I am a blind person who is a high volume writer. I'm purchasing an iPad. I need a way to write text on my computer in a word processing program, such as RTF files, then transfer it by flash drive onto my iPad where I can also edit and work with text documents.
What programs can I use to do this? I have found an app called MyText that seems to do what I need, which I really like because it utilizes Fleksy, but what program can I use on the computer to write text that will then be readable and editable file on the iPad? Would Microsoft Office work? Or is there a cheaper program for both? Compatibility with iPhone use would be beneficial but is not mandatory.
A note taker app is not enough for the volume of text I need to work with but I don't want a complicated text editor just a mid-range functional word processor program. OpenOffice was far too complicated I could not figure out how to use it.
Comments
You cannot transfer stuff via
You cannot transfer stuff via flash drive to the ipad. I recommend noticy which syncs via dropbox. If you want a complex editor ther's documents2 but I don't think that can transfer via dropbox or google drive.
Pages
You could also use Pages by Apple. It is quite accessible. You then can use iCloud to sync between devices.
You could do that, but I'm
You could do that, but I'm not sure if the author of this post wants to pay $20 for pages on osx and what ever it is on osx. Plus at least for me the formating is a bit complicated to do on ios, and in osx there is a bug where wiht voice over on you cannot select more then 1 page of text at a time, this counts a paragraph starting on page 1 and extending to page 2. See my trouble wiht pages thread on apple vis.
Also, pages does not save in nor open rtf files.
Thank you very much for this
Thank you very much for this helpful information! OK without a flash drive I don't know how to use dropbox to move files?
Is there a version of MS Office for iPad that has a word processor with it that is accessible?
Ther is butyou are not usig
Ther is butyou are not usig office on the mac it is inaccessible.
for dropbox and moving files it is rather easy. Just let yoru files synch o the coputer then open the files on your phone from the dropbox app. No need to move anything.
I used notecy every day to take class notes. I woudl just use the touch command in the terminal to create my text files and put them in my dropbox folder where notesy keeps its stuff as I'm too lazy to launch a text editor and do it. I then would go to school, launch notesy, hit synch, wait for the stuff to synch across and take notes at 8 am sharp.
First of .....
First of .....
You're assuming the poster has a Mac. Thiss might very well be false, i supose it is cinse the poster does not seen to hhave experience with the Apple stuff.
Now, to the poster ......... So let's begin from the very beginning ...
1- Go ahead and get familiar with the ipad first. For high volume writters, touch screens perhaps are not so friendly to type and specially to edit stuf.
2- I would recomend you to purchase a bluetooth keyboard. But, unfortunately, the new devices with IOS 8.0 / 8.0.2 seen to be agressively not working with these keyboards, based on the posts about the new OS on Applevis. If you are in an urgent need, perhaps the ipad is not for you, at this time.
3- If you can work on a stable IOS and with a bluetooth keyboard, you might try one of these editors pointed out. However, be aware that editing text in IOS and in windows are two different experiences, so you are not getting a word - like software on IOS, no mather which editor you will choose.
4- IN the IOS, files are not shareable among devices. You seen to think that Ipads have usb ports. I would syuggest that you do a serious research about apple devices, cinse you really do not seen to know much about them and aquiring something you do not know and understand how it works is often not a great idea.
Go ahead, research the product, listen to some podcasts, go to an Apple store once you have a basic idea about what it is (not before if you don't want to make a useless trial) ... and try one of these before you decide to buy. All of them have the screen readers already set up so you can ask someone to activate it and then yiou can try.
5- If you do not know what dropbox and / or icloud are, do a search on the web and learn. Once you get the idea, you will see the ways uit can help you.
Thank you. No, my computer is
Thank you. No, my computer is not a Mac. I do probably need a Bluetooth keyboard on an iPad. Without being able to move files between devices, I must purchase two iPads in order to have the files accessible from home and work, then will only have what ones I wrote on each device.
I cannot find an Apple store anywhere near my area and do not know how to find an Apple store. Any suggestions?
Why Do You Need/want to Use an iPad?
BlindMag:
The following comments are not meant to knock iPads; I have an iPhone and my wife has both an iPhone and an iPad.
that said, however, given that you want to deal with massive amounts of text on both your PC and your mobile device (you're thinking of using an iPad for this), why are you so fixated on an iPad? Were I you, I'd just buy a Windows laptop. You would be familiar with the software and could transfer files via network or USB cable. that said, however, it would probably be handy to learn to use Dropbox; it's available for windows and can be mighty handy.
But I submit that trying to fit an iPad (a square peg) into a round hole (your text-processing needs) is going to end up being far more frustrating than you anticipate, need or want. For money, I-devices are *great* for reading vast amounts of text. But I run to my PC PDQ when I have to generate and process many documents. I'm actually thinking of switching to a Mac for my next desktop computer but may not simply by virtue of there not being accessible tools with familiar interfaces to deal with the documents I currently have.
Good luck!
I think an ipad is a good
I think an ipad is a good idea for notes and stuff. It's portable and I already use my ios device for taking masive amounts of notes, then later just goign to the computer to keep a back up.
I have all of my diction notes on my phone so I can just go back to them when I work on an assignment that deals with IPA.
I plan on when I start my masters degree getting an ipad mini so my phone can stay in my bag and my recorder can sit by my ipad in case I miss something.
I hardly go in to windows except to update. I'm on a mac about 99 percent of the time now. but that's just me.
I already have a Windows
I already have a Windows laptop but I need a more portable device for work meetings so was looking at iPad as a possible solution for this since I also need something accessible and am having major issues getting going with Window Eyes on my computer. Until I can figure that out I need some way to write and process text that has some voice capability. iPad is still the best solution I can come up with.
Ok so ....
Ok so ....
1- Ipads + IOS 8.0 or 8.1 + bluetooth keyboards + voiceover are not working great. Folks reported some enhancements, but it would be good to ask for advice in other post.
2- When they are working, assuming they will ever do it, good againn, it is a good idea to buy an ipad to edit text, if you just need to make simple editions.
3- You do not need to buy two ipads.m You can, in the worst case, send stuff by e-mail and share it between your ipad and your PC. Using dropbox is probably better, but you will have to research and see what is it, I'm not telling you. If, in the other hand, you have tried to look for it and still has questions post them back here and we will try to help.
4- Out of curiosity .... if you do not have a Apple store either owned by Apple or owned by someone else seeling the Apple stuff how are you going to buy it?
Thanks
Actually the bt issue is
Actually the bt issue is solved, if you don't use qn. I don't so I'm good to go on that front. and I did use my iphoen and notesy for taking class notes but for me an ipad is better or would be because my fingers could use braille or the direct touch if at all possible.
Try notesy and dropbox along wiht yoru ipad and your pc. It really is not that hard to use and is quick and very simple to use.
You guys are great! Thank you
You guys are great! Thank you so much for all of your help!
I forgot about email as a way to move text, that should work!
I buy electronics online after reading reviews to choose the technical specifications to meet my needs. I am hoping to be able to purchase a used iPad that is still running iOS 7 which would avoid the iOS 8 bugs.