We cannot get high speed Internet at our new house (sob). So we got iPhones, because my sister’s iPhone was the only phone that managed to get cell reception out here. The iPhones are our first apple products, and I mostly like them despite some minor complaints.
I need to email some data files that are on my desktop computer, and I can’t figure out how. I downloaded an app called file manager, but it does not seem to be doing the trick. This can’t be that complicated. Help?
What kind of files are they? The iPhone (and iOS in general) doesn’t like to give you access to the raw file system (the ‘file system’ paradigm for user interaction will likely go away for most OSes, both mobile and computer, within a decade), and how you handle files will differ based on what type of files you’re trying to transfer.
You can do traditional file management if you jailbreak your phone, but if it’s new, there’s only a jailbreak out for the iPhone 4 and below (the 4S and 5 aren’t jailbroken on iOS 6 yet), but that shouldn’t be needed depending on what things you’re trying to do.
One easy way to manage ANY file is to sign up for something like Dropbox or Box.net. They have syncing services so you basically have a folder on your computer that you can just drop files into (and organize into folders). The service will then sync them across all other computers you sign in, as well as give you full mobile access to them. I find this the easiest way to get files to my iPhone. I just drag them in to my Box folder and open the Box app on my iPhone and go wild.
Have you set up a wifi network at home? Because the app, if its the one by tapmedia, allows you to browse files shares on your home LAN and download files to the iPhone from there.
Else, you will have to use iTunes to load the file onto the iPhone.
I’m presuming that you are asking about moving files to the iPhone to email from there, rather than just emailing them to the iPhone from the computer.
I’ll probably go the wifi route. For the record , I think this is a really stupid thing to have to work around, and it makes me never want to buy another apple product.
You could transfer the files to a USB flash drive and then email them using a hotmail or gmail account from a computer that does have internet. If you don’t have access to such at work, maybe you could use a public computer at a library or prevail on an internet connected friend to let you mail from theirs.
It’s not, yours is just an odd use as most people have Internet connections at home.
You can set up your iPhone to give your desktop an Internet connection through tethering, but you would need either a wifi card in your desktop or iTunes on your desktop.
What app on the phone will you be using illustrator files with? I didn’t know there were any iPhone apps that used Illustrator.
Anyway, there is an app called Downloads that I use that will act as a file manager that allows you to drag any file onto your phone. To do that, (after installing the app) you’ll connect your phone to the computer, open iTunes, and in the Apps tab in iTunes (after selecting your phone), at the bottom you’ll see the “File Sharing” section of iTunes. Click on “Downloads” as the app, and you can then add any file you want to the computer. On the phone, you can then go to the Downloads app and load your files in any app that handles them. (I, for instance, just dragged a RAW file from my camera on to my phone, and in addition to other file type programs like Box and Dropbox being available, Color Splash, which takes RAW files, was available and opened the file.)
It sounds like it takes longer than it does…it’s very quick.
Missed the no iTunes. Go to a public lab / Kinkos / Library with a USB key and download iTunes. If you want to drag files to the iPhone without an internet connection, there really is no other way around using iTunes unless you jailbreak. Still - I don’t know what apps you’d be using with Adobe Illustrator files.