Q: I have an iPad and I opened it. I know that once opened you can't return it, but I'm wondering if your can get an exchange for it. It's barely used and there's are no scratches. Can someone help?

You can backup all the work you do on another computer using iTunes and the supplied cable (or wirelessly) or you can backup to Apple's servers using iCloud.

To work on Word documents you can use Apple's Pages App or one of several other Apps in the App Store.

Generally, if you bought the iPad from Apple, you can return it within 14 days.

If you bough the device from Apple they have an unconditional 14 day refund policy. You can take it back and get a refund for it. If you bought it elsewhere, you would have to check with the store. You may still be able to return it since all stores have different return policies and some are more flexible than others.

There are many ways to save your work on an iPad. If you use a word processing app like Apple's own Pages app, your work is saved in the app itself. If you use iCloud with Pages, your documents are stored in iCloud. You can download iCloud files to you computer for editing on the computer and then upload them back to iCloud and your work will be in sync on the iPad and your computer.

You can use file sharing and transfer documents into iTunes and from there you can save them to your computer. So there are ways of saving your work and accessing it in different ways.

look here for some suggestions for a word processing app that will work with Word files.

http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/best-ipad-word-processors

Read this for more information. It is really quite easy to do.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766

I use Pages and I actually deleted the app on two different occasions because I was having problems with it. When I reinstalled the app, every document was in place and I lost nothing at all. I use iCloud, I backup with iTunes, and I use file sharing as well.

There are really so many ways that you can protect your documents and data as long as you are diligent about backing up and doing what you have to do to keep all of your documents safe.

You're welcome. Good luck. Post back if you have more questions.

I don't use any device to transfer photos to the iPad. Read this discussion. If you have the Apple Camera Connection Kit, I think you can use a USB drive with that.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4088271?start=0&tstart=0

The best way to do that - and the only way that I know of is to transfer the documents to your laptop and then you can email them, use file sharing with iTunes (as long as you have a compatible app on the iPad to read the documents) use DropBox, or use iCloud.

If you want to save documents on the iPad, you must have an app in which they can be saved. Word files are compatible with a number of apps, so read the link that I posted in my very first response to you. You can also do a search in the App Store for word processing apps.

Read this for more information about using file sharing.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4094