While
sipping your morning coffee, an email with an unknown file has arrived into your inbox on
iPad from a friend in Denmark. The friend is asking you to proofread her resume ASAP. No problemo, but unexpectedly Google Drive tells that the file cannot be viewed. Ouch!
So how can
you view the document on iPad? How to save it to your iPad in an easily
accessible way? Maybe convert it to the .doc format but, again, how?
You're
starting to panic. Your coffee is getting cold.
And what if
there’s not only a .doc file you ever need to open, but files of other formats
like .ods, .csv or .rtf – how to quickly preview them?
You go to
refill your coffee and notice that there are still more croissants. You grab
them all.
Your adrenaline is up and suddenly you think to yourself: "iPad is such a magical device and you’re living in the age of technology
so there’s MUST be a solution to that problem." And you’re right!
The
conventional wisdom tells us that we cannot read a file without an app that is
compatible with that file. That's false for the cloud computing era.
To view and edit office docs on your iPad all you need is a browser and rollApp.com.
To view and edit office docs on your iPad all you need is a browser and rollApp.com.
As the iPad
doesn't have a file system, rollApp allows you to work with files (open, save, edit) directly in your
Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box account. So if you want to view a document – that
resume from your friend – just create your rollApp account and connect your favorite cloud storage to it.
Then, using
Chrome or Safari, go to an office app on rollApp.com – for example LibreOffice Writer or OpenOffice Writer, click Launch Online, use File > Open to locale
the file you previously saved in your cloud storage. And you're all set!
Below are
just some major file formats you can open and view with OpenOffice apps via
rollApp on your iPad:
Text
documents:
OpenDocument
formats (.odt, .ott, .oth, and .odm):
Microsoft
Word 6.0/95/97/2000/XP (.doc and .dot)
Microsoft
Word 2003 XML (.xml)
Microsoft
Word 2007 XML (.docx, .docm, .dotx, .dotm)
Microsoft
WinWord 5 (.doc)
WordPerfect
Document (.wpd)
.rtf, .txt,
and .csv
Portable Document Format (.pdf)
Portable Document Format (.pdf)
Spreadsheets:
OpenDocument
formats (.ods and .ots)
Microsoft
Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls, .xlw, and .xlt)
Microsoft
Excel 4.x–5.0/95 (.xls, .xlw, and .xlt)
Microsoft
Excel 2003 XML (.xml)
Microsoft
Excel 2007 XML (.xlsx, .xlsm, .xltx, .xltm)
Microsoft
Excel 2007 binary (.xlsb)
Lotus 1-2-3
(.wk1, .wks, and .123)
Data
Interchange Format (.dif)
Rich Text
Format (.rtf)
Text CSV
(.csv and .txt)
Opening
presentations:
OpenDocument
formats (.odp, .odg, and .otp)
Microsoft
PowerPoint 97/2000/XP (.ppt, .pps, and .pot)
Microsoft
PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx, .pptm, .potx, .potm)