Editing PC Documents on iPhone

By Misty Dawn, 6 June, 2024

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

I recently had a PC fan seize up and I may now be without a PC for a little over a month as it is getting repaired.

I currently occupy an influential position within the NFB here in my state and, for this and other reasons, I would like to know what is the most accessible way to read and, more importantly, edit and save documents originally created on my PC without any formatting alterations. I am particularly interested in doing this for .txt and .docx files. (And, yes, all of the files with which I wish to interact are in the OneDrive cloud.)

Options

Comments

By WellF on Saturday, June 8, 2024 - 08:12

Plain text is basically just text, so you won't have issues with these files.
Word stuff is more complicated, I think. Maybe docs preserves formatting, but it's a pain to use with VO for more than writing and reading IMO.

By Brian on Saturday, June 8, 2024 - 08:12

If you need to maintain formatting, then Word for iOS may be your only solution. I cannot vouch for the usability of this app with VoiceOver, but there is, interestingly enough, another thread here regarding Microsoft Office for Mac.

Best of luck. 🙂

By OldBear on Saturday, June 8, 2024 - 08:12

Word for iOS started giving me trouble with displaying anything in documents, and I stopped using it. It also didn't like .docx documents that were generated with a different app, like Pages, and gave a message requiring you to let it update the document. I don't know if that has changed.
You might check the OneDrive cloud app to see if it has a built in viewer/editor because all the other iOS apps are probably not going to directly open and edit documents on the cloud. For example, I use the Dropbox text editor to directly edit and overwrite appointment and budget text files when I'm using my phone. Pages will import then export files in text format, but then I have to delete the original file on Dropbox.

By Matt on Saturday, June 8, 2024 - 08:12

If the word app is not a workable solution, try the Microsoft 365 iOS app. I have not used it extensively though. I would suggest a blue tooth keyboard because long form typing on a phone screen is a pain at best. Best of luck.

By amro on Saturday, June 8, 2024 - 08:12

The most accessible way to read, edit, and save your .txt and .docx files without formatting alterations would be through Microsoft Office Online. Since your files are stored in OneDrive, you can easily log in to your account through a web browser and use Word Online for your .docx documents. This will ensure that all formatting remains intact. For .txt files, any basic text editor on a smartphone, tablet, or other computer will work perfectly since they don't involve complex formatting

By tyler chambliss on Saturday, June 8, 2024 - 08:12

I've been using word on iOS for years, no issues. I can open documents stored in my dropbox and one drive no issue. No saving duplicates or importing BS. But yeah as of right now word is going to be your best bet.