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Download spreadsheet and open on iPad?

In an online course that I teach, I regularly download the grades as a spreadsheet and open them, in OS X, with Excel. I can download in either Excel format or tab-delimited text format.


I access the course through the browser.


How can I do this download on an iPad 3 and open the grades in a spreadsheet program like DocsToGo?


When I try, it appears that the browser is attempting to open the download.


Is there any way to get past the iPad's attempt to corral all files into the app that created them (in this case, the browser that downloaded the spreadsheet)?


If I download the spreadsheet on the OS X laptop and put it into Dropbox, I can readily open it on the iPad using DocsToGo. That is not the solution I am looking for.


Thanks for your attention.

iPad (3rd gen) Wi-Fi + Cellular (VZ), iOS 6.0.2

Posted on Jan 29, 2013 7:14 PM

Reply
17 replies

Jan 29, 2013 8:26 PM in response to What4

Look in your browser pulldowns and see if it lets you send to/copy to the application you wish.


in ios all data is own by the creating application. it cannot be shared. it must be copied.


----------------


More ways to transfer files and access Word documents:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4044866?tstart=0


iWork


* Keynote

* Numbers

* Pages


DocsToGo


• VIEW/EDIT/CREATE Word & Excel files(Office 2007/2008/2010)

• VIEW PowerPoint, PDF, iWork, Text, .RTF, and more!

• Send & receive attached supported documents using the built-in Mail app

• FREE desktop application with your purchase! Compatible on Win & Mac allows you 2-way file sync with a WIFI connection.

• Open & Edit files within DocsToGo from any 3rd party app that supports the “Open In” feature

• Supports iTunes File Sharing via USB cable for manually moving files

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/documents-to-go-office-suite/id317117961?mt=8



Quickoffice Pro HD


Create and edit ALL Microsoft® Office -- document, spreadsheet, and presentation formats, as well as view PDF files, on the go. Our advanced file manager lets you manage local files, access Google Drive or other cloud accounts, and works with your iPad email attachments so you can work anywhere, anytime - online and offline.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quickoffice-pro-hd-edit-office/id376212724?mt=8

Jan 30, 2013 6:25 AM in response to rccharles

No joy. The only Web Safari dropdown options seem to look at the URL only, not the download. Copy and Email send the URL command to generate the spreadsheet, not the spreadsheet itself.


I am trying to download a gradebook in Moodle, a very ordinary procedure in OS X. Moodle is a course management system accessed through a browser.


On the iPad, I have DocsToGo and a couple of free spreadsheet apps. They cannot access the spreadsheet because I can't download it, because it is being generated on demand on a remote server and delivered through the browser, not through a spreadsheet program.


At least, that's what looks like the problem.

Jan 30, 2013 9:24 AM in response to What4

You cannot download a file via Safari on the iPad. If you need to get a file from a web site, you'l have to download it on your computer and then transfer it to the iPad, either through iTunes, a cloud-based service such as Dropbox. or by emailing it yourself. Or you can see if the company that make your course management system has an app of their own and, if they do, if your school has implemented it. Such an app may allow downloading of grade files.


Regards.

Jan 30, 2013 9:47 AM in response to varjak paw

Files that are linked online can be downloaded to the iPad, however, using other iPad browsers, such as MyMedia.


But I have not found a method of downloading the Moodle gradebook to the iPad. It's a simple thing. Why block it?


If I have to download the file in my computer and transfer it to the iPad, I cannot effectively use the iPad to administer this course, can I? And that is my underlying question:


Where do the self-imposed limitations of the iPad limit its ability to function in an enterprise activity such as mine? This is a pretty important underlying question.

Jan 30, 2013 10:00 AM in response to What4

Other web browsers may load files into their own data stores. Safari, as I said, cannot. You will have to see if any of those web browsers that can download files will then allow you to open the spreadsheet in another app. If not, then all you will be able to do is view it.


Or you can see if the Moodle iOS app will allow downloading the gradebook:


https://itunes.apple.com/app/my-moodle/id461289000


I don't think it can yet, but you can look into it.


Regards.

Jan 30, 2013 10:27 AM in response to What4

What4 wrote:


Where do the self-imposed limitations of the iPad limit its ability to function in an enterprise activity such as mine? This is a pretty important underlying question.


If Safari on iOS is showing you a preview of the Excel spreadsheet, there is a toolbar near the top of the document (which fades away after a second or so) that lets you open the document in other installed applications that "advertise" that they handle Excel spreadsheets. That may be anything from Numbers (the iWork spreadsheet app) to GoodReader or Dropbox (apps that lets you save nearly any type of file to them).


To make the toolbar reappear, tap anywhere on the document (besides an embedded image) to bring it up again, then tap the 'Open in "Default App"' button to open the document in the default app, or the 'Open in...' button to open it in any of the install apps that claim to handle this type of file.

Jan 30, 2013 11:47 AM in response to ddkilzer

Thank you ddkilzer. Your response gave a promising approach, one that looked like it should work. I appreciate learning where the "Open In" option was -- which I had not seen before it faded.


Partial success? -- Following your instructions, I do get the file downloaded now, but my spreadsheet apps won't open it. They say it is not a valid Excel file -- that's according to DocsToGo and iSpreadsheet. Google Docs also won't open it on the iPad.


When I move the file to OS X (I had to use EverNote to do this), it opens just fine in Excel on the laptop.


BTW, I'm not ready to withdraw the characterization of "self-imposed limitations of the iPad." Anyone who has used an Android device with a removable SD card and a fully functioning OS and file system is likely to understand this.


Still puzzling over why I can't download grades and open them. Do I have to purchase Numbers?

Jan 30, 2013 3:23 PM in response to What4

What4 wrote:


Partial success? -- Following your instructions, I do get the file downloaded now, but my spreadsheet apps won't open it. They say it is not a valid Excel file -- that's according to DocsToGo and iSpreadsheet. Google Docs also won't open it on the iPad.


When I move the file to OS X (I had to use EverNote to do this), it opens just fine in Excel on the laptop.


[...]


Still puzzling over why I can't download grades and open them. Do I have to purchase Numbers?


What is the extension of the file when it's displayed in the toolbar with the "Open in..." button? Does it have an *.xls extension, or is it something else? Sometimes apps will reject a file because its extension doesn't match a known extension that they accept.


One way to work around this is to use an app like GoodReader(Lite) that you can send the file to, rename it, then try to open it again in iSpreadsheet or DocsToGo. You should not have to buy Numbers to view the file, and there is no guarantee that it will work in Numbers either.


FWIW, the document preview in MobileSafari is supposed to be adequate for glancing at the contents of MS Office and iWork documents. Is there something about Safari's preview that you find lacking?

Jan 30, 2013 6:07 PM in response to ddkilzer

The file is identified as having a .xls extension.


Safari tried to preview the file, but this spreadsheet is much too wide for MobileSafari's preview. I don't recall having any horizontal scrolling, which you need for a spreadsheet that is more than two feet wide.


Excel is just right for it, especially with the labels locked and the data scrolling.


I'll look into GoodReader. Thanks for that suggestion.

Jan 30, 2013 7:44 PM in response to What4

I tried GoodReader without success. It is geared to download LINKED files, which is what you normally find on the web.


I have a different situation, common in enterprise, where the spreadsheet is not a file on a server with a link to it, but a spreadsheet generated from a database upon request in a browser.


As far as I can determine, Goodreader does not handle this situation. The Moodle gradebook would not download into Goodreader.


If Goodreader can search Box and Dropbox for files to open, there might be hope, but I haven't seen that capability yet.

Jan 31, 2013 11:36 AM in response to What4

Still puzzling over why I can't download grades and open them.

A while back I observed that at times that MS Office looks at the data in a file and determines whether to open in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.


I suggest downloading the "spreadsheet" in Mac OS X. Look at the data in a text editor like TextWrangler (http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/). Try to determine how the data is formatted.


I'm guessing the data isn't formated in excel, but office is converting the data to excel. I guessing the spread sheet apps on the ipad are not doing the converstion by guessing. Maybe if you set a different extension on the ipad ( csv ? )some app would be able to read the data or convert the data to excel format.

Jan 31, 2013 12:55 PM in response to What4

rccharles,


Thank you for your suggestion.


It is not clear to me that a file on the iPad can be given a different extension. Do you know for sure this is possible? How? The iPad does not have a file manager, as far a I know, comparable to Finder. Files seem to all be linked to the applications that made them.


I have not succeeded in downloading a comma-delimited spreadsheet at all. It just displays on Web Safari as a compacted jumble if wraparound lines (this is a very wide spreadsheet).

Jan 31, 2013 4:25 PM in response to rccharles

Sorry, Goodreader is not the solution.


The Goodreader browser cannot download my grades spreadsheet. I tried.


Goodreader also cannot find and recognize the spreadsheet that I finally managed to download but cannot open, in Dropbox or Box or Evernote.


There is no way "to rename files" on the iPad because you simply cannot find them, as you can in the OS X finder. They are accessible only through apps, and apps have access only to a selected subset of files.


Perhaps Goodreader can rename the files it can recognize and open. This, it turns out, is not one of them.


Ladies and Gentlement, my iPad has a problem.

Download spreadsheet and open on iPad?

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