What's new
Apple iPad Forum 🍎

Welcome to the Apple iPad Forum, your one stop source for all things iPad. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Push Folders

mbeaumont

iPF Noob
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
London
Hello All,

Problem

On my desktop (PC) I have a root folder with several subfolders. Inside the subfolders are documents such as PDF, Doc etc. If I am working on a document, changes are saved directoly back. I have an Ipad2, WI-Fi, no GSM. I am looking to sync or push the contents root folder with all its subs on the ipad without any user intervention. I need all documents in the folder to be reflected on the ipad, and since I do not have GSM this needs to be done in sight of a WI-Fi connection without any user update or intervention.


Experiments
The root folder is synced with DropBox, however if I use dropbox on the ipad, when I click a documnet it needs to pull it down. If I am outside a WI-FI, it cannot complete because I have no GSM connnection. I looked at sugarsync, which is the same principle. These rely on a manual update to update the folder listings but again do not pull down the document unless a request is made. If I do this outside a WIFI area - It will not complete.

Does anyone know of a solution where changes made inside a folder are automatically downloaded and synced to the ipad in the background, so that when I leave the WIFI zone, everything is synced no matter what.

Thanks
Mik - UK
 

Mickey330

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Aug 30, 2010
Messages
11,890
Reaction score
2,226
Location
Western NY state (USA)
Take a look at the app Evernote. It's a free download from the App Store. It's a clipping service that works across platforms using the Internet/the cloud.

To use, you install a program on your computer. Then, you can save all types of stuff in it (documents, PDFs, photos, text, etc). Every now and then, your computer syncs with your online account (I think the time for the automatic sync can be determined by the user ... I think). Regardless, it's all automatic.

Then, when you open the Evernote app on your iPad, it will automatically sync with your online account and update all the files on your iPad. In other words, it's in constant sync with the cloud, so both your computer and iPad have the most current info.

Two important caveats:

1) Although the app is free, there is a monthly service charge to have more than certain types of documents stored in your account. I don't know which ones come free and which ones you have to pay to use (I pay, and it's been a while, so I don't remember the details).

2) With the iPad's sand boxing feature, it gets to be a bit difficult to open a file in another app that you've got in Evernote. The app does have an "Open In..." function, but, remember that any changes made outside the Evernote app will not be saved to the Evernote app - unless you REopen it in Evernote.

Off the top of my head, this is the only thing I can think of that does auto synchronization if you have WiFi. So, may I suggest you check it out and see if it'll do what you want? I am sure others can/will chip in with other ideas ... this is all I could think of. I am sure there are others.

Hope this helps.

Marilyn
 

Most reactions

Latest posts

Top