New iPad2 user confused about Office 365

[ikendall]

Hi
I am new to iPad and am trying to work out what I can use it for with work.
I tried to set up Office 365 but I don't seem to be able to load silverlight?
Any assistance much appreciated.
Can you use Office 365 on an ipad2?

 

[Somerled]

Silverlight is not something that will run on any iOS device. If you want/need office compatibility, you will need to use a third party app. There are many discussions revolving around which is best and which to use.

My personal favorite is Documents to Go Premium. It has been around since the Palm Pilot days and has, in my own experience, been the best to work on documents, spreadsheets and presentations that have to be compatible with Microsoft Office. Also, you can set up a DrobBox or Box.net or even Google Docs account for free and sync your documents between machines. I have a WinXP, Win7, OSX and my iPad all sync'd up for my My Documents folders and when I edit on one, I see the changes on all.

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Good to hear from you. You’ll find a whole bunch of iPad enthusiasts in this Forum who are only too willing to help other iPad owners and to hear of their experiences. Don’t be afraid to post any questions you may have or use the ‘Search’ button near the top of the Forum web page. I usually find I discover one new interesting and useful piece of information about my iPad every day - and often not even what I was looking for!!

Hope to hear from you soon with your thoughts about the iPad.

Have fun and enjoy your iPad

One of our members carried out a survey of Office apps for his company; you can see his conclusions in this thread...

http://www.ipadforums.net/new-member-introductions-site-assistance/22431-hi-all.html

Another comparison was undertaken here....

http://www.ipadforums.net/iwork-forum/36629-office-app-comparison.html


The Apple iWorks Office suite for the iPad has a set of useful Help pages that show their capabilities here...

Pages is Word compatible and can read .doc and .docx files and save in .doc and .pdf

Keynote is PowerPoint compatible and can read .ppt and .pptx files and save in .ppt and .pdf

Numbers is Excel compatible and can read .xls and .xlsx files and save in .xls and .pdf

Apple - Support - iOS Apps - Welcome

If you don’t already have it you can download a copy of the iPad manual for free.

Apple - Support - Manuals

Please read the rules too!!

http://www.ipadforums.net/forum-rules-help-info/2119-forum-rules-everybody-please-read.html

Tim
Scotland

 

[ikendall]

Thanks,
So when you are referring to MS office you are not meaning office365?
If I set up my pc on O365 I'll be ok but not on my iPad?

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

I was meaning apps that handle Office documents but run on the iPad directly - i.e. not in the cloud.

Tim

 

[ikendall]

Ok so to operate in the cloud what can I use with the iPad?
I was advised that I could use Office 365 and am disappointed I can't. Appear to be able to do so.
Really purchased the iPad for that purpose.

 

[Somerled]

your first step should have been to check System Requirements for Office 365 It has all the requirements to run Office 365. You can see that there is no mention of any iOS device or software. I would be interested to know who would have assumed the iPad would work with Office 365.

To operate in the cloud, use a service like Dropbox or Box.net to set up the storage. Then get a compatible office suite (like Documents to Go Premium) to access the cloud service and work from there on the iPAd. On the PC/Mac, install the free Dropbox app and use Office 365 and keep all your documents in the dropbox dir and they will all be sync'd.

 

[ikendall]

Thanks, I think I have been over keen for the iPad.
I'll checkout dropbox and see how I go.

 

[twerppoet]

Ok so to operate in the cloud what can I use with the iPad?
I was advised that I could use Office 365 and am disappointed I can't. Appear to be able to do so.
Really purchased the iPad for that purpose.

There have been several articles that talk about the iPad and other tablets as if they would work with Office 365. When you read them closely you see what they are actually talking about are the email, calendar, and contacts aspects of Office 365, and that they can be used with the iPad's native apps.

The actual Office 365 apps for Word, Excel, and Power Point do not work with the iPad's browser. I don't think they work with any of the mobile tablets so far, but I could be wrong about that.

The closest thing to a working cloud office on the iPad to date is Google Docs, and that is pretty limited.

Some of the office apps mentioned will integrate with Google Docs, which is probably the closest thing you are going to get for a workable cloud based office solution for now.

 

[Patrick07604]

HoW big an Excel file will an IPad with Numbers hold.