23 Mobile Things - Thing 6 - Creating & Editing Docs

In Thing 6, I learned a couple of ways to create, edit and save documents using a tablet or phone.

The first app to explore was CloudOn.  CloudOn allows you to bring your Micosoft Office documents (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) to your device and the document will appear exactly the way they do on your computer.  To successfully use this app, you have to have an account with Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, Skydrive, or Hightail.  I have both a Google Drive and Dropbox account, but chose to experiment with Google Drive, since this is preferred in our school district.  It was very easy to set up a CloudOn account and link to my Google Drive account.

I created a new Word document using CloudOn.  At first I tried to use the voice-to-text feature on my phone, but that booted me out of the application, so after logging back in to CloudOn, I typed in my document the old-fashioned way.  It was very easy to share my new document to Google Drive.

Creating a New Doc with CloudOn

Typing my New Doc in CloudOn

Successful Upload from CloudOn to Google Drive

The video posted in Thing 6 about CloudOn stated that this app would not work on an iPhone, but it worked just fine on mine.  Other features I like about CloudOn is the PDF viewer and graphics (image) viewer.

Two things I didn't like about CloudOn are 1) spell check is not free, and 2) you can only be linked in to one Google account at a time.  Since I have both a work and a personal Google account, this is a little frustrating.

The next app I learned about was QuickOffice.  This, too, was a very easy app to use and I successfully set up an account, created a new document and uploaded it to my Google Drive.  A plus for this app is that spell check is free and included in the app.  I probably should have remembered that spell check was free before taking the photo below!

Typing my New Doc in QuickOffice

Successful Upload from QuickOffice to Google Drive

Opening up QuickOffice Document in Google Drive on my Desktop Computer

SignNow is an app that allows users to sign documents from their devices.  I didn't have a document that needed signing, so I initialed a photo I had taken from my phone.

Initialed Photo

With all of these apps, it would be much easier to use a tablet than my iPhone, and use a stylus rather than a finger, but I still think I prefer to type documents on my desktop or laptop.  I like bigger keyboards, and I cannot lie!