Q: Locking spreadsheet on iPad/iPhones only.
-
May 19, 2016 7:14 PMby SGIII,Well, bad luck on having to use "abysmal things" at work.
Regarding 'Read Only' have you checked out the options presented after clicking the 'share' icon in the toolbar.
There is no easy way that I know of to "link" to the Calendar app though you can drag and drop events into Numbers from the Calendar app.
As for the mobile devices question this isn't really the place to ask as this is space devoted to Numbers for Mac. But in my experience on the iPad standard pinch in and pinch out gestures work well.
SG
-
May 19, 2016 7:26 PMby GA Warehouse,I have, yes.
On the iMac it only gives me share via link on iCloud (pointless, the file already resides on the iCloud), or send a copy via Mail or Messages.
On the iPad it only gives me share via link on iCould (still pointless), send a copy, or open in another app.
None of which appear to be useful.
I'll have to do some investigating to see if your calendar suggestion is useful to our needs, but thanks for the suggestion nonetheless.
The pinch zoom in/out does work well on the mobile devices, but we're dealing with some reasonably computer illiterate people here so we want to try and keep things at the most basic functionality level possible for the mobile devices that will be in use...
That, and you can't seem to zoom out past 50% - which still cuts off 1/3 of the sheet(s) being displayed.
Thanks.
-
May 19, 2016 7:35 PMby SGIII,GA Warehouse wrote:
On the iMac it only gives me share via link on iCloud (pointless, the file already resides on the iCloud), or send a copy via Mail or Messages.
Pointless, except for those users who want other people to be able to click a link and immediately access the document in the browser or download it to their Mac or mobile device.
On the iPad it only gives me share via link on iCould (still pointless), send a copy, or open in another app.
Yes pointless, except for those who want to be able to access a shared document.
The pinch zoom in/out does work well on the mobile devices, but we're dealing with some reasonably computer illiterate people here so we want to try and keep things at the most basic functionality level possible for the mobile devices that will be in use...
Yes, it's so hard to learn pinch in/out that young kids and the elderly who've never used a computer in their life need at least 10 minutes to learn how!
Good luck with your project.
SG
-
May 19, 2016 8:18 PMby GA Warehouse,No need for the condescending remarks.
The share functions are pointless to our needs, as we're all on the same network and all have access to the files stored in the iCloud... what I'm wanting is that the files stored on the iCloud be 'editable' only on the iMac, and 'viewable' only on the portable devices - at all times.
It's very easy for a computer illiterate person to accidentally edit things on a touch screen device and not know how they did it or how to revert it back to its original state... despite pinch zooming being so simple, hence the hope that you can make certain devices 'read only'.
Thanks for the suggestions anyway.
Maybe using the Calendar is best for sending alerts to the portable devices instead... I'll have to further investigate our options.
-
May 19, 2016 11:40 PMby Barry,"Tone in text form is entirely subjective."
Were that true, there'd be no difference in 'tone' between the text of John Donne and Mickey Spillane.
In the text above, "abysmal" and "pointless" set the tone, and perhaps the expectations, pretty clearly.
To your questions:
Historically, Apple has provided applications whose documents are editable by default, ClarisWorks, later renamed AppleWorks (the Mac version, not the application of that name for Apple ][ computers), is the first I used that offered password protection. The password permitted opening the file. Once opened, it was editable by anyone.
AppleWorks did offer the ability to lock individual cells; in Numbers, this ability applied only to individual Tables. Neither lock was/is password protected. The lock prevents accidental damage, but any user can turn it off with a menu command.
For numbers, that's still true, and I suspect it's true across devices as well, though I've so far steered relatively clear of the cloud and don't have much direct experience with cross platform viewing of Numbers files.
PDF might provide a suitable read-only format. Not as flexible for reading, but less editable by accident.
Regards,
Barry
-
May 20, 2016 4:08 AMby SGIII,GA Warehouse wrote:
what I'm wanting is that the files stored on the iCloud be 'editable' only on the iMac, and 'viewable' only on the portable devices
Not sure how much you have experimented with this (after clicking the 'share' icon) but it may give you something that works for you. It makes for easy viewing via a desktop browser (Mac or PC). For iOS devices I think you have to download, though I haven't looked at that recently. Should be easy enough to experiment with, though.
Excel is also a solution you could consider. Its sharing and collaboration features appear to offer more controls on what is editable and what is not, though I haven't tried them recently.
And you can export export to pdf from Numbers via the File menu this way. The pagination is not always what you want, though.
SG
