Transferring Files to iPad with DropBox for iPad

DropBox for iPad – Have your files follow you everywhere

I’m sure, I must have mentioned DropBox before, but it’s a useful service and it is well worth it to mention again. One of the best things about DropBox for iPad, in fact Dropbox wherever you use it, is that it is free. Now free is all well and good, but DropBox for iPad is incredibly useful for saving files to iPad or copying files to iPad. It is one of the top iPad business apps. Not only is it in the list of best iPad apps for business, it is spot on for all iPad users, whatever you do.

Here is a scenario which maybe you will have encountered. While you’re working on your MacBook Pro last night, as per usual you save your files and they get saved into your documents folder. The very next day, you are at your workplace and you need to be able to get your hands on that file, to proceed with your work. The only way that you are going to be able to get it, is to either go back to your computer and physically get it, or maybe you have some way that you can login to your computer across the Internet. There are applications which will let you do that, such as LogMeIn ignition, but you don’t have that set up on your iPad.

You Can Use Sub Folders In Dropbox For iPad

Wouldn’t it be nice to open up an application, and access your files wherever you are. Using DropBox for iPad, you can do that really quite easily. The first part of the solution, is to always safe your work on your main computer into a folder in the DropBox folder. You can save your work into subfolders in DropBox if you wish. Now if you go to DropBox for iPad and open up the application. With the iPad in landscape mode, you will see a list of files in DropBox on the left-hand side.

Open a PDF

All you have to do is to tap on a file that you would like to view and use, and it will open up in the right-hand side of the screen, full screen if you are using portrait mode. You can do other things with that file, depending on the type of file it is. I just opened a PDF document and on my iPad, I have the options of opening that file in Evernote, ThinkBook, Notarize, or iBooks.

Open a Text File

If you open up a text file in the DropBox for iPad application, as I just did, on my iPad you will see options to open in, Notarize, PlainText, iThoughts HD which is a mind mapping application, Pages, Nebulous Notes and I also can open it in Good Reader.

I have just tried opening a text file in Pages from the DropBox for iPad, application. The Pages application opened up and showed me a graphic of the file being imported into pages. Then I could see the document in my list of files in pages. I tapped upon the document and immediately I was in a screen that allowed me to edit the file, that I had just brought in from DropBox for iPad.

What Happens with Image Files?

For my next trick, bringing in a file from DropBox for iPad, was to have a look at an image file. This time when choosing the open in an button in the top right-hand corner of the application the only option available was to Save Photo, to the photo library.

Getting Numbers In On The Act

What about a spreadsheet file? I had a .csv file in DropBox for iPad and again, once I clicked on the open in button top right-hand corner, I was given the choices for the application I wished to use. In this case, apart from having some text editors available, I also had Numbers, which is the Apple spreadsheet application in the group of iWork iPad applications. This worked in the same way as when working with the Pages application, in Numbers I first saw an animation of the file being imported into Numbers. Then I was able to on the file within numbers to open it up. With that type of file it would be nice if I could have been able to open it up in Bento, the database application.

Opening Up an MS Word File from DropBox for iPad

The next file I decided to have a look at was a word doc file. The choices available to me for this file were Pages, GoodReader, Evernote and a couple of other applications, I have available on my iPad. On this occasion, I decided to open up the application in GoodReader, which seems to me to work in a similar way to DropBox. Of course I could have also chosen to open in Pages instead.

Syncing Applications Using DropBox for iPad

DropBox for iPad you’ll also find useful, for the ability to be able to synchronise some of your applications. one application that it is extremely useful to have DropBox installed on all of your devices is TextExpander. This will work in such a way as, you will have your text snippets that you have created on whichever device available, in all of your other devices, including the iPad. There are other applications which also synchronise via DropBox, one such application would be iProcrastinate. iProcrastinate is a particularly useful Get Things Done, type of application.

DropBox for iPad Is A Must Have Application

DropBox for iPad will help you with the storing or copy files to iPad, it is there for you to saving files on iPad, and for transferring files to iPad. So if you have not installed it already on your computer and also on your iPad, then go and do it now. So long as you have connectivity either through wi-fi or through 3G, when you are out, away from the home or office, you will be able to access any files that you have in your DropBox folder. One more thing – Did I mention that DropBox is great for sharing files with your friends?