Can Word documents be stored in iCloud?

stephen.bradley wrote:

Sorry mate, it's unlikely Apple will get on board. They're trying to accomplish two things with this approach: simplicity and security. By sandboxing data so it's married to one particular app, they ensure that a badly written or malignant application can't modify/delete/access your data, it can only damage what it creates.

Mate?

I never said they would get on board, maybe read before post?

Rude much, *******?

The reply was misdirected to you instead of the previous poster who stated:

Apple really needs to get on board with this... 😟

I'm sorry for disturbing your almighty. A simple, polite, heads up that you weren't the right poster would have been sufficient.

stephen.bradley wrote:

Rude much, *******?

The reply was misdirected to you instead of the previous poster who stated:

Apple really needs to get on board with this... 😟

I'm sorry for disturbing your almighty. A simple, polite, heads up that you weren't the right poster would have been sufficient.

A simple check of who you were replying too would have done it better, but then you would have to accept your own mistake, wouldn't you.

Yes I agree. The Apple iCloud does exactly what it says on the tin ....no more no less.

It works well if limited at this time re file formats.

More to look forward to no doubt.

Thanks for your considered contributions

bernphys

Yep. Hate this too. Just realized it. You need apple apps. So disappointing. Why I never use anything by a company that's just out to gain money by selling you something you can get elsewhere.

Since this is the case, this is the final slight. When my phone renews, I am qutting Apple and getting something that supports Windows & Office. I will be glad to say goodby to Apple, iTunes ICloud, constant updates, propriatary abuse and all. Some things about Apple I like, but if things don't change by the time of my next contract, I'm out here.

So I just want to point this out - please keep in mind, I don't care what OS or device you use, I have no personal stake in it. Do what you enjoy, as everyone should.

That said however, it's not Apple's job to support Microsoft Office. The only reason there isn't a way to directly sync Office documents via iCloud is because Microsoft hasn't updated it's office suite to do so. That's it. The iCloud APIs are open to any developer who wants to use them. It's up to MS to support MS products.

As for mobile applications, again MS could easily build an iPad/iPhone suite - rumor is it already exists, but they're holding it back due to already crappy Windows Tablet sales. It's not Apple's job, they have their own office products for mobile, which are actually pretty good.

FWIW, this how I handle MS Office document access on my iDevices:

1. I sync everything via Sugarsync. The only thing I use iCloud for is stuff like Safari bookmarks, Apple's Notes app, etc. Everything else goes into Sugarsync. But you can use Dropbox, Skydrive, Google Docs, whatever.

2. On my mobile device, I use QuickOffice (recently bought by Google, I believe). QuickOffice connects directly to Google Docs, Sugarsync, Dropbox, etc. etc. It reads and writes MS Office formats, quite competently. Honestly, I'd be surprised if an MS version of Office was very much better.

3. Bonus, this method works exactly the same on my Android devices, becaus Sugarsync and QuickOffice are available there too. MS Office will never, ever, be available on Android. MS fears Google more than Apple.

Mate how do you do this? i dragged a load of work Word documents to iCloud last week and now I cannot see them on my MacBook (they have been removed from my Documents library) and I cannot access them on the iCloud home page. I know that there is a setting on System Preferences to switch on or off the Documents and Date option, but if I go to switch that off (in the hope that my Word documents will return to my Mac Book, it warns me that if I switch that off, all of the documents will be deleted from my MacBook...

So, how are you so easily able to upload and download your Word files?

ICloud seems to be geared at getting people to use Apple applications instead of other ones. I find that while Pages, etc. are well-made apps, the international standard is still MS Office and for good reasons (Office apps actually do offer more features). I like OS X and iOS and swear by them for everything they do well (Calendar, Email, Contacts, the general iPhone and Macbook interface... basically personal uses). I use iCloud to synchronize all of these things but for everything else I'm using Google Drive for now.

I'm still looking for a good way to work simultaneously with co-workers on documents. Google Drive allows me to do this with Google docs only (which are only marginally compatible with MS Office docs and again offer less features). I'll probably end up combining iCloud (for personal uses) and Skydrive via bootcamp (for professional uses, specifically working with others simultaneously) to make this happen. I wish these could be better integrated into a single platform but the big players (Apple, Google, Microsoft) seem intent on keeping all of their strongest apps dependant on their incompatibility with their competitors apps.

If only my MS Office docs worked seemlessly with my iCloud account and my Gmail, because none of the three meets all of my needs on its own.

Hello all... Sorry if I'm saying something already said... I save everything I want in iCloud no matter what extension:

1. Put the docs / pics / whatever in a FOLDER

2. ZIP the folder

3. add the extension .txt to the .zip (files.zip.txt for example)

4. Upload it...

5. tadaaa! Done, when you need it, download it, take out the extension .txt, unzip and that's it!

Good luck to all!

Stucky

I believe I Cloud can provide a solution for storing files of any type for Macs anyway, not ipad or phone.

From what I have found, it will also allow access to them from either IMac, Air etc and can be saved direct there and updated over cloud to each device.

In finder you need to go to Library - select Go click option key - Select Library

Scroll down and you will see the folder Mobile Documents folder, which is where all iCloud apps store files

You cannot move this folder to your sidebar for easy access, so you need to create an alias folder

Highlight the folder and right click and select 'Make Alias'. A new folder with the curved black arrow will appear.

This folder can be slid across to your sidebar on the left of screen, providing easy access.

Do this on both machines.

You can copy any excel, word file there and it will be available to load, edit and save back and after clouding between, will be stored with updates.

Sky drive or similar will provide access to these docs on your IOS devices and is also free if you want to read on phone.

Apple give you 5GB storage for free, so for most that will be plenty and files are available off line as well.

cheers

@Rocket3T

Man, thanks a lot, the simplest solutions like your one are always the best!

Similar to the solution above but without the strictly iCloud implementation.

I believe what is being asked is why can't a document be autosaved other than it's location file. Case in point, TextEdit docs live in iCloud, so when you work off of them, and save them, they are being saved in iCloud.

So why has Apple not done this for the Office for Mac? Since we're discussing it, then chances are it's in the works and maybe a few years off. So why not go with the next best solution.

Any cloud service gives you auto-sync solutions that then work with all computers and most devices.

Create the sync folder on your computer, and store the original file there. It then ends up on the cloud. Anytime you work on the document, it will get saved on the cloud when synced. Set it to sync every minute if you want, or keep complete control to only sync when you tell it to sync. Think about it, one extra click of the mouse is what compared to your current click count in a day? Habit.

All devices have an app for BOX, DROPBOX, etc... and if you're able to edit your doc on your device, you're able to get it synced with your cloud account. So if for some reason you need to get to a doc using someone elses computer or device, you can.

In the end, same result, just a diffent solution until the symantics get figured out by the cloud developers. My money is on Google or MS to come up with the perfect solution, but in the end, wouldn't you prefer to have all your docs live on your primary computer and just synced and backed up on a cloud site.

That tech already exists in all the cloud sites with editing capabilites via sync and cross platform changes. So again, no problem, solution already exists and it's not difficult to use.

There may be a small learning curve, but the world will right itself once more and life as you know it will be restored to glorious cross-platform uniformity.

The power of sync. No ONE solution fits all. But the power of sync puts the power in your hands.

At this point, the question has changed so much that it probably deserves a new thread. The original question, asked and answered 2 years ago, was whether or not iCloud could be used like traditional cloud storage, ie: dropbox, sugarsync, etc. The answer of course was "no, not really" and that hasn't changed.

Although you can approximate some of the functionality, most of the important features are missing EXCEPT when used with software that integrates iCloud functionality, which the Microsoft Office products still do not.

Apple hasn't done iCloud for Office because Office isn't Apple's product. They have no access to the source code. Microsoft needs to implement this feature using Apple's APIs which are available for them, but it's not in Microsoft's best interest, because they are pushing Skydrive, and iCloud is a competing, if slightly different, product. TextEdit IS Apple's product, so naturally it supports iCloud, as does Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc.

PukkaPunk wrote:

So why has Apple not done this for the Office for Mac? Since we're discussing it, then chances are it's in the works and maybe a few years off. So why not go with the next best solution.

Because Microsoft Office is not an Apple product.