I have all Macs in my business Can a colleague (partner) who only has a Windows computer use iCloud drive if I share my iCloud drive with them? And if I put Pages and Numbers documents in the iCloud drive, can they open those documents in the iCloud ?
Mac mini, macOS 10.15
Create an Apple ID on your PC - hhttps://support.apple.com/HT204316#itunes
Web-only access to iCloud - Apple Support
"What is web-only access to iCloud?
Web-only access to iCloud lets you share and collaborate with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, even if they don't have access to an Apple device. That means you can invite anyone to share a file. Then they can use their web-only account to access the file and make edits, without leaving iCloud. It includes access to iCloud Drive, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Notes for iCloud, and 1GB of free storage for any notes and documents you create."
Create an Apple ID on your PC - hhttps://support.apple.com/HT204316#itunes
Web-only access to iCloud - Apple Support
"What is web-only access to iCloud?
Web-only access to iCloud lets you share and collaborate with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, even if they don't have access to an Apple device. That means you can invite anyone to share a file. Then they can use their web-only account to access the file and make edits, without leaving iCloud. It includes access to iCloud Drive, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Notes for iCloud, and 1GB of free storage for any notes and documents you create."
Hello stevecimelli,
Here are several links about iCloud for Windows.
What is iCloud for Windows? - https://support.apple.com/HT204301
Download iCloud for Windows - Apple Support - https://support.apple.com/HT204283
Set up and use iCloud for Windows - Apple Support - https://support.apple.com/HT201391
Your colleague can use ICloud Drive but it doesn't mention if they can also use Pages, etc. That suite is for Macs only in terms of applications but I don't know about online equivalents. That might be the main problem with sharing files in that format. I don't know how well PC based programs are at interpreting Mac formats.
I was told the Windows user could open the file within the iCloud by double-clicking on it where the appropriate app within iCloud would know the person accessing the file was a Windows user, open the file and convert it to Windows where it could then be downloaded in that format form the iCloud to the Windows machine.
Has anybody used this and knows if it works and works well? It seems plausible since the Apple Apps can so easily export the files for saving or posting it to an email message. This would be very helpful for Apple's hegemonical outreach to the poor folks still using Windows apps.
Versus Microsoft's hegemonical approach where everybody send me files in .docx format assuming I have Word (which I do not)? ;-) I'll add that people have been sending me stuff as .docx instead of something more neutral such as .rtfd for a lot longer than Pages has been on the planet. It is assumed to be the universal format for files. I never used Word, WordPerfect was my preference.
I haven't used online versions of Apple's officeware but I have used Google's and it seems to work well so I assume Apple's would too.
One more follow up. If I have a Windows user and have granted them 'read only' access, can they open a Pages or Numbers file then select Download and convert it to Word or Excel? I'd like to be able to share the files, but not have anyone go in and mess up the file and folder organization, etc.
That was a great suggestion. Thanks Limnos. Do you or does anyone else know off hand if someone with only a Windows machine can get an iCloud account?
Steve
Sorry, I don't know. I do 99% of my writing in TextEdit and only use a fancier editor to open documents sent to me by others. I don't even have Pages on this computer and have never used it.
Sharing documents in iCloud with Windows users
