iPad Office Suite - HELP!

[BostonDan]

Hi everyone,

I'm growing quite frustrated with my iPad. I was hoping to use this thing for productivity, but one major area it is missing is a good office product that supports the cloud. I want to be able to open docs right from the cloud, google drive preferably, and save them back to the cloud. The only product I can find that does this is QuickOffice Pro HD, but it doesn't have the formatting features I want, such as basic page setup functionality. Google Docs web interface was too frustrating to use. I've already tried Pages, Quickoffice HD, and Polaris Office. Any suggestions?

 

[f4780y]

My two picks are DocumentsToGo and CloudOn

 

[AllenSalar]

DocumentsToGo is good, I don't know about CloudOn.

But I'm currently using Office2 HD, and it's quite satisfying enough for me.

 

[axis]

I'm currently trying to work with apples iWork's suite and one or two additional apps.

 

[WillS]

Wow. Sounds like you've tried all the good ones. I've been using QuickOffice Pro with excellent results. However, most of my documents are formatted on my PC before I open them on the iPad for editing.
You might want to wait for the iOS version of Microsoft Office.

 

[AllenSalar]

You might want to wait for the iOS version of Microsoft Office.

As far as it goes, the one that I previously stated Office2 HD, is the iOS version of Microsoft Office, I think? ..

 

[bassman99]

Hi everyone,

I'm growing quite frustrated with my iPad. I was hoping to use this thing for productivity, but one major area it is missing is a good office product that supports the cloud. I want to be able to open docs right from the cloud, google drive preferably, and save them back to the cloud. The only product I can find that does this is QuickOffice Pro HD, but it doesn't have the formatting features I want, such as basic page setup functionality. Google Docs web interface was too frustrating to use. I've already tried Pages, Quickoffice HD, and Polaris Office. Any suggestions?

Good luck...
...the iPad is a (flea-powered) "consumption device". It can "make do" in a pinch (lots of reviews of various iPad office suites), but other than writers that need to be mobile (enter text, edit it on a "real computer"), it really can't handle the sort of work you might do with Office on a PeeCee. Other than "consumption" activities (which gets me away from my desktop), the only reasonable use-case for tablets seems to be what hard-copy "personal organizers" did in the past.

I'm sticking with iPad for the "instant on", great screen-resolution and great battery-life for now, but I can't wait until laptops/notebooks/netbooks catch-up so I can dump the iPad "toy". I knew what I was getting when I bought it, but it is frustrating to be "so close, yet so far".

For what you want, a Windows 8 tablet will probably be the answer. For me, though, I'll never go with the "Cloud" as long as there is any option (including Linux).

Note: I have Apple "Numbers", and like what I see from OmniPro, but I don't try to do much more than (frequent!) web-browsing and "personal organizer" work on a tablet. Sigh.

 

[WillS]

As far as it goes, the one that I previously stated Office2 HD, is the iOS version of Microsoft Office, I think? ..

Office2 HD is not a Microsoft product. It is compatible with Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations, but does not have all the capabilities of MS Office.

 

[BostonDan]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Each of the apps need to go just a little further in functionality for my needs, but not much more. I guess I'll still be carrying my netbook around until this improves.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[My_iPad]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Each of the apps need to go just a little further in functionality for my needs, but not much more. I guess I'll still be carrying my netbook around until this improves.

Thanks again everyone.

What functionality are you looking for? I'm a grad student among other things and I have typed some complex papers in Pages that include headers, running header, works cited and/or References page with hanging indents. Last semester I even typed up a research proposal for a research methods class and didn't have any issues. When you type a paper in Pages, it is saved to the iCloud so you can access it from any computer with Internet access and edit more if needed.

 

[BostonDan]

I really like Pages, but it doesn't have great cloud support. I want the ability to open from and save to the cloud without copying files locally, or at least sync directories or files I choose. Their solution of sharing/publishing is clunky and makes it painful to track file versions. In the best world, I would use Google Drive instead of the Apple cloud solution, I'd even be happy with Dropbox support. All the other word processors that had good support for the cloud lacked document page properties or were difficult to navigate IMHO. I don't think I'm asking for that much more.

 

[AllenSalar]

Office2 HD is not a Microsoft product. It is compatible with Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations, but does not have all the capabilities of MS Office.

Ah I see. Although I know that it is not a Microsoft product, I really didn't use it for my documents, anyways, thanks for the info.

 

[WillS]

Here's a product that anyone needing an office suite might find interesting. It is called 'OnLive Desktop'. After you have created an account (free version available), download the iPad app from the App Store. When you log from your iPad it appears as if you are looking at a PC with MS Office installed. Way cool. Files can be uploaded from your PC and edited on the iPad. Documents created on the iPad are stored in the OnLive 'Cloud'.
Here's a link to a discussion on this forum: http://www.ipadforums.net/apple-ipa...p-brings-windows-7-microsoft-office-ipad.html

This is my iPad with OnLive open