As the iPad ecosystem spread out and matures , it becomes easier to give your laptop behind and accomplish much of your business sector body of work on Apple ’s pad of paper data processor . If you only need toviewMicrosoft Excel files , you do n’t need additional computer software , because iOS natively displays .xls and .xlsx file . Several fine puppet also live for creating and editing even expectant and moderately complex spreadsheets on an iPad , but because no iPad version of Excel exists , you may have to leap through a few extra hoop , give up some functionality , or both .
Transferring Files
If you intend to create or delete a spreadsheet on your iPad and then move it back to your Mac ( or a microcomputer ) , you must deal with the iPad ’s awkward regalia of single file - carry-over pick . Some apps let you copy documents to and from your iPad using iTunes , but this ask a wired connection , which is n’t always convenient . E - post attachments is wireless , but only marginally less cumbersome .
you may utilize a filing cabinet - transferral app such as MobileMe iDisk , Dropbox , or SugarSync to copy your spreadsheets via the cloud , and then tap the app ’s Open In button to send it to an app that can blue-pencil it . But it turns out that most of the apps that can edit spreadsheets also have a built - in means to access Dropbox , making the table service a upright entrepot spot for file you want to delete in multiple emplacement .
Another cloud - ground choice is a service calledSoonr , which offers online storage , file communion within a team , and desktop syncing . ( subscription start up at $ 8 per calendar month for 10 GB of online storage and a three - someone team . ) The company lately announced a new feature : its freeiPad applet you natively edit Microsoft Office data file , admit Excel spreadsheet . The editor is identical to the one in Sheet2HD and Office2HD , which I report just ahead .
In Numbers for the iPad, you can use a full-size numeric keypad plus other handy keys for entering data quickly.
Choosing a spreadsheet editor
Unfortunately , none of the apps that can edit out spreadsheets on an iPad patronise all the feature of Excel or Numbers on Mac OS X ( not even Numbers for the iPad ) . At lower limit , you could expect to turn a loss some initialise ( such as baptistry that are n’t useable on your iPad ) when you spell the file . If you use only coarse expression , all the maths should continue to work , but depending on which app you choose , charts , graphics , and sure advanced features may not come through .
What ’s worse , in most cases ( except with Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite and Documents To Go , as I excuse in a moment ) , after you edit the spreadsheets on your iPad and reopen them on your Mac , all those detail strip out during import will still be go . So if it ’s all important to you that every last constituent of your spreadsheet survives the circular trip , be indisputable to choose an iPad app that gain that potential .
That caution aside , here are my top filling for editing spreadsheet on an iPad . ( There are many more ; if you do n’t see your deary here , make indisputable to portion out it in the forums . )
Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite is an especially touch-friendly spreadsheet editor. For example, it features handles that let you extend selections easily.
NumbersApple ’s $ 10 figure for the iPad app ( ) can spell documents in Excel or Numbers for Mac formats and offers the spacious range of spreadsheet features of any iPad app , including input forms and adorable ( 2D ) charts . Numbers ca n’t simply spread an survive spreadsheet and save up it in place ; incoming file must be imported , and outgoing file cabinet export ( and then transferred to another location ) . A service calledDropDAVmakes this process dim-witted by letting telephone number connect to your Dropbox write up via WebDAV . The service costs $ 5 per month .
In Numbers for the iPad , you could use a full - size of it numeral keypad plus other ready to hand keys for infix data quickly .
Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite and Documents To GoThese two apps deal an important lineament : unlike Numbers , they can open , edit , and save an Excel spreadsheet without disinvest out any data or formatting , even though they ca n’t display or edit all the subsist information ; spreadsheets can make the round head trip from Mac to iPad and back safely , without lose anything . This could be a important capacity for those work with spreadsheets on multiple platforms , especially if they were make by other people .
Mariner Calc for the iPad offers a full selection of standard spreadsheet capabilities.
Quickoffice ’s $ 10 Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad ( ) is especially finger - favorable , thanks to a large default font size and hold that make it easy to choose a range of mountains of electric cell and modify that selection at any fourth dimension . DataViz ’s $ 10 written document To Go ( ) use a smaller nonpayment face and a more efficient layout that fits more info on the screen , but is somewhat less commodious to work with . For example , you may forked - water faucet - and - puff to pick out a range of cell , but you ca n’t qualify the selected range without starting over . Still , both apps are square , competent spreadsheet editors .
Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite is an specially cutaneous senses - friendly spreadsheet editor program . For exercise , it feature handles that let you unfold selections easily .
Sheet2HD and Office2HDByte2 ’s $ 6Sheet2HDand $ 8 Office2HD ( ) billet suite include spreadsheet redaction capabilities . ( Office2HD also allow you edit Word and PowerPoint files . ) These two apps both relieve most , but not all , lineament of an original Excel document when you save a spreadsheet . Charts , however , do n’t make the cut .
Mariner CalcMariner Software ’s $ 6Mariner Calc for iPadhas a full accompaniment of basic spreadsheet mapping . It can read and write Excel files ( .xls only , not .xlsx ) , but lacks chart and descriptor . transplant files to and from your Mac ask that you utilise its build - in entanglement server , which is wireless but still more awkward than go through Dropbox or other cloud - free-base table service .
Mariner Calc for the iPad offers a full selection of standard spreadsheet capabilities .
Google SpreadsheetsGoogle Spreadsheets , the spreadsheet constituent ofGoogle Docs , can import and export Excel file ( with some loss of initialize and other features ) . However , using this Web software in Safari on your iPad is unsatisfying . By nonpayment , spreadsheets open in list view , which lets you change values , add rows , and change variety orderliness , but not bestow or reorder column , edit chemical formula or flair , or contribute in writing elements .
If you tap the Go To Spreadsheet View relate at the bottom , Google point you the rendering of the file you ’d see in a Mac web browser , but because the user interface was designed to be manipulated with a mouse , on your iPad you ’ll bump it tricky to take a range of cells , resize columns or rows , and do other labor that affect dragging . you’re able to , however , bypass Safari and open Google Spreadsheets documents immediately in a turn of native iPad apps , include document To Go , Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite , Sheet2HD , and Office2HD .
SmartsheetThe new Web - basedSmartsheetservice ( still in genus Beta ) gives you spreadsheets of a sort , and although its focal point is more on list and project management than on conventional numerical data and associated deliberation , it can spell and export Excel files and Google Spreadsheets . Pricing run from $ 10 to $ 149 per month depending on features and the number of creators .
Senior contributor Joe Kissell is the senior editor of TidBits and the author of the e - bookTake Control of Working with Your iPad , Second Edition(TidBITS Publishing , 2011 ) .
