into the storage areas of individual apps and retrieve files that those apps have created.

Even without iTunes, the iPad OS has a simple mechanism for sharing documents between apps. Each app can register its supported document types with the OS. Each app can also hand off files to other apps, by asking the OS for a list of installed software capable of opening a Word or Photoshop or Comic Book Archive file, say, and then allowing the user to launch the app of their choice. It’s not quite “double-click to launch the app and open the file” but it’s close enough.

Emailing a document to yourself is just the simplest way of moving an individual file into an iPad app without going through a formal iTunes sync. The basic “Open with” feature will have many different uses. For example, the iPad makes the perfect case for cloud storage, in which a directory of your most important files lives on a remote server that you mounts on the desktops of all of your computers like a local folder. I can work on my desktop PC or Mac all morning, opening and saving files as usual to my cloud storage. Then when it’s time to head for The Bagel Place With The Wifi, I don’t even need to bother “packing up” any files. When I get there, I just open my iPad’s Box.net or Dropbox app (both are in the works), tap on the Word file I was noodling with in the office, and use “Open With ...” to move it into my word processor.

You cannot print directly from the iPad, you must transfer the document to a separate computer first. You *can* use any bluetooth keyboard; you would just have to get a stand for the device to keep it upright in landscape (the official Apple case can prop it up).

To answer your question where Pages would save a document to, it saves to...Pages. There is no real way to browse the file system of the device, you just open Pages, and it shows all the Pages documents currently stored on the device, showing each document's first page scaled down a bit and the name. iTunes then syncs all your Pages documents into a Pages folder on your computer hard drive.

 

[PAC88]

thanks, that sounds great. I have one more question..

I read that excerpt from the article you quoted and really like the idea of emailing documents. He mentioned emailing documents to the device which is a great idea that never really crossed my mind till now. But will the ipad also let you email documents created on the device?

 

[DreamPod]

Yeah, there's three options to export documents from Pages: Send via Email, Share via iWork.com (send the doc to an account you setup on iWork.com, so you can access it from any computer on the web), or Export as a "Pages" file, PDF, or Word file (I assume so other apps on the device could access the file).

 

[upsguy27]

Taken from Andy Inahtko's review:



You cannot print directly from the iPad, you must transfer the document to a separate computer first. You *can* use any bluetooth keyboard; you would just have to get a stand for the device to keep it upright in landscape (the official Apple case can prop it up).

To answer your question where Pages would save a document to, it saves to...Pages. There is no real way to browse the file system of the device, you just open Pages, and it shows all the Pages documents currently stored on the device, showing each document's first page scaled down a bit and the name. iTunes then syncs all your Pages documents into a Pages folder on your computer hard drive.

Actually, there are apps in the App Store that let you print.

 

[PAC88]

this is awesome.. I never thought I'd actually be excited about this thing. I want one even more since I know it will basically do everything I'm planning.

Now if there is an adapter which will let me connect a CF memory card (like the one for the sd card) this thing would be perfect.

 

[upsguy27]

this is awesome.. I never thought I'd actually be excited about this thing. I want one even more since I know it will basically do everything I'm planning.

Now if there is an adapter which will let me connect a CF memory card (like the one for the sd card) this thing would be perfect.

Ehh... not by Apple, but maybe a third party will make it.

 

[macduke]

this is awesome.. I never thought I'd actually be excited about this thing. I want one even more since I know it will basically do everything I'm planning.

Now if there is an adapter which will let me connect a CF memory card (like the one for the sd card) this thing would be perfect.

The camera connection kit comes with a USB port, so you can just connect your camera over USB and all should be fine.

I'm really excited too. Expect printing and multitasking in OS 4.0 later this summer.

 

[upsguy27]

The camera connection kit comes with a USB port, so you can just connect your camera over USB and all should be fine.

I'm really excited too. Expect printing and multitasking in OS 4.0 later this summer.

Would your camera just show up in the Photos app then? With the option to import?

 

[The Mad Hatter]

The camera connection kit comes with a USB port, so you can just connect your camera over USB and all should be fine.

I'm really excited too. Expect printing and multitasking in OS 4.0 later this summer.

Yeah, too bad they don't sell the adaptors individually. I have NO use for the SD reader. About the only thing that I have that uses a SD card, is my Wii.

 

[marksman]

I read something earlier that said these documents could be synched wirelessly, I believe it was in a PCWorld faq or something.

Oh wait this was the blurb from the PcWorld FAQ:

The iPad apps have access to a file-sharing area, which you can see when you attach the iPad to a Mac or PC via iTunes. In the Apps tab, there's a File Sharing area with two interface areas, Apps and Documents, next to each other. Click on an app in the Apps area, and a list of its files will appear in the Documents area. You can drag compatible files into this area--for example, Pages and Word files when Pages is selected--and even drag them out of that area out onto your desktop. You can even rename the files right from within iTunes. It's all a bit rudimentary, but it does seem to work. This system should allow app developers to ditch the desktop-uploader apps they've had to use up to now.

And this was from AppleInsider:

iPad's new document sharing model

With the iPad, Apple demonstrated new multitouch versions of desktop-class iWorks apps with user interfaces that need to open and save documents. There's still no file system browser with open and save panels. Instead, each app displays the files it knows about at launch for the user to navigate through directly.

An iPad developer has revealed to AppleInsider how this new mechanism works, without also requiring that users learn about the complexity of the underlying file system. Rather than iPad apps saving their documents into a wide open file system, apps on iPad save all their documents within their own installation directory. Delete the app and you'll clean out all of its related files. This is how the iPhone OS already works.

Additionally, iPad apps can now specify that their documents be shared wirelessly. With that configuration, the iPad will make available each apps' documents, allowing the user to wirelessly mount their iPad via WiFi and simply drag and drop files back and forth between it and their desktop computer.

On the desktop system, the iPad will show up as a share containing a documents folder for each app that enables sharing. For example, a user with iWork apps will be able to wirelessly connect to their iPad as if it were a directly connected drive, and simply drag spreadsheet, presentation, or word processing files between their local system and the mobile device as desired.

Documents copied to the app's shared folder will be graphically presented by the app when it launches, sparing users from having to figure out where to look for their document files and avoiding any need to sort through different kinds of documents. The document listing also presents each file as a large preview akin to Quick View on the Mac OS X desktop.

I found all this information a little odd, because I have not heard anything about wireless mounting anywhere else.

 

[zedsdead]

I read something earlier that said these documents could be synched wirelessly, I believe it was in a PCWorld faq or something.

Oh wait this was the blurb from the PcWorld FAQ:



And this was from AppleInsider:



I found all this information a little odd, because I have not heard anything about wireless mounting anywhere else.

So far the reviews said everything was managed through iTunes.

 

[marksman]

So far the reviews said everything was managed through iTunes.

That is what I thought. Imagine my shock when I saw the wireless stuff. That would be amazing. So I don't know where they came up with that.

 

[BobZune]

That is what I thought. Imagine my shock when I saw the wireless stuff. That would be amazing. So I don't know where they came up with that.

There is at least one print app (PrintCentral) that also lists the WiFi mounting capability. If they can do it, so can other third party applications.