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How can I save a copy of my printed docs on my computer?

Can I sync Microsoft Word documents with documents edited on my iPad?

  • This is a long and drawn-out question/issue, so I really appreciate your help: I'm a writer and write my stories in MS Word and save the documents to a USB drive.  I recently received an iPad as a gift and realized that it'd be really helpful to sometimes use that (w/ keyboard) to work on the writing because I commute frequently and lugging around my 15" MB Pro can be a pain.  Anyway, I really like being able to have my documents on an external drive.  Perhaps I'm old-fashioned (even though I'm in my 20s) but I don't like to depend entirely on internet/cloud-based services.  I like having some sort of "hard," offline copy.  SO, again, I'm wondering there's any way to sync documents that I edit on my iPad (using which app...?) with the Word documents on my USB.  For example, say I have a document called "Story" and in the document is written, "This is a story."  If I transfer this document to a text-editor (which one...?) on my iPad and add to that sentence, "This is a story about learning how to use a computer," is there any way to seamlessly save this new, edited document in MS Word on my USB (WITHOUT having to convert/email/download it as a new document).  I have tons of Word docs on this USB (Story 1, Story 2, and so on) and I enjoy using Word so it'd be a shame to have to stop using it and let that (expensive) application gather dust. I'm assuming that this is a lofty and impossible dream.  If it is, can you recommend any advice as to systems of doc editing and syncing that might best provide me with what I'm looking for? Thanks so much for reading this, and thanks in advance for all of your help! (And please let me know if there's a better way to phrase this question.)

  • Answer:

    Pages will natively edit Word documents - and share them via iCloud Evernote is an excellent text editing system, coupled with their own cloud-based solution. Other iPad solutions use Dropbox as the solution to getting stuff on and off the device. If we all cross our fingers, the excellent Scrivener will make an appearance on the iPad soon. Scrivener is designed for creative writing (unlike Word). But the iPad can not use external USB file systems. Nor will it at any point in the future.

Glyn Williams at Quora Visit the source

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I use my iPad for class work so I feel your pain, however this is a solution I found helpful. Use either DropBox or Box.net to sync your documents,  and install the same app on your ipad. Copy the files you use to the sync folder on your computer. This will allow you to easily sync files to your ipad. Once they are synced you can edit them by clicking the export button inside the ipad app, and export them to pages (or whatever you use). Same goes for when you are done editing, just click the export button in  your editing app and choose your sync app. Now since you like keeping a hard back up, I would just suggest you copy files to a backup drive. Unfortunately this is the easiest way, because an iPad cannot use a USB drive (no port and all).

Jeremy Spencer

There are two other options you might look into. I haven't researched either in depth, so you'd need to spend some time to see if either would fit your needs. Both of these assume you would be using Pages on you iPad, which is compatible with Word documents. Use an external hard drive rather than USB. This Seagate one specifically says it supports documents. http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/wireless/seagate-satellite/?intcmp=bac-en-us-home-hero2-goflex-satellite Use a WiFi transfer app from the App Store to transfer docs directly from one device to the other. Search for "document transfer" in the App Store. This would cut out your USB drive altogether, though you could still copy files from your MB to USB as a backup, and also many support Dropbox, etc. You might also check out http://www.ipadforums.net, try doing some searches, or create an ID and ask the question. I've generally found topic-specific forums to be helpful.

Claire Stahl

Ah!  No you cant .... easily. What you can do though is: Sync your MB Pro with your iPad using iCloud or Dropbox Use the dropbox to open your files in an online editor such as Google Docs (which is kind of rudimentary) Upload the changes back to Dropbox (automatic) Have the changes available on MB Pro If you are kind of write who doesnt care much about formatting you can use Evernote on your MB Pro to write and then use the same app on iPad to edit or continue from where left.

Manish Sharma

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