Tackling another reader question through the blog today. This one comes from Kathryn. She says:
I love your blog. Thank you for writing this blog.
I know you can help me with this problem.
I wanted to use iCloud instead of Dropbox for as my Cloud server, but I can’t figure out how to use it. iCloud does not show up as an place to save my work like Dropbox in any of my programs on my iPad.
I also don’t understand this email thing where you set up an email account @me.com. Can that replace my hotmail account or is it just a forwarding service?
Is there a cheat sheet for iCloud that I can find?
Thank you for all of your help.
Hey Kathryn. Thanks for the compliments.
There is a lot going on with iCloud and it would take a treatise to explain it all. But I think we can answer your questions.
First, iCloud isn’t ready to be a Dropbox replacement. I recommend that you keep using Dropbox (or other cloud service) like you always have. Many developers haven’t embraced it yet for file management. And even for those that have, like Apple for its iWork apps, there isn’t a good desktop sync interface. At this point, iCloud really just keeps documents on your iOS devices in sync. This has been helpful for me to make sure a Keynote presentation is on both my iPad and my iPhone. But for any other type of file transfer, I use other methods.
So what this .me account business? Well, iCloud’s primary function (at least for me) is more of a syncing service. I use it to keep all my calendars, contacts, reminders and the like in sync. Your Apple ID (the account you connect to the App Store with) will work as your iCloud account. so you don’t need to get another .me account. That said, that there may be situations where you want an additional iCloud (.me) account. For example, while my wife and I both use the same Apple ID to connect to the App Store, we each have separate iCloud accounts (new .me addresses) for syncing everything else. This keeps our calendars, contacts and the like separate. It also allows us to iMessage between each other.
I think the articles over at MacWorld.com are a great resource for general and specific questions about iCloud. Start with this overview and look at the other linked articles for additional support on a particular topic.
Good luck!