File management on iPad! Let's use the "Files" app conveniently - iPad computerization course

Once you've connected your iPad to your keyboard and mouse, you're almost ready for the "outside" of your iPad computer. After that, let's actually use the "inside" of the iPad more like a personal computer.

The first theme for that is "file management" this time. If you don't know how to save files created using the app, compress them and attach them to emails, delete them to free up internal storage space, and how to handle files on your iPad, nothing will start. yeah. The default “Files” app on the iPad does just that. When it first appeared in iOS 11, there were some parts that were difficult to use, but since it was updated as "iPadOS" in 2019, it has evolved "transcendentally" with the appearance and usability of Mac and Windows.

Customize Your View

When you launch the Files app, you'll see the main screen, but the interface is really simple. In the sidebar on the left side of the screen, [Recent Documents] and [Shared Documents], [iCloud Drive] and [On This iPad] as [Location], and [Downloads] as [Frequently Used Items] are displayed. You can tap (or click) various files and folders to open them. You can also perform various operations such as copying, duplicating, moving, deleting, displaying information, and renaming by long-pressing or right-clicking on a file. If you have ever used a computer, you should be able to do this without hesitation.

Change the display method to your liking

The first thing you should do in order to use the "Files" app comfortably is to customize the display method. You can choose from [Icon], [List], and [Column] to browse files and folders, but if you use it like a computer, [Column], which is displayed hierarchically, is the easiest to use. Also, let's edit the order of files and folders and the content displayed in the sidebar so that it is easy to use.

In order to further enhance the convenience of the "Files" app, let's cooperate with third-party cloud services such as "Dropbox", "Google Drive" and "OneDrive". After installing each client app on your iPad, items should automatically appear in the Places section of the sidebar. If you have a service you use, you can display, browse, and operate files from each cloud service from one place in the "Files" app, and you can move files and folders by dragging and dropping, which is very convenient.

File management techniques

The best way to manage files with the "Files" app is to use "tags". If you add tags to files and folders, you can tap the tag in the sidebar and the corresponding file will be displayed immediately, so you don't have to search around the iPad. Also, on iCloud Drive, it is an advantage that you can share tags attached with other Apple devices.

Also, when saving files, be sure to decide whether to save them in [iCloud Drive] or [On this iPad] (local storage on the iPad). iCloud Drive is cloud (online) storage provided by Apple's cloud service "iCloud". It's convenient (you can't use it unless you turn on the same function from [iCloud] in the "Settings" app). However, the free account only has 5GB of space, so it will fill up quickly. Of course, you can increase the capacity with a paid upgrade, but if you don't want to spend money, you should save it locally on your iPad or use another cloud service.

Using useful functions unique to iPadOS

Lastly, let's check the convenient functions that you want to use effectively in the "Files" app. The first is the "scan documents" function. You can take a picture of a document directly from the "Files" app and convert it to PDF as it is. It is useful for quickly digitizing, storing, and sharing paper materials. You can also annotate, sketch ideas, and jot down notes using the Markup feature for PDFs and image files. No need to launch a separate app each time.

In addition, let's check how to use "Quick Look", which allows you to preview the contents without the application that created the file, and how to set access rights when sharing files. As I explained in the keyboard part, if you hold down the [command] key, a list of shortcut keys that can be used in the "Files" app will be displayed, so if you want to perform operations quickly, don't miss it.