Learn and Understand iCloud
What Is iCloud?
Before we can learn and understand iCloud, we first need to know what iCloud is. Are you ready to have a little history lesson?
According to Apple, iCloud is in every Apple device – iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple Watch, and the rest of the devices you have.
Accordingly, what better way to keep your photos, files, notes, and more documents safer? Not only that, you can back up your devices routinely.
What Does iCloud Do for You?
You would expect it to be like Microsoft OneNote or Google Drive, but it is different. Yes, it does run in the background, but according to Carl Pullein, iCloud is pretty much the whole ecosystem for Apple.
Furthermore, if you are used to using Dropbox or Google Drive, you may be confused when first introduced to iCloud. iCloud does not act like a typical cloud storage system.
The World of iCloud
Where do we start? Well, an excellent place to start is the iCloud.com Home Screen. You can see what that looks like in the embedded video above. Carl Pullein has his Home screen arranged with his mail, contacts, calendar, photos, iCloud Drive, Notes, and more. News Publisher is available because Carl runs his blog on News Publisher. You won’t typically see News Publisher unless you find you need it.
The System Behind the System
Let’s look at how iCloud is set up; it operates behind the scenes. All your Apple things are automatically stored in the iCloud. An example would be your photos. Should you have a lot of pictures and bump up against the free five gigabytes that you first get with Apple iCloud. As you get closer to that limit, you may find you are getting more reminders which could be annoying enough to the fact that you will consider upgrading to a different plan.
Where Is Your Data?
So, your data is in iCloud – unless you want to move some of your documents, photos, etc. into a different location. If, for example, you wanted to move your photos to another place, be careful as once you move it out of iCloud, you no longer have a backup. Also, if you take anything out of iCloud, you will not be able to share it across your devices. As an illustration, you can go to Preferences and turn the iCloud location on or off.
A suggestion we have is if you’re going to use iCloud Drive as your primary cloud storage, we would strongly recommend that you turn desktop and documents on. The reason for doing this is that any documents you have in your documents folder or your desktop will also be available on your iPad and your iPhone.
Apps Worthy of Mention in iCloud Drive
Depending on what line of work you are involved in, iCloud Drive can be a storage house of apps. I’ll share just a few that Carl uses daily.
Byword
Byword is a useful text editor that lets you write notes and long-form texts. I’ve listed below some of the key features of Byword
a. Designed to make writing easier with Markdown
b. Sync text documents across all your Mac, iPhone, iPad devices
c. Comprehensive keyboard shortcuts for extra efficiency
d. Alternate dark theme for extra comfort in low-light situations
e. The most complete Markdown support, including footnotes, tables, and cross-references
f. Export documents to PDF and HTML documents
g. Publish to Medium, WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, and Evernote
Drafts
Drafts lets you turn text into action – it’s a quick notebook, handy editor, and writing automation tool, all in one. Instead of tapping around other apps, capture in Drafts first. Open it and write right away, then do something useful with your words.
GarageBand
Do you like music? GarageBand turns your iPad and iPhone into a collection of Touch Instruments and a full-featured recording studio — so you can make music anywhere you go. And Live Loops makes it easy for anyone to have fun creating music like a DJ. Use Multi-Touch gestures to play keyboards, guitars, and create beats that make you sound like a pro — even if you’ve never played a note before. You can even record podcasts.
Keynote
Keynote is excellent for doing presentations. Create presentations easily and amaze your audience with what you have created. You will be ahead of the game if you turn on iCloud so you can access and edit your presentations from your Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and from a Mac or PC browser at iCloud.com. What is even better is that your changes are saved automatically.
You don’t need anything else to manage your productivity apps within icloud.com if you decide to. To clarify, if you have a file that you created more than six months ago, your file will not be on your computer. You will need to download it. iCloud Drive knows you are not working on a file. Therefore, it will be stored in iCloud for when you need it again. To download it, just double click on it.
Summary
To understand iCloud, recognize that iCloud is unique, practical, and user-friendly, and intelligent. Megabite offers classes on a variety of topics. With over 30 titles to choose from, there is something for everybody. We have several Apple classes, including a one-hour class on Mac Photos, Apple Photos Organizing, and Editing App.
You can contact us now or call us at 904-430-0350.
Tags: iCloud storage, understand iCloudCategorised in: Cloud Storage
This post was written by Pam Lokker
