Documents vs Files: Make the Most of Two Apps
Benefit from using Documents with the amazing file management experience that Apple has built in Files. Reaping the pros of Files ‘nativeness’ with Documents’ power features and better design will skyrocket your productivity and harness the finest of what you have on your device.
“You don’t keep your e-mail on your file system, right? The app manages it. Anything else would be crazy.”— Steve Jobs about iOS file management
iOS has always been a “no-file-manager” system where everything is taken care of by the apps. However, some of us are very comfortable with controlling things on our devices, especially when it comes to getting real work done.
This is why we’ve been innovating iOS file management with our Documents app for 10 years. With the iOS 11 release, Apple has finally introduced a much-needed application, bringing the natural solution to all of its users.
This is indeed a huge milestone for the entire platform as it brings a legitimate desktop potential to this mobile operating system.
What you should know about Files
“The new Files app brings all your files together. You can easily browse, search, and organize all your files in one place. And there’s a dedicated place for your recent files” .
This is how Apple is defining its new product. Let’s briefly overview what’s under the hood of the Files app.
Key benefits of Files
- Access files locally (within ‘On my iPhone/iPad’ section) or add cloud storages of your choice(Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, etc.)
- Keep your files organized with folders, tags or favorites. You can view files by name, size or date — this means you’ll find the exact document you need at glance.
- Share and work on files with your friends. Select the file and tap Share or Share > Add people to invite them to collaborate on a file simultaneously (it only works for Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents)
Documents and Files working together are greater than the sum of their parts
We believe you can extend your file management from Files further by using Documents along with it. Documents is great for all those who want to download files from the Web, listen to music, unzip files and much more.
In addition, we’ve built a powerful, custom integration of Documents inside the Files app. With it, you can easily access files from Documents without leaving Files, drag and drop them in any other app or vice versa.
Here why Documents is so impressively potent.
Sync only specific folders
Syncing the whole root of folders or downloading them (yikes!) is a nightmare. With Documents, you can sync specific folders without plunging your device into the swamp of endless syncing.
Simply tap Sync at the top to enable a 2-way sync with this folder and confirm the sync by tapping Sync This Folder. Isn’t that neat?
Stream music and videos to watch them offline
Documents has a custom built-in media player that is great for music and videos. You can organize your music and movies into folders, shuffle to play and much more.
You can open music or video files from the cloud without downloading them. This smart and beautiful media player organizes them into playlists with the ability to shuffle and loop your favorite tracks.
Download files from the Web
If you ever wondered how to download an ebook, PDF document, report or mp3 to your iPhone or a Youtube video to your iPad, Documents is the best downloader out there. Use the super powerful browser or effortlessly paste the file URL in the address bar and you’re good to go!
Unzip archives and compress folders
How often do you receive a zip archive via email and get stuck with no idea how to process it on your iPhone/iPad? Well, this is a tricky thing in iOS. With Documents you simply tap on it and open the content without regard to what it is. It works exactly the way you expect, right from the scratch.
With the new iOS 11, you can drag and drop your zip attachment from the mail app (or better: from the Spark email) to Documents directly to unzip.
The future of file management
Despite its present limitations, Files is indeed a huge step toward opening the operating system and giving more freedom to its power-users. We are excited that Apple finally embraces iOS file management, and we are happy to continue innovating in this area.
With these two amazing tools that complement each other, the idea of replacing your desktop computer with an iPad doesn’t seem that far out in left field.
You can get Documents with Files integration from the AppStore. It’s available now!
