You are here: Home / Tablet, Slate PC & UMPC / Apple iPad / Apple iPad Review-File and Documents Management-DocumentsToGo and iWorks

Apple iPad Review-File and Documents Management-DocumentsToGo and iWorks

April 8, 2010 By 10 Comments
| | Share the knowledge |

In this article I will try to give you an insight of two great document applications for the Apple iPad. Namely the DocumentToGo from DataViz and the iWork applications (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) from Apple.

looking at both programs I have to tell you in advance that at the time of writing this article the DocumentToGo premium version only is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch version but will run on the iPad. The resolution will be lower but is workable and still powerful.(see video below).

Update: DataViz just notified me that they are working on an update to take advantage of the high resolution screen on the iPad

DocumentsToGo

The DocumentsToGo premium application is $14.99 in the App Store and has the following features;

  • View, Edit & Create Microsoft Word, Excel & Powerpoint files.(support for Office 2007 &2008)
  • View Adobe PDF, Apple iWork & other files like images, etc
  • View, Edit and Sync files stored in your Google Docs
  • Send & Receive multiple Microsoft Exchange and Gmail account attachments.
  • Free Desktop application with over the air, personal network 2-way synchronization.
  • Synchronization is with individual files or folders.
  • Synchronization with many different platforms (see list)

Please see the video below for a demo on the Apple iPad.


iWorks

The 3  iWork applications from Apple are:

  1. Pages a word processing application ($9.99)
  2. Numbers a spreadsheet application ($9.99)
  3. Keynote a slide show application ($9.99)

These three application have a big difference in performance since these are self standing application with almost full desktop functionality.

Some features are the following:

  • Desktop experience with multi touch
  • import images, text, graphs from library, other iWork Apps and Safari.
  • Import and Export from desktop to iPad using iTunes.(Apps tab in iTunes). No Synchronization.
  • Import Word,Excel, Powerpoint into iWorks apps.
  • Export iWork apps in iWork files and PDF and share them by e-mail
  • Upload to iWorks.com to share with others.

See the video below of a great demo of the iWorks appd on the iPad.  I personally don’t have these on my iPad, but this video shows you the experience.

Conclusion

If the Apple iPad is going to be your on the road browsing or quick access device I would recommend the DataViz DocumentsToGo premiumapplication for $14.99. DocumentsToGo has great easy syncing options with your Desktop, exchange, Gmail and Google Docs. Unfortunate it is in the iPhone format. I am hoping upon a quick update to make it fully compatible with the Apple iPad. So don’t rush in getting iWorks apps if you think DocumentsToGo will be best for you.

Update: DataViz just notified me that they are working on an update to take advantage of the high resolution screen on the iPad

But if you want to use your iPad as a full function day to day work device I would recommend investing the $30 to have the Apple iPad version of Pages, Keynote and Numbers. I just wish it had some cloud and desktop syncing with it. Right now it only works with import and export using iTunes.

Filed Under: Apple iPad Tagged With: , , , ,
About Johan van Mierlo

Johan van Mierlo has been writing and reviewing for the online communities since the launch of the handheld computer Palm IIIe and Compaq iPaq in 1998. He owned and tested many mobile devices including Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, Android, Apple OS iPhone and many different GPS and Mobile products.

Johan was awarded MVP Windows Phone Consumer (Previous MVP Windows Phone and MVP Windows Mobile Devices) by Microsoft in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 for his community activities.

You can follow Johan on Twitter

  • Bert

    Hello Johan,

    Thanks for the quick respond to my little request. Could you tell us how the iPad handles PDF? The most digital stuff I use is in PDF format and I need to zoom in and out often.

    Kind regards,

    Bert

    P.s. Keep up the good work guy’s!

    • http://www.mobilityminded.com Johan van Mierlo

      Hi Bert,

      According to iWorks it should be able to read them (import and from e-mail). In DocumentsToGo it views it with no issues, from all synced locations. zoom and rotation as well. able to rotate, email, etc

  • Bert

    Hey Johan,

    For Pages, Keynotes and Numbers, do i need a US Apstore account? I can’t find them via iTunes on my Mac Book Air. I’ll go for both, Documents to go Premium and the keynotes stuff etc..

    Regards,

    Bert

    • http://www.mobilityminded.com Johan van Mierlo

      Hi Bert,

      I guess you need an US account because they are featured of course being an Apple product in the US app store.
      In regards to DocumentsToGo premium this is still an iPhone version, but workable on the iPad. DataViz did communicate back to me that they will provide a free update to excisting users to make it a higher resolution for the iPad.

      • Bert

        Okey how to setup a US account for the Apstor….I’m a noob on that one. I have the iPad now in my hands woooow wat a device!

        Regards,

        Bert

      • http://www.mobilityminded.com Johan van Mierlo

        Hmm, on the iPad you van change account or set up new. Or on the iTunes on your computer on the right top you can change settings.

  • Bert

    Hi Johan,

    Looks like I should be your neighbor, you need a valid billing address in the U.S..
    Unfortunately for me no pages etc.. Strange actually, that they not sell worldwide.

    Kind regards,

    Bert

  • dom

    The big limitation with the Ipad right now is not being able to save documents from the Ipad to Google Documents or “Dropbox”. Everyone is saying this is because Ipad’s browser is identified on these sites as a “mobile browser”.

    I wish there was an application/website/upgrade that could resolve this limitation.

    • http://www.mobilityminded.com Johan van Mierlo

      Hi Dom,

      Actually now you can. The latest version of DocumentsToGo let’s you save documents from your email or other offline cloud services like drop box and google docs save to your Local iPad, desktop folder, drop box, google docs. Right from your iPad.

      I hope to have a. New review very soon

  • http://Www.conferenceinterpreter.com Robert

    How do I save as PDF usin docstogo or pages on my iPad. Just like i do it using word on my pc.