Word Document and Dragon For iPad 2

You can only install iOS (the iPad operating system) apps - and those can only be found in the itunes app store. There are a number of word processing apps, and most allow you to email a document out - I know Documents 2 Go, which I use, does.

Pages is an elegant app and well worth the money, especially since it can export as Word, PDF or Pages. But there are lots of writing and note taking apps that will do what you need.

One I like a lot is Writings, currently on sale for 99 cents. You can email the text, email as an attachment, or sync with DropBox. For my workflow, DropBox integration is key and the lack of that is one of my frustrations with Pages (even though I can use other apps to get the document to DropBox).

As for Dragon Dictation, I use it on the iPad to take extensive reading notes, so I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that it's limited to one sentence. I also use Dragon on my laptop and it performs amazingly well.

Yes, you can "preview" Word documents in Mail or DropBox and then use the "Open in" command (upper right corner; box with arrow) to open in Pages to save or edit. Not all apps will be available to "Open in" but Pages has very good integration from Mail and from DropBox. (Whereas I can't open a Word document from DropBox in Writings but I could, of course, copy the text of the Word document in DropBox and then create a document with that text in Writings.)

The focus on apps necessary in the iPad IOS can be frustrating at first, but my advice is just to get a few apps and start working. Then you can tune your approach to what works best for you. I'd invest in Pages and also get the free DropBox app and play around. The reason most of what I do revolves around DropBox is because that provides constant syncing of documents in my DropBox folder between my iPad and my MacBook Pro.

I also read, and annotate, a lot of PDFs (again storing and syncing via a folder in DropBox) and there are lots of PDF readers out there, including the built in iBooks. I prefer PDF Expert because of its clean interface and robust annotation features, but GoodReader also has lots of fans.

In the 3+ months I've had my iPad, I've gone from being joined at the hip to my MacBook Pro to doing a large portion of my work on my iPad.

If you do plan on writing more than a short comment or email on your iPad, I'd also invest in an Apple Wireless keyboard. It's lightweight and portable and will increase your productivity.

Definitely. It's a nice app - and you get spreadsheet functionality as well in the same app. If you spend a bit more on the Premium edition, you get powerpoint functionality and the ability to sync changes and new docs to Dropbox.

Writings is a text-only editor - it won't let you do any word documents. It will have trouble opening them, in all likelihood, and at the minimum will strip away any formatting.

I am also new to ipad 2 but not to Dragon. I am trying to figure out how to translate journals via Dragon on my ipad 2 to ultimately end up w a word document on my pc. It looks like I have to open the Dragon app, talk, and then email it but you said you are able to do a lot of dictation of notes. I have both Pages and Quickoffice apps...do you think the DropBox app is my missing link? Would like to ultimately have one full journal as one Word file like I do w Dragon on my pc and would ultimately like to be able to go back and forth so I can dictate on pc or ipad but I may be asking too much there. Can you be so kind as to walk me thru this?