Printer and Word processor

[ValerianoWeiler]

Hello to all,

First off I would like to state that I am very inexperienced with apple products in general, and am in no way computer savvy. This said, I decided to undertake the ultimate act of bravery and have received from a family member an Ipad2 as a christmas gift. Jokes aside, it really is a marvel. My intention is to basically throw out my old PC. There are two things however that I do need to get ironed out:

a) Does apple or anyone else for that matter offer a good word processor. I work with documents, in 3 different languages and I need to be able to access documents that are in dropbox or in the iCloud or any other similar application, and edit them. It would also be useful if I could link my computer and iPad and have them sync (I'm refering mostly to the documents on dropbox). The problem with the dropbox app that I have is that I can access the docuemnts, but I cannot modify them or edit them. An added issue is that I have a wireless bluetooth Spanish keyboard (my usual source language), but I would like to be able to change the language setting on the text I'm working on without it affecting the keyboard layout.

b) As a consecuence of the above, I do need to be able to print documents from my wireless WiFi printer. I am not even sure if this is possible, I have heard it is, but have still not been able to work out the kinks I suppose.

This comment I suppose is a cry for some advice if not for outright help. Any recommendation and advice is already much apreciated, the good word processor is I believe my largest worry right now. Thank you, and if there's ever anything I can help with (he says laughing to himself and at his own incompetence), I'll do as much as possible to return the favour. Yes, favour with a u... don't ask.

 

[hpulmer]

Regarding the word processor try quickoffice - you can downoad the documents from dropbox as well as from other service andedit them. It does however not support inserting of images into word documents (or I did not find the feature yet).

Cheers,
Henning

 

[twerppoet]

Here are a couple of member reviews about the more popular Office style apps. Hold in mind it's been a while and many new features have been added. Hold in mind that while Pages can work with DropBox, it requires more effort than the other options. Everyone has their favorite, and it would be worth your while to search the forum for those threads and consider their reasoning. On the other hand, none of them are so expensive that you'll be broke if you don't get the perfect solutions the first time.

Compare iWorks, Office 2 HD, Documents to Go, QuickOffice by richsdams
http://www.ipadforums.net/new-member-introductions-site-assistance/22431-hi-all.html

Office Apps Comparison by RedCoil (details and examples, very long)
http://www.ipadforums.net/iwork-forum/36629-office-app-comparison.html

About QuickOffice, mostly about spreadsheets
http://www.ipadforums.net/ipad-apps/55182-just-purchased-quick-office-hd.html


For your printing question I'll paste my usual response below.



Some printers are directly compatible with AirPrint on the iPad. Be absolutely certain the printer supports AirPrint before buying. Some printers may require a firmware update to work. These are usually available on the manufacturers site. If you get this kind of printer you can print directly from within apps that support the feature, which is many.

iOS: AirPrint 101

Of course some of us already have printers and do not want to buy a new one. There are several ways to do this.

One is to use a printing app on the iPad.

Most (or all) other print apps can only print pictures and/or files that have been copied to that app via Open In or other method. Print n Share used to be able to print from AirPrint enabled apps if it was loaded the background. It lost this ability with iOS 5. It may still work with iOS 4 if you get it before the app is updated in the App Store. Several printer manufacturers have their own apps for their printers. In general those apps will probably have the best results, quality wise.

The second method is to load a program on the computer that will emulate an AirPrint compatible printer. Your computer must be on and have the printer available to it. The cheapest (free) is Airprint Activator. More features can be had with FingerPrint (mac and windows) and Printopia (mac only).

There is a third way. A few printers (mostly HP's again) can be set up with their own email address. PDF attachments can be sent via this address to be printed. The last review I saw (several months ago) said it could be quite slow (big files not recommended), and sometimes the emails got lost and never printed. The advantage was that you could literally send/print from anywhere you have an internet connection.

There is a new wrinkle for small business owners and those with more than one printer who would like all their printers to work, but don't want to leave a computer on all the time. The Lantronix XPrintServer is a small box that connects to your network and is supposed to detect and make all your wireless printers available to iOS as AirPrint printers. I haven't seen a full review on it yet, so do your research.

 

[ValerianoWeiler]

Thanks very much for all your comments, I'm sifting through this torrent of info as we speak. I am utterly bewildered at how quickly I got a response and by how many people. Thank you. I shall be tackling the printing problem this weekend. As for the word processor, that's my current burden. Thank you.

 

[s2mikey]

Thanks very much for all your comments, I'm sifting through this torrent of info as we speak. I am utterly bewildered at how quickly I got a response and by how many people. Thank you. I shall be tackling the printing problem this weekend. As for the word processor, that's my current burden. Thank you.

The word processor wont be a burden - there are plenty of good solutions out there. QuickOffice & Docs To Go are the top choices for messing with MS word docs and such. Printing is a little more finnicky but you can make it work.

Welcome to to Apple! Come on in, the water is fine.....

 

[twerppoet]

Not a problem. Glad to help.

 

[avandev]

I was also looking for a way to edit or type in word documents, Quick office or docs to go should work then? How about Dropbox?

 

[DarkRavenMoon]

I just use Real VNC to remotely log-in to my home PC then open Word, Excel 2007 Why pay for Office functionality when you actually have Office already installed on your home/office PC.

Also there is no need to sync with Dropbox etc... As the files would already be on your main computer. If you need the file you could of course drop it in your Dropbox folder and pick it up from your iPad via the app or simply email the document yourself before you terminate the remote connection

 

[hpulmer]

I just use Real VNC to remotely log-in to my home PC then open Word, Excel 2007 Why pay for Office functionality when you actually have Office already installed on your home/office PC.

Also there is no need to sync with Dropbox etc... As the files would already be on your main computer. If you need the file you could of course drop it in your Dropbox folder and pick it up from your iPad via the app or simply email the document yourself before you terminate the remote connection

That is right, for sure - only a littly tricky if you need to work on the files while underway without connection as i.e. in the airplane. Last time the stewardess did not want to accept that I simply needed to do my job as well ;o)

 

[DarkRavenMoon]

Yup there is no getting around the fact we NEED Microsoft Office for the iPad...

 

[ipadder474]

Hello to all,

First off I would like to state that I am very inexperienced with apple products in general, and am in no way computer savvy. This said, I decided to undertake the ultimate act of bravery and have received from a family member an Ipad2 as a christmas gift. Jokes aside, it really is a marvel. My intention is to basically throw out my old PC. There are two things however that I do need to get ironed out:

a) Does apple or anyone else for that matter offer a good word processor. I work with documents, in 3 different languages and I need to be able to access documents that are in dropbox or in the iCloud or any other similar application, and edit them. It would also be useful if I could link my computer and iPad and have them sync (I'm refering mostly to the documents on dropbox). The problem with the dropbox app that I have is that I can access the docuemnts, but I cannot modify them or edit them. An added issue is that I have a wireless bluetooth Spanish keyboard (my usual source language), but I would like to be able to change the language setting on the text I'm working on without it affecting the keyboard layout.

b) As a consecuence of the above, I do need to be able to print documents from my wireless WiFi printer. I am not even sure if this is possible, I have heard it is, but have still not been able to work out the kinks I suppose.

This comment I suppose is a cry for some advice if not for outright help. Any recommendation and advice is already much apreciated, the good word processor is I believe my largest worry right now. Thank you, and if there's ever anything I can help with (he says laughing to himself and at his own incompetence), I'll do as much as possible to return the favour. Yes, favour with a u... don't ask.

A very good printer program to use with wireless is Printer Pro $6.95 from the apple store.

 

[s2mikey]

Yup there is no getting around the fact we NEED Microsoft Office for the iPad...

It would be nice but some of the available Office apps out there are pretty darned good. Ive had good luck with QuickOffice Pro HD. I don't do any complicated calculations or other crazy stuff though. For most people, I'd expect any of the major office apps already out there to be perfectly good. Depends on the needs you have. Docs To Go, QuickOffice, Office HD, iWorkSuite, they are all solid.