Digging my Apple iPad, but while some of the documents I work with are written in Apple’s Pages application, many more of the docs I get are from Microsoft Word, with the “.doc” filename suffix. Is there any way to view – and hopefully even — edit them on my iPad?
This is a great question and one that I expect lots of Apple iPad owners are going to have, whether it’s for Pages, or one of the other iWorks applications (Numbers, Keynote). The solution is easy if you’re willing to poke around a bit, and if you’ve already read through my tutorial on how to share Keynote presentations on your iPad, you’re one big step ahead, but it’s not obvious.
Here’s the trick: you’ll need to install the Pages app from the App Store (at $9.99, it’s a great deal, btw!) then plug your iPad into your computer. For this demo, I’ll show the screen shots from my MacBook Pro, but it should work the same from any Mac.
Click on the “Apps” tab:
Now you see the screen that lets you choose which apps you want to have on your iPad and organize them as you desire:
Ready for that big secret? Scroll below this area and you’ll see….
Ahhhh…. there ya go! Click on “Pages”, then click on “Add…”, then select the documents you want to work with. I chose both a .doc and a .pages file, as you can see:
That’s all you have to do on the Mac side, which isn’t too bad once you learn where the secret data library is located. Resync your iPad and the data files will transfer across as if by magic!
Next, launch Pages on your iPad. The opening screen looks like this:
The folder icon in the top right is what you need to choose so you can get to your newly created document archive. Tap it and you’ll see all the documents you transfered onto the iPad:
Tap on the document you want — I tapped on the Word document — and you’ll see the import progress bar:
Finally, it’ll finish up and, possibly, show this:
Now you can tweak and modify it as appropriate or just view it. Pages on the iPad isn’t a fully functional editor, but it should keep you moving while on the road.
As with Keynote, I encountered many problems with document portability and font libraries. I expect they’ll be fixed, but don’t be surprised if you need to tweak your document to get it to look great on your iPad.
Now, still looking for iPad help? If so, you’re lucky because ya found it right here!
You can view and edit all types of MS Office documents including word, excel and powerpoint on AstralPad. Download the app for free on the iPad. Learn more at http://www.astralpad.com/
If you get a free file storage or file viewer (like USB Disk) from the App Store instead of Pages you can view any MS Office document. just follow the screen instructions to drag and drop an Office file to the app. USB Disk will open older MS Office files and the newer versions (docx etc.)
Hi, this is a great help but I am having trouble. When I click on the + and select the iTunes folder the documents that I uploaded aren’t highlighted for me to select.
Please assist if you can?
This is why I love the Internet. If you know how to read, and have Internet access we don’t have to live in the dark ages anymore. Thank you for helping us learn more about this, all the examples you really made it user friendly to understand. I don’t need it but my husband dose bad, but he will not learn about this stuff on his own I go find the info and integrate it then I cross my fingers and hope it works. But I live for this kind of stuff so it makes us a good match. Remember you promised no soliciting my email. How come when I unsubscribe to a site it still will not stop? I have a Mac and I don’t see any this is spam options. Blessings Patrice
Thanks for your helpful comments.
Thank you so much for this short tutorial! It was fantastic! I have a PC and following your steps for a Mac was no problem (in fact it was exactly the same!). Thanks again!
I feel so stupid! You guys at Apple, your so sly!
Yeah, nevermind. Dumb, dumb error on my part.
When I tried this, Pages didn’t show up as an app under File Sharing. I have the iPad 2.
FOR ANYONE THT CANT FIND THE FOLDER: tap the plus icon in the top left and then tap the iTunes button.
Hi Dave,
Thank you SOO much! I have just done something in moments on my ipad2 following your instructions that I have taken weeks trying to work out.
You’re a star and it’s so great that someone is prepared to share their knowledge freely.
Thank you!
Hello Dave,
Still have not seen if the demo you have presented works on a PC?
Thanks
Is there any tablet that takes a thumb drive?
Thanks!
Yeah, what if I have a PC?
how can I do it if I have a PC?
I’ve done everything like you showed us and I still cannot see the folder. I sync and nothing appears. Don’t really know what I am doing wrong because it works just like you said, but no folder or anything appears. I chose folders in Word. I also am using an iPad 2.
Any suggestions?
On iPad 2 “folder” icon was replaced with “+” icon in the top left.
hi
not sure if first post was sent so here goes again. I am new to this and want to know if i can view and work on documents fr my pc on ipad 2? i have pages downloaded and now need help.
documents are in word and excel and i have windows xp
thanks
betty
I tried this on my iPad 2, but does not work. Any suggestions? I’ll try a third time, but so far, nothing after 2 attempts. Thanks.
This is the best app ever for me. Now I can take my docs anywhere and work on them without having to bring my big laptop all I need is my ipad2.
Finally a good explanation. Thanks! Another problem is viewing MS project files on the iPad, or iPhone for that matter. A couple companies have apps for that, such as iLiveProject. Soon we’ll have all of MS on the pads ! (riiiight)
I tried to scroll but nothing came up -.-”
awesome, thanks so much!
For those of you who don’t see the little folder icon, this method can still work; if you see an icon in the bottom tray that has a down arrow and a little tray-looking thing, use that instead.
Worked perfectly for me, thank you so much!!!
Brilliant! Been trying to work out how to do this for ages.
Dave, You Is The Man…… Thanks
Works on .docx??
Thanks and kisses
Great explanation !! Still can’t make it work tho.
Using a PC with Vista and Word 2003. Can do all your steps but the folder icon in the top rt. corner of the I pad never appears. So, I haven’t been able to see a list or open any docs in the
ipad. Any thoughts?
Can I use my iDisk documents with this solutions?
is there any way to have microsoft word in my IPAD
I did as you suggested…and iTunes shows my documents loading to iPad…then when I open Pages…I don’t have the folder in the upper right hand corner like you do…
This is an awesome example for people who don’t understand the subject but I didn’t get it yet so……. If you can help me,I will thank you very much for this problem because I love Microsoft Office Word on my computer and I want to download it on my iPad .
How do I download Text Message ringtones in my Iphone 3G? How do I delete ringtones that I downloaded in my Ringtone in my Iphone 3G? Thanks a lot!
What if I have a PC?
I have spent an hour on the web even at the apple site trying to figure out this word file to ipad thing…your visual explanation was fantastic and so straightforward. What a breath of fresh air–someone who can take a complicated idea or instructions and make it simple. Thank You.
Your article was great. But I do have one question, will this process work with a PC?
I can not tell you how long I spent trying to figure out how to do this… boy do I feel stupid!!!
Thanks for the very informative article!