How to get a document from gmail to Pages on the iPad

August 6, 2012 1:51 PM

How do I get a .doc or .rtf document from gmail to Pages on my iPad?

I'm stuck. I have a document, all text, less than 1 megabyte (about 400 pages equivalent) that I want to edit on my iPad. I can e-mail it to myself (gmail), and my iPad offers to open it in Evernote or iCab Mobile or Dropbox or DocsToGo, but those apps will only let me see the document, not edit it.

How can I get it into Pages??

(I also have a feeling that in the past I was able to transfer .mp3's from Dropbox to -- somewhere else -- (?) but I can't remember now.)

I really don't want to buy another app! Is there anything free out there that will let me transfer into Pages? or some other way of transferring documents from my PC to my iPad? (I"ve been too timid to use the iCloud -- should I be doing that? I set it up, I think, but I can't figure out how to *use* it).

Thank you!

posted by DMelanogaster to computers & internet (10 answers total)

Sign up for a free Dropbox account. Install the Dropbox app on your iPad. On a pc, add the doc to your Dropbox. Open the Dropbox app on your iPad. Click the file (it should open in the viewing pane), then click the little arrow button in the upper right(?) corner of the screen. Select "Send to Pages." (Or it might be "Open with Pages"...I don't have my iPad handy.)
posted by smirkette at 2:06 PM on August 6, 2012

When synching with iTunes, select "Applications" and scroll to the bottom. There is a list of applications there, and I presume Pages will be there. Select it, and it will present an area to which you can drag files. Those files will get added to the sync list-- they get added to the transfer queue, in other words, not sent immediately, but that's how you do it when wired.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:11 PM on August 6, 2012

smirkette: I have Dropbox already. I open the document in Dropbox on the iPad. I click on the arrow. It says, "Open in..." and the choices are: DocsToGom iCabMobile, Evernote.

NOT Pages. That is the problem I'm presenting here.

Sunburnt: I never synch with iTunes. It seems primitive to have to plug in physically. That's why I have a wireless connection, Dropbox, DocsToGo, all kinds of crap. Is there no way to wirelessly open a document in Dropbox on the iPad and get it into an editor??

Is this the MIddle Ages, People??
posted by DMelanogaster at 2:33 PM on August 6, 2012

Convert it to a .pdf? I think that will work.
posted by fixedgear at 2:37 PM on August 6, 2012

I can type (edit) on a .pdf?

Something interesting just happpened: I sent over an older version of this document and gmail offered to open IT in Pages! I wonder if I saved it in an older version of word (it says .doc as the suffix, but I wonder - something about the older file is more compatible with Pages than the new .doc OR the .rtf version , neither of which Pages is willing to open)
posted by DMelanogaster at 2:40 PM on August 6, 2012

It's a file format issue I'd think. While .rtf won't open in Pages .docx and .doc will. For some reason the file wasn't actually, or was being identified as, an acceptable file format.

You can annotate a PDF with something like GoodReader, which is what I mostly use for working with documents on the go. Some people hate its looks, but the rendering engine seems to be the fastest.
posted by howfar at 3:10 PM on August 6, 2012

Thank you, I will keep playing with the .doc. It accepts some .docs and not others, even though each file says under "Properties" that it's 2003- etc. compatible, etc.

So annoying. Thank god for PCs.
posted by DMelanogaster at 4:47 PM on August 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Google docs is free, accepts .doc, .docx, and rtf, and can be used to edit documents on the iPad. To edit, you'll have to upload it and let Google Docs convert it to a Google Doc, but from there you can make all the edits you want and then download it as a .doc or .rtf. I believe it has a free app and if it does not the mobile web interface is excellent so you don't need an app.

Try Google Docs. It will change your life (as far as editing electronic documents goes :).
posted by Tehhund at 7:12 PM on August 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Editing directly in google docs on the iPad sucks, even for text documents, so I don't recommend that.

Do you have a .me email account? Perhaps try sending to that and see if it behaves any differently?
posted by reddot at 6:18 PM on August 11, 2012

I now understand that it is very easy if I save in .docx to open in Pages, so that's what I'm doing. Thank you.
posted by DMelanogaster at 3:51 PM on August 19, 2012