I’ve made it past the first hurdle in the 23 mobile things. My first five posts are finished, and I’m on to number 6. The past two weeks have been crazy, busy! But, it’s time to finish up this post that I started weeks ago.
23 Mobile Things #6 is Creating and Editing Docs
When it comes to word processing, I will admit that I still prefer my computer. If I am at a conference, I’d rather balance my laptop on my lap to take notes rather than using a mobile device. In district meetings though, I have worked for the past year and a half to go paperless. Yet, that’s for writing on documents or highlighting articles. Editing documents on the iPad is another story. So, Thing 6 explores the challenge of creating and editing docs on a device.
The word processing apps featured in Thing 6 include CloudOn and QuickOffice. I use Google Drive and Pages for different functions.
I downloaded and used CloudOn right when it was released, back when I was in a PC world. I craved the consistency between the computer program I was using and the iPad. As I work more in a Google Drive world, having Microsoft Word features on my iPad is no longer as important. But, engadget is reporting Microsoft Office for iPad may be coming soon. Would you try it?
I had QuickOffice in my purchased apps, but it was not on my iPad. I do like the fact that you can edit Word documents that are already stored in Drive. There are those rare occasions when I am faced with a document that is not translated to Docs. QuickOffice gives a way to edit those documents right on the iPad. Is there a desktop equivalent to this?
I use Google Drive quite a bit on the iPad if I do need to word process. You can mark files for offline use if you will not be connected to wifi. I have worked with teachers to have students open the full Desktop version in Safari to do formatting. While it isn’t always pretty, it is possible to do full MLA formatting from an iPad. Students can then jump onto a computer to more easily format the document as required.
I have used Pages sparingly. If I didn’t have Microsoft Word on my computer, I probably would use the Pages interface more often. Recently, I went on a search for a graphing software for a teacher. (We have not purchased Numbers for students.) I downloaded fifteen different graphing, step counting, and goal reaching apps. In the end, I went with a simple Pages graph to suggest for a teacher to use with a student to document progress.
In one of the last Apple Announcements, Pages was upgraded to include sharing capabilities. While this is still in beta, it starts to offer shared document options similar to Google Drive. I have experimented with these, but I have not begun to put shared Pages documents into my routine.
What is your own favorite word processing tool for the iPad?