It took Apple almost ten years to finally teach its iPhone and iPad to work properly with files. This happened thanks to the appearance of the standard Files application in iOS 11. At the same time, an enterprising third-party developer from Odessa was creating his own application for working with files. As a result, this product is significantly superior to Apple's creation in almost every aspect.
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Documents features from Readdle
Documents by Readdle is a universal utility for iOS that originally existed in the format of the smart web application ReaddleDocs. Under this name there was a startup that created the product. The mobile equivalent of Finder from macOS has proven to be universal, allowing iPhone and iPad owners to easily find, view and manage files. This is facilitated by an intuitive user interface that turns out to be even better than Apple's own designs.
Readdle's Documents is ideal for reading EPUB books, viewing Word and Excel documents, opening ZIP files, PDF files, images, downloading MP3 music, and watching movies on iPhone and iPad.
And although in previous releases of the product many of the user interfaces were not satisfactory, now Documents has sparkled with new colors. This was also helped by another recent development of the company, PDF Expert, a reliable tool for editing documents and annotations. The result is an improved user interface that makes browsing and organizing files more organic, and there is support for the new iOS dark mode and floating keyboard. iPad users can now also have more than one app window open at once, which is great for side-by-side comparison of documents or for dragging and dropping content between them.
Now not only on the iPad, but also on the iPhone there is a “Plus” button, which is a convenient pop-up window in the lower right corner for one-touch calling. With it, you can speed up the creation of new folders, text and PDF files, scan new documents, or import existing files from iCloud Drive, Photos, cloud or network storage.
In addition, Documents will unite all cloud services, collecting disparate files in one place. Now they can be synchronized across all devices. Of course, there is integration with the built-in Files application for seamless access to its contents, as well as for opening files saved in Documents folders without the direct participation of this application.
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iA Writer
If you ask on a specialized forum about any text editor for Mac OS X , they will most likely recommend iA Writer . For many, this program is the embodiment of ideal minimalistic design and ease of use. The developers did not give the user the opportunity to change any parameters inside the application - everything works out of the box.
This leads to one huge minus, which for many will be critical when choosing an editor. In some cases, the font in iA Writer looks too small for the eyes, and there is no way to change it. Because of this, the strain on the eyes increases significantly, which is not very good for health.
The iA Writer text editor can be connected to Dropbox storage, bypassing synchronization via iCloud. By default, all documents are stored in iCloud Drive . For some this may seem like a plus, but not in our case. After several weeks of use, a huge mess forms in the iA Writer folder, which makes it very difficult to find the necessary material.
There is no point in switching to the extended version of iA Writer Pro, since the developers have not yet added support for the Russian language to it. For this reason, almost all the unique features of the Pro version do not work correctly.
Probably, iA Writer can be safely called the simplest and most user-friendly text editor, which is not expensive, and also has synchronization via iCloud or Dropbox.
Working with files in Documents
This application ability is key. Documents can create new documents and sort them into folders, work with archives, and move documents between applications using Drag and Drop technology. The file manager allows you to protect files with a password or Face ID (Touch ID).
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Textastic Code Editor
Supports integration with major cloud services and protocols for transferring data to the server. Easy to use and difficult to find a programming language that Textastic cannot work with. To be considered an ideal code editor, it lacks the ability to publish files to Github.
Advantages:
- Syntax highlighting for 80 programming languages. Even for such exotic things as BibTex, Clojure, Dylan, Fountain, LilyPond, OCaml, Stata and Prolog;
- you can add your own code highlighting rules;
- TextMate compatible;
- FFT and SSH support;
- integration with iCloud and Dropbox;
- code completion for Java Script, HTML and PHP;
- keyboard with additional characters for typing code;
- shortcut support;
- support for most modern encodings;
- ability to change font type and size;
- character counter;
- preview for HTML and Markdown files;
- TextEspander support;
- sending files by email;
- there are “Undo” and “Redo” buttons;
- there is a display of a list of recently opened files;
- iTunes FileSharing support (you can share files with your computer via USB);
- WebDav support;
- Great design that makes the code easy to read.
Flaws:
- no SVN support;
- no Git support.
Price: 479 rubles
How to Add Files to Documents on iPhone and iPad
There are several easy ways to add files to Documents. First of all, you can use the powerful built-in browser to quickly download multimedia, books, documents or any other information. You can receive it, for example, via email attachments. The FileDrop feature allows you to share files with other devices. It's basically AirDrop on steroids. Photos, documents, or even entire folders can be sent to a nearby iPhone or iPad. In this case, the file structure inside the folder will remain the same.
Plus, you can transfer music, videos, or photos to your iOS, Mac, or PC devices using super-fast Wi-Fi transfer technology. You just need to enter the code from the screen and one click is enough to transfer files further.
And, of course, you can transfer files to the Documents application on your iPhone or iPad via a cable using the iTunes application (Finder in the latest versions of macOS). To do this, connect the device to your computer, select it in iTunes (Finder) and in the window that appears, select the Files tab.
A screen will open with applications that support file transfer via cable. Click on Documents and drag the files you want to add to the drop-down list.
After this procedure, the added files will immediately appear in the iTunes Files folder of the Documents app on your iPhone or iPad.
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Our criteria for choosing the best PDF editing apps for iOS
You can truly know the value that an app offers only after you use it repeatedly and try out its different features. This can take a lot of time and effort, so we've done the work for you and selected three apps that are perfect for all your PDF needs. Here's what we based our decisions on:
- User Interface and Speed
- Editing tools
- File management
Work with media and music in Documents on iPhone and iPad
You can download your favorite songs from the cloud to listen to them later offline or even listen to them from the cloud.
The smart and beautiful media player organizes folders into playlists, adding shuffle and looping features. Allows Documents to watch videos.
The file manager in iOS 13 and iPadOS takes advantage of the Markup mode, creating libraries of photos and making them brighter and more fun.
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Font
A photo caption editor with a straightforward name and a fairly standard set of functionality. Here you are allowed to change the photo, change the exposure and colors, and then add text in non-standard frames. One of the advantages is a sea of content (50% will have to be purchased separately), and also the presence of a special section, from where it is easy to absorb inspiration and expand your imagination. One of the problems here is advertising. I have to take breaks more often than I would like.
Browser and PDF editor
Documents includes a built-in web browser that can now run in Protected View. On iPhone, browser settings are conveniently accessible from any open tab—no need to go back to app settings just to clear your data or change where you download files. Now you can choose DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Ecosia or Yahoo as your default search engine instead of Google.
Documents has always been considered a convenient PDF reader, but there is an opportunity to turn it into a full-fledged editor. This service, available for a subscription of 3,890 rubles per year, provides a full range of professional tools that allow users to edit, convert and reduce the size of PDF files. Documents will literally sparkle in a new way with stickers, markers and colored text.
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Which option is most suitable?
As usual in this type of compilation, from the editors of La Manzana Mordida we want to tell you what our picks are in each of the categories into which we have divided this post. Obviously, as we commented at the beginning, the choice of these applications is entirely according to subjective needs and requirements, so our choice does not have to be the same as yours.
First of all, we are left with the iA writer , which is actually an application that the editors of this web page use to process the messages that you read on it. Regarding the use of the Apple Pencil, Good Notes offers a very comprehensive set of services, so an alternative for us would be to use such a powerful accessory with the Apple Pencil. Finally, since Apple provides Pages for free, it would be the text creation app we would choose in this last category.
Microsoft Office
Why you need to ▶ watch press releases
Developer: Microsoft Corporation Category: Productivity
Earlier this year, Microsoft combined Word, Excel and PowerPoint into one application. This was the right decision, which was approved by almost all users.
For work, I only need Word, because many press releases are created and formatted in it.
You can view .doc and .docx files in both Pages and Google Docs. But this is a “just in case” option. As a rule, Word documents open crookedly in third-party editors.
Therefore, the Office application, and before it other Microsoft office solutions, were installed by default on each of my iPhones.
? For free
For i
What sets this app apart from others is its ability to export code to Github or Xcode. It is not as beautiful and convenient as Textastic, but it does not cause negative emotions while working.
Advantages:
- syntax highlighting for major programming languages;
- setting up personal themes;
- extended keyboard;
- shortcut support;
- autosave files;
- text search with regular expression support;
- integration with Github;
- integration with XCode;
- TextMate bundle support.
Disadvantages: none found.
Price: 599 rubles.
Code Master
Ergonomics are worse than those of the above editors. Few languages are supported. But some may enjoy the opportunity to share newly written code on social networks.
Advantages:
- iCloud Drive support;
- Dropbox support;
- syntax highlighting;
- line numbering;
- built-in browser for viewing HTML files;
- extended keyboard;
- code completion;
- the ability to share the code on social networks.
Flaws:
- a lot of programming languages are not supported;
- no integration with version control systems.
Price: free
Gusto
This editor is designed specifically for web development. Sources along with pictures are grouped into projects. Each project corresponds to a separate site, for which you can individually configure synchronization with the FTP server.
Advantages:
- all files (sources, graphics, videos) are divided into project sites;
- line numbering;
- syntax highlighting for major web programming languages;
- you can create custom syntax highlighting schemes;
- a toolbar with the most frequently used commands;
- FTP and SFTP support;
- FTPS support;
- integration with Dropbox;
- There is a version for iPod Touch.
Flaws:
- no integration with version control systems;
- There are glitches when transferring files.
Price: 599 rubles.
Buffer Editor
Another great code editor, on par with Textastic and Koder. There are all the conveniences for writing code, support for less popular languages and features for working in the cloud.
Advantages:
- FTP and SFTP support;
- Dropbox support;
- working with SSH;
- there is a version for iPod Touch;
- automatic synchronization with the server;
- support for 4 dozen programming languages. Including Ada, Go, INI and Lua;
- extended keyboard;
- shortcut support;
- there are “Undo” and “Redo” buttons;
- search and replace functions;
- preview for HTML files;
- large selection of design themes;
- sending files by email;
- support for vim commands.
Flaws:
- no support for version control systems.
Price: 179 rubles.
JavaScript Anywhere
One of the oldest development environments for iOS. Designed for creating web applications in JavaScript.
Advantages:
- CSS, HTML and JavaScript support;
- built-in browser for previewing files;
- all files are organized into projects;
- you can save pictures to the project directly from the Internet;
- flexible theme customization;
- password protection of the application;
- integration with Dropbox.
Disadvantages: none found.
Price: free.
CodetoGo
This application cannot be called a full-fledged development environment. It's more of a toy for fans of unpopular programming languages. For those who have long dreamed of writing “Hello World” on Pike and making sure it works.
Advantages:
- it is possible not only to edit source files, but also to run them on a remote server;
- iTunes Files Sharing support;
- integration with Dropbox;
- extended keyboard;
- line numbering and the “Goto Line” function;
- built-in browser for viewing HTML documents;
- sending files by email;
- support for several dozen programming languages. Including Factor, COBOL, Unlambd and Smalltalk.
Flaws:
- Executing sources on a remote server does not always work.
Price: 169 rubles.
