The Files App on my iPad Air, iOS 11, does not show any files from Pages or Numbers, only from Pixelmator. Even that one is messed up as there are no Pixelmator files in the Pixelmator App. Below is what I see with the app.
Trying to remedy I deleted the Files App, Force Closed all apps, Force Restarted the iPad and downloaded a fresh version of the Files App from the App Store. No luck, issue remains. Any suggestions other than trashing the app?
Scratching around Google I found the Ars Technica review which says that this is expected behaviour - which is nonsensical to me as someone who just bought a 512GB iPad to store documents on.
"In fact, you might not know that Files supports saving to local folders at all. Only files saved to the local Documents folder inside an app’s container show up here, and even then it only happens if your app’s developer has given other apps access to that folder as described here. If none of the apps on your iDevice meets that requirement, you won’t even see “On My iPhone/iPad” in the Locations sidebar at all."
source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/09/ios-11-thoroughly-reviewed/8/
This does not explain why THREE Apple Customer Service people thought this was a problem tho... so now I'm really confused. Either the customer support people are more confused than me, or this article is wrong, or something else.
They really need some documentation for this.....
I have the EXACT same thing.
Only one folder "On My iPad" and it's Pixelmator, and it says 1 item in it but it's empty.
I can't make any folders on my iPad and I'm wondering if this is some weird joke..... I bought the 512GB iPad because I wanted to use local storage but there is only one folder!
Are we missing something here?
No - I don't use iCloud Drive except for Backup purposes.
I called Apple Support about this and the Senior Advisor said that she's heard about this from others and has sent a ticket up to Engineering to have a look. She agrees that we shouldn't have to put all our files in the "Pixelmator" folder.
Hopefully will hear back soon with a fix.
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated... 🙂
I am not holding my breath on a fix coming soon. I have been around the ASC for a while and I would anticipate a fix with the next point update if then.
I had read the arstechnica article since an iPad user had posted it in the lounge, a place for ASC level 6+. Another good user showed me how to copy files from Pages to the Files App but this is hardly of any value. Here is what was said and my response:
Did you try sending a copy of a file to Files? Open a Pages Document. Tap More (the three dots in the upper right). Tap Send a Copy. Select the format. Then Choose how to send and select Save to Files. Select a location, then tap Add. See if that makes Pages appear. Maybe the default aops appearing that I got is because I already use iCloud Drive.
Thanks for the feedback. It does make Pages appear with one file but it is of no use. When I click on the file copied to Files all I get is a small window on the right side that only shows about 1/3 of the file regardless of iPad orientation. I can scroll on each line back and forth but that is very poor, it would take me ages to read a file that way.
I think you can force Pages to create a directory "On my iPad" if you go to Pages in Settings and then choose the Document Storage location to be "Local Storage".
Other options like iCloud Drive and Documents show up if you have 1. iCloud Drive turned on an 2. Documents by Readdle installed on your iPad.
This doesn't quite fit the bill tho.... I normally create folders like 2017/September/ClientName and put all of the project work for that client into a particular folder (can be several GB, so iCloud Drive or another Cloud provider is out of the question).
Also I don't think I should have to create a Folder Structure for client files inside the "Pixelmator" app. However, I may just have to do that.
I can't imagine Phil Schiller standing on stage and saying "And you will find that you can put all of your documents inside the Pixelmator Folder on your iPad, so you know where they all are!" Seems weird.
I had this problem on my iPad Air 2. Utterly baffling, as Files worked on my other devices, and everything was properly turned on. Indeed, files appeared under "Recents" — but nothing could be done with them.
Updating to iOS 11.0.1 fixed it for me; everything seems to work as it does on my other devices (though it's definitely a bit slower — I assume that's because it's older hardware).
There are new updates to Pages and Numbers for iOS 11. Try updating them to see if they help. They did for me.
I have heard from others that their Files App is working ok. Don't know why ours is not. Do you have iCloud Drive enabled?
Files App not working on my iPad Air
