Doc Editing

[gmosley]

Hello.
iPad newbie here. I keep my documents, photos and music on a Windows 10 PC. I can "see" the PC from the iPad and use the Arcam app to access and play my music files. I can also see my MS Word Docs on the PC and wonder how I can get them to open in a Word type editor so that I can alter, add to or even create new documents that I can save back on the PC.
Anyone?
Thanks.
George

 

[twerppoet]

There are versions of Word, Excel, and Power Point for the iPad. That is the most 'Word type' editor you can get.

On the iPad Mini and 9.7 inch iPads you can unlock most features with a free Office 365 account. Sign up for it on the Microsoft site (somewhere, I forget, you'll have to dig around for it).

On the iPad Pro you need a paid account. You can subscribe in the app after you download it, or sign in with an existing Office 365 account.

I have the Personal account for $6.99 an month. If I remember right it allows me to install Office on one desktop/laptop, one tablet, and one smartphone; which is plenty for my needs. Though I haven't bothered to install it on my computer. it also comes with OneDrive (cloud storage), making it easy to keep documents synced betwen all devices and computers. You can also use third party cloud services like DropBox.

You can also get OneNote, OneDrive, and a few other Microsoft apps on the iPad.

Note: If you subscribe in-app, be sure to wait a while before tring to sign in with it in the other apps. I didn't, and ended up with two subscriptions for a short time. Another words, only subscribe once, after that you sign-in; which might take a while since subscription accounts don't seem to propogate to Microsoft's servers immediately.

 

[twerppoet]

As an aside, I don't actualy use the Office apps much. I keep them for maximum compatibilty when working with other people and ogranizations that are stuck in the Office world.

 

[gmosley]

Thanks for the reply.
Just to clarify, though, I have no interest in using iCloud or any other "cloud" at this point. All my files are on the PC and that works for me when using my laptop. I have Word for iOS (30 day trial) and I like it but would be unwilling to pay for it if I can't use it to access files on my local wi-fi network.

 

[twerppoet]

OneDrive is Microsoft's cloud service, and comes with the Office 365 subscription.

There are no good ways (that I know of) to keep Office documents synced between iOS and your computer without a cloud service. There are ways to copy them back and forth, if you don't mind the headache of keeping track of which document is the most recent on what machine.

iTunes File share is a feature of the iTunes app on your computer. It's clunky, but it does work.
About File Sharing on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

An app like GoodReader can copy files back and forth using your local wi-fi network It does this by supplying you with an URL/IP address you can enter into your computer's internet browser; where you'll get an interface for coping files. Since Word does not have this capabilty built in, you end up two-stepping everything. Probalby the clumbsiest way to do things.

There a few apps that do the GoodReader trick, and also act as Document Providers in iOS. That means you can use that app to move files on/off the iPad using a internet browser on the computer, then access them directory in Word. However, you can only do this if you use iCloud Drive on the iPad; and you've already said you don't want to use any cloud services.

There are several USB drives with a Lightning port on one side and a USB port on the other. Using a companion app you can copy files from/to the iPad. Like the GoodReader solution, it's a two step process that involves using the iOS app twice. Once to copy to/from the computer, and then again to copy to/from Word.

In short, other than iTunes File Sharing, I don't know of any way to copy files directly to/from Word on on the iPad that does not involve a cloud service; Microsoft's OneDrive, Apple's iCloud Drive, DropBox, Box, or a few other lesser known services.

At least not for the Office apps. A few other apps have WebDav services, which you could (theoretically) install on your computer and use to share folders. Apple's Pages is the only one I'm certain off, and while it does have some Word compatibilty, I don't recomend using it for documents that you intend to move back and forth between platforms. It converts the files to it's native format, and no matter how good a conversion is, if you convet a file back and forth often enough you're bound to lose some formatting along the way.