Two weeks ago I posted a review of the ways I see advisers using iPads in their practices. One of the drawbacks I highlighted was the lack of a native file explorer to easily locate, edit, and save files stored on the device.

I mentioned three apps that can be used to circumvent this drawback (GoodReader, Dropbox, and SugarSync), each with its own pros and cons.

Today, the folks at SugarSync released an update to its iPad app to enable users to perform basic file editing and synchronization with its SugarSync cloud document storage service.

Unfortunately, I still find document synchronization on the iPad, even with the SugarSync update, to be a convoluted process.

Below is an excerpt from the SugarSync press release describing how their updated app works:

1. Via the SugarSync for iPad app, browse and view files from all computers already synced to the SugarSync cloud.
2. To edit a document (for example), click “Open in Pages” at the top of the screen (an appropriate document editor, e.g., Pages, Numbers or Keynote, must be installed).
3. In Pages (or other document editor), edit as desired and save the file to the iPad’s local storage.
4. Sync the file directly back to a SugarSync cloud account and remote computers via SugarSync’s Upload by Email. (Updated files are found in a dedicated SugarSync folder).

I followed these steps to edit a simple text file I created in my SugarSync folder. Sadly, these steps end up producing three separate files in an effort to support simple editing.

Naturally, the first version of the file is the one stored in the SugarSync folder. In step 3 above, a second version of the file is created by the document editor (e.g. Pages) once it is saved to the iPad. Then in step 4, the second version is emailed back to SugarSync (using a special email address provided by SugarSync) and is routed to a special folder in the Magic Briefcase labeled Uploaded by Email, thus creating a third version of the file.

So after editing one file, three versions of it now exist, spread across SugarSync and the iPad! Long time readers of FPPad know how I hate multiple versions of files and the plague of “versionitis.”

One the one hand, SugarSync does make it possible to edit documents on an iPad and send the updated file back to the SugarSync cloud. That is a good thing.

But on the other hand, the iPad’s lack of a basic file explorer makes the process of editing documents stored in the cloud unnecessarily complex.

So for now, I continue to use my iPad primarily to consume information (audio, video, Internet browsing, reading PDF files, etc.) rather than to edit existing documents. If I’m going to simply edit text files, I might as well save an email draft in GMail to avoid all the back-and-forth synchronization with SugarSync.

That said, I long for the day when basic editing of files stored in Google Documents is possible on an iPad. Before that happens, I bet a tablet PC running some variant of the Windows OS will be available.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 9:59 pm and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.