CloudOn delivers Microsoft Office applications to your iPad. Finally, for those of you who have lived in a Microsoft Office centric world, you now have access to the core Office Suite on your iPad.
You no longer have to hesitate when running out the door to your next appointment, or waste time switching devices. With your iPad and CloudOn you can review Word documents, manipulate pivot tables in Excel, and show off your latest work in PowerPoint. They will work just like you expect them to.
One of the capabilities that I have enjoyed the most is that CloudOn is fully integrated with Dropbox, giving me the comfort that everything I do is with the most current version of the application and I haven’t left important files back at my office.
This app is currently available in Apple’s App Store for FREE.
Once you install CloudOn, setup has two simple steps:
- Create your account by entering an email address and picking your password.
- Connect your Dropbox account (or create one right on the spot)
Once you are set up, they provide a brief seven step screen tutorial that covers everything you need to know to get productive immediately. You can create, view and edit files on your iPad and save them directly to your Dropbox account.
CloudOn’s WorkSpace allows you to:
- Use Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint on your iPad to create or edit documents.
- Rename, delete and manage documents with your Dropbox account
- Display, edit or create charts, change formatting, spell check, insert comments, into any Word, Excel or PowerPoint files
- Track changes while reviewing Word documents
- Use pivot tables and insert formulas in Excel workbooks
- Display and edit animation or transitions in PowerPoint presentations
- Present in full PowerPoint mode (not in PDF)
- Open files directly from your iPad email accounts or Dropbox account
- Automatically save documents to avoid losing changes
Please note that you need a Dropbox account to use CloudOn. A few other things to be aware of:
- Performance can be a bit slow if you are on a slow internet connection.
- If you do not have internet access, you cannot use CloudOn.
- You can present your PowerPoint slides in full screen view and they are actually your PowerPoint slides, not converted to PDF or Flash.
- I have found that I need to shrink some of the headline font sizes down a bit so that the slide is presentable.
CloudOn eliminates another hurdle to mass adaption of iPad for sales teams and the business world. Go grab a copy while it remains free, work with it and let me know what you think.