iPadOS 18 comes with a ton of powerful customization tools. But overall, it’s not exactly the biggest release for iPad power users. There are no changes to multitasking or Stage Manager. But if you care about file management, there’s a significant Files app upgrade that solves a major pain point. Here’s what you should know.
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Digital artist and developer Kabel Cadle has spotted a handy new feature in iPadOS 18. For the first time, you can format external drives on an iPad, choosing between three different format options. Update: The same option is also available on the iPhone in iOS 18.
This brings the device closer in line with the Mac’s Disk Utility app, though it doesn’t yet offer the Restore and First Aid features …
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Google announced this week that Drive now fully integrates with Apple’s new Files app on iOS 11. Files allows you to access documents and media from multiple cloud providers including iCloud Drive and Dropbox in a single interface.
Dropbox is today announcing a new upcoming feature of its platform, codenamed Project Infinite. When Infinite rolls out, you’ll be able to see all your files and folders stored on Dropbox in the Finder, but they won’t take up any space until they are needed. The company is currently targeting the feature at business users.
This means your Dropbox storage can be far larger in total size than your local disk (as is common with modern setups of 1 TB Dropbox tiers and small SSDs) with on-demand instantaneous access to any file at any time over the Internet …
When Apple was designing the Mac app iDVD, then-CEO Steve Jobs directed his development team to build a dead-simple DVD-burning application: instead of a mess of options and windows, Jobs wanted one window with one button marked “Burn,” which would be pressed once the desired video file was dragged-and-dropped into the window. Years later, when Jobs wanted Apple’s iOS devices to be even simpler, he dumped the Mac’s windows and drag-and-drop file system in favor of a grid of icons. There wasn’t even a trash can to worry about — instead, iOS would automatically discard unused files as needed.
While that’s great in theory, the reality is that iOS actually leaves bits of trash sitting around on your device, and there’s no easy way to clean everything up at once. iTunes aggregates various types of lingering files as “Other,” but doesn’t have a trash can, nor does it provide direct access to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch file system so you can purge trash on your own. Consequently, your device may be holding a large collection of junk that could be dumped to free up gigabytes of space.
Below, I’ll show you how to clean your iOS device for free using two apps, one of which you definitely already have installed…
Dropbox announced today that an incoming update hitting the App Store today will offer the ability to rename fils and folders and more.
Today’s update to the iOS app includes a new “more actions button” that will let users rename files, folders and access other functions: We’ve added an easy-access more actions button next to the sharing icon in the upper right-hand corner that leads to a set of file options so you can quickly do things like rename or move a file…To rename files straight from the Dropbox, simply choose Rename from the more actions button as you’re previewing. Rename folders by swiping to the right from the file list view and tapping the rename icon.
Dropbox also points out that the latest apps have a new disappearing toolbar that provides more screen real estate when viewing files and folders in addition to a few other new features. Our new toolbar disappears (and reappears) as you need it, leaving valuable screen space for a full view into your photos or important files. Simply tap once anywhere within your photo or file to toggle between the toolbar and full screen.
That new disappearing toolbar (which was present in the last version of the app as well) includes an edit button for Microsoft Office files as part of the company’s recent integration with the Office mobile apps.
The updated Dropbox app for iOS, version 3.6, will be arriving on the App Store today.
• You can now rename your files and folders!
• Swipe right on a folder to see more actions, including rename.
• We’ve moved a few things around – there’s a new more actions button (⋯) when viewing files
• On iPhones, the more actions button (⋯) also includes the full file na
From time to time, I find myself needing to send some files from my Mac to my iPhone, or from my phone to my computer. This is especially true with things like screenshots for reviews. In the past I have used Photo Streams or email to get the images from my phone to my Mac, but both of those are a little more annoying than they need to be.
Using a Photo Stream requires me to open iPhoto on my Mac, which means it will probably take forever just to grab a few images. For email I have to select all the images from my Camera Roll and either mail them five-at-a-time from the photos app, or copy them, switch to Mail, paste them into a message (which somehow bypasses the absurd five-image limit on in-line sharing in the Photos app) and then address the message to myself and wait for it to send, then wait for it to arrive on my computer.
There are also a ton of apps that allow you to connect to your phone through a web browser to transfer files, but those require the app to be running on your phone, and for the app to be in a specific mode to receive the files. It’s not seamless and it’s not as effective as it could be.
This is not a good workflow. That’s where DeskConnect comes in. DeskConnect is an pair of apps for iOS and Mac that avoids all of the unpleasantness of connecting the two devices and allows you to seamlessly send files from one to the other.
