mguhlin

#iPad App Data Sharing – 4 Simple Approaches

Most apps–here’s a list of some apps and how they export–will do at least one of three things: 


1) Save product (video, image) to the iPad’s Camera Roll or 
2) Allow you to email. 
3) Print to AirPrint

As such, depending on what you have available, you can take advantage of four approaches, as illustrated below, to get data off the iPad:

1) Use WebDav Navigator to copy video or image to a WebDav server
For apps like Comic TouchLite, Doodlebunny, Fotopedia Heritage, Geometry Pad, Popplet, Brainstorm, iMotion HD, KidsDraw, MadLips, Videolicious, Splice, Apple’s iWorks Suite (e.g. Keynote), to name a few, having access to a WebDav server is the way to go. Not only can you save content you’ve stored in the Camera Roll, you can also access it from other devices (e.g. computer) on the Web provided you’re using a free solution like OwnCloud.org.

If you don’t have a WebDav server in your school district, consider getting an Otixo account–the free account gets you two gigs of data transfer–that will let you interface with various cloud storage solutions. Again, be aware of the Terms of Service that limit under 13 year olds from having these accounts. That way, you get the benefit of WebDav without actually having to setup your own server.

Watch the video of how to accomplish this–copying an image or video in the Camera Roll to webdav server. 


What You Will Need: An UbuntuLinux server running OwnCloud.org, or MS SharePoint WebDav, .

2) Sync products via WiFi to iTunes.

This approach works for apps–iPen, ScribblePress–that don’t allow you to easily copy their products off to a Camera Roll, cloud storage, or email. Here’s how to do it.

Thx to Julian Coultas (Digital RoadTrip)


3) Create and Save documents directly in Cloud storage area, bypassing iPad unless your WiFi is “turned off.” For GoogleDrive documents, you’ll have to share them by connecting to Drive via Google Chrome Browser on iPad or computer.


This works for apps like Office2HD, which I’ve discussed before, that enable you to create content directly on a webdav server or GoogleDrive.


What You Will Need: Apps that are webdav or GoogleDrive friendly.

4) Email product to…
For apps that won’t allow you to copy from the Camera Roll–like AlbumFX Lite–you can have students email the product directly to Evernote, GoogleDrive via GoFileDrop Freemium, or–if you’re not worried about FERPA issues–as DougPete points out in this comment, use dropittome to send it to Dropbox.

A quick overview of how to do this in Evernote, with slight modifications, appears below:

First, find your Evernote incoming email address. It’ll look something like [username].12345@m.evernote.com. The address is located under Account Info in the desktop versions of Evernote, under Settings in Evernote Web, and in the Sync tab of Evernote for iPhone. We recommend adding this email address to your address book or contact list.

Next, try emailing something into Evernote. In the subject line of your email, write the title of the note as you want it to appear in your account. In the same subject line, add one or both of the following:

  • Use @ for notebooks: Use an @ symbol followed by the name of your destination notebook
  • Use # for tags: Use a # symbol followed by the tag or tags you wish to assign. You can have multiple tags just make sure each one starts with an #

For example, Subject: Grandpa’s Marbles Draft #1 @DigitalStoryDrafts #studentname
This would create a note titled Grandpa’s Marble Draft #1 in the DigitalStoryDrafts notebook, tagged with studentname.

Here’s what the GoFileDrop Freemium looks like:


What You Will Need: A free account with GoFileDropFreemium, Evernote, and/or GoogleApps for Education Docs/Drive. I don’t recommend Dropbox for school settings.

5) Print to a File.
This fifth approach isn’t all that great, so I’m not giving it credit in the title of this blog entry. There’s not a lot of low-cost options for printing from an iPad app and saving that product (e.g. PDF) somewhere you can get it. That’s why apps like Print Central ($8.99+in-app upgrade of approx $2) and Printopia ($20) are raking in the dollars. I don’t have a good solution that is no-cost here, and that’s bad news for some apps that ONLY can be printed.

The only workaround is to take a screenshot on your iPad. To do that, simultaneously hold down the On/Off switch at the top of the iPad, then a half-second later, press the round Home button. You’ll hear a “camera click” and the picture will be saved in your Camera Roll. At that point, you can take the image and use any of the other approaches shared above to get the image off your iPad.

Conclusion
As you might guess, I’ve written about this topic several times. I keep searching for the easiest ways to get this done and explain it. Writing how helps me grasp the concepts involve. I hope that readers won’t get tired of my searching for the best approaches to explain this!


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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

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