I have a huge number of Word and PowerPointt files in the documents folders on my PC, which I would like to transfer to my iPad. Can someone suggest how to do it?

First of all, you will need apps that can read these files and into which they can be saved. Pages will accept your Word docs and Keynote will take your PowerPoint docs. Once you have these apps, you can either email yourself the docs and choose to save them in Pages or Keynote from the email, which is handy for the odd one or two files. For a larger number, I would go through iTunes. Once you have these apps installed, you'll see them in iTunes under the app tab. When you scroll down, you'll see a list of apps that allow file sharing through iTunes. It is pretty self-explanatory have to transfer files to your iPad once you get to that point, but it is a question of finding the files on your comp then syncing your iPad to complete the transfer.
I think you can also put them in to the iCloud on your computer and take them off from there but I've not done that myself yet.

Here's some info i've just found on the Apple website:

Documents in the Cloud. And on your Mac or PC.
iCloud makes it easy to move Pages, Keynote and Numbers documents between your computer and your iOS devices. Just sign in to icloud.com/iwork in any modern web browser, and all your iWork for iOS documents will be there — complete with your most recent edits. Click a document to download it in iWork ’09, Microsoft Office or PDF format. You can also drag and drop any iWork ’09 or Microsoft Office document from your computer into one of the the iWork apps on icloud.com, and it automatically appears on all your iOS devices, ready for you to review, edit or present.

From this, I take it that you can transfer files to your iPad from your pc ( but you have to have the iWorks apps installed, eg, Pages, if you want to save Word docs), without going through iTunes, by using the iCloud site. I believe these docs take up space in your free iCloud storage allowance, so you may choose to buy more space or not store them in the cloud once transferred.

You should also look into and consider the other office suite apps: Office HD, QuickOffice, and Documents to Go. Along with a DropBox account (and the app installed on both the computer and iPad) you can easily transfer files back and forth.

I like the iWorks apps myself, but they do not fit everyone's needs; so do some research before you decide.

Thanks for the very valuable suggestions; I have been able to accomplish the goal. Here is what I did:

1. Installed Dropbox on my laptop, iPhone and iPad
2. Transferred all the files and folders from the laptop to the Dropbox folder.
3. These files and folders were automatically transferred to Dropbox on the iPhone and iPad.
4. I opened them in apps like Quick Office Pro HD and Pages.

However I have not been able to achieve the following.

To transfer documents from Quick Office Pro HD to other devices.

Any suggestions?

I'm not personally familiar with any of the office apps but the iWorks ones, but QuickOffice says it has DropBox integration. Check its settings and see if there is a place to enter your DropBox account info. Once you do that DropBox should show up as a place you can import/download/export/save files. You won't need to use the DropBox app for QuickOffice at all.

The iWorks apps can not save directly to DropBox. My workaround was to get the iSMEStorage app and basic free account (app not necessary, but very useful). This is a cloud service aggregator. You can add other cloud services to their service and access all you stuff in one (more complicated) place. The basic SMEStorage account allow you to add two services. I added DropBox and Box.

Once you do this you can upload and download files to DropBox using SMEStorage's WebDAV server. It's one of the options you see in the iWorks apps when importing/exporting files.

The downside is that when you add stuff directly to DropBox by other methods the SMEStorage site does not see it until you refresh. That's why the app is useful. You can refresh the folders before going to an iWorks app to download content. Uploading (exporting) is easier.

Hi I have been able to sync Office files between the PC and iPad. However once I open my Word documents on Pages, especially the tables, formatting is changed and the document gets messed up. Any solutions?

Do the Word docs need to be editable on your iPad or are they just for viewing? If not, you could convert them to a PDF for viewing in iBooks, or in Notetaker HD if you want to annotate them in any way.

Complex formatting often gets lost or changed when transferring between file formats. If your files from the PC were .docx, you could try .doc files instead. Otherwise, it is what it is. Some minor changes are always to be expected, especially if you are using unusual fonts. If the iPad does not have the font you used in the Word document, it will substitute whatever it thinks is closest. Tables can also be a problem. There is no absolute standard for how a table is displayed, so Pages does what it thinks is best, with the tendency to simplify the table rather than make larger formatting mistakes.

This is why I consider Pages good if you only occasionally transfer documents. It's not that big a hassle to tweak the formatting now and then. It a major hassle if you have to do it every day.

As I said before, the other office suite apps have a better reputation in this regard.

The is currently no perfect office app. Only the one that comes closest to meeting your needs.

Thanks for your explanation and suggestions. iPad could be perfect only if it had two things; Microsoft Office App and a way to connect wirelessly to ordinary printers using Bluetooth. Another valuable addition could be to have the facility to use USB memory stick. However I presume Apple Inc may not like to or can't do it for a variety of reasons. Other tablets which use Window based systems can do the above. It is so unfortunate if going on a pleasure cum business trip, one would need to carry both iPad and a laptop! This may be a challenge consider airlines luggage allowances. Also there is not portable printer which can be used with iPad. What a shame! However I may be judging iPad too harshly; it is primarily for entertainment not for business or serious use