Uploading "files" from iPad

[Dave2002]

Does anyone know ways to upload "files" from iPads (newish ones) to (say) Mac OS X without having to use iCloud, or iTunes, or a cable link?

I can do the reverse direction by several methods, but getting stuff back seems problematic. For example, I might download a PDF file to the iPad via a browser, and then want to export it to another machine.

This is, really, not an unreasonable thing to do, though Apple seems to think it is!

[Stunsworth]

Save it to Dropbox?

Assuming you have Dropbox installed on the iPad, and the PDF is open in Safari, click on the upwards arrow to the right of the address box, then look at the second row of options (the one that allows you to copy to the clipboard). If you don't see 'Save to Dropbox' press more, and from the 'more' menu select Save to Dropbox. Once you've done that the Dropbox option will appear and you can press it to save the PDF.

[Dave2002]

Steve

Thanks. That's perhaps the best suggestion. I think Papers (where I often keep PDFs, though some now end up in iBooks) can do this too, but there have been issues with different versions I recall, and some PDFs were changed in the transfer. Some versions had Collections, which allowed transfer of sets of files.

I suppose I'm not used to copying files one at a time if I don't need to, and I'd either copy folders or maybe even use an archive tool to move files around in bundles. There are any number of ways of copying across certain types of files, such as photos and music files to and from iPads, but the pesky things try to be clever and associate files with Apps. Whatever happened to cp *.* destination? Apple seems to assume that most people can't figure this out.

I bought this gadget - Toshiba HDWW100EKWF1 Stor.E Wireless Adapter for not a lot from Amazon (under £12), and it's moderately easy to transfer "stuff" onto the iPad, except that there might be problems finding an App at the iPad end to process each file. The gadget is worth the money, though obviously (from reading the reviews) a lot of people have found it dificult. I am also one of them - up to a point. It has taken nearly half a day of trial and error and reading the manual to get a reasonable level of success and competence in using it.

The easiest solution for me might be never to use the iPad as the first destination for any file, so that there's always a copy somewhere else which can be kept or backed up if necessary. That doesn't quite work though, if one picks up files while in "mobile" mode, hence the question.

Also, my iPad Pro has enough space that I'm not so worried about storing things on it, but I know people who have iPads with limited space who would probably like to be able to release space, either by deletion, or by copying the data out before deletiion. Sometimes, of course, wanted files just end up on the "wrong" device and are needed elsewhere.

[antongould]

I tend to attach pdfs on an iPad to an email and send them to wherever .....

[Dave2002]

I tend to attach pdfs on an iPad to an email and send them to wherever .....

It's the bulk and number of them which is sometimes a major issue. Plus I seem to get about 200 emails/day, not all of them from myself.
Without giving too much away, look at the volume of PDFs on a typical town or city planning site. Sometimes even a single planning application might have hundreds of PDFs associated with it. I think other people, for example architects, civil engineers etc. may also find working on iPads useful - but at the same time have some very large files - drawings etc., and in large numbers. Lawyers may also be familiar with issues of large documents and many of them.