The iPad and the iPad 2 are amazing and powerful devices. To help you do amazing things with it, we offer this collection of tips and tricks and how-to articles.
Some of these are iPad Basics sort of stuff that are helpful for newer users- for instance, how to instantly jump to the top of a web or email page, how to save images from the iPad web browser or email apps. Others are how-to’s that are useful even for iPad power users – things like how to print from the iPad, or the best ways to get photos and videos transferred from an iPhone to the iPad without having to connect to a PC, or how to disable In-App purchases so your kids can’t inadvertently run up your App Store spending.
I hope some of these iPad tips will help you get the most out of your iPad.
AirPrint is one of the headline new features in the latest version of the iPad software – iOS 4.2. It allows you to print directly to certain wireless printers from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch (see below for which models and other requirements).
This new feature has almost no settings, requires no setup on the user’s part, and is one of those typical Apple offerings that should ‘just work’ if you have the right device and printer.
Here’s a quick rundown of what’s needed and how it works …
Being able to copy files from your computer to the iPad (and vice-versa) can be a big boost to productivity. File Sharing via iTunes is one of the easiest methods to do this with. Not all apps or document types are supported for File Sharing as yet, but there are a good range to work with, including the iWork suite from Apple (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) and a good number of 3rd party apps like GoodReader, Office2 HD, iA Writer, and quite a few others.
If you have one or more apps installed that support File Sharing, it’s quite easy to do via iTunes.
Like many of you, I was filled with sadness when I read Alicia’s post on losing her iPad last week. It’s definitely a horrible feeling to realize you’ve left a valuable item behind when you’re out and about, but the thing is it happens to all of us at one time or another.
Luckily, as Alicia pointed out in her post, there are some things we can do on our iDevices to dramatically increase the chances of getting them back if lost or stolen. One of the most popular ways is to use the MobileMe Find My iPad (or Find My iPhone) feature to track your device’s location and be able to pinpoint it if it goes missing. I thought this might be as good a time as any to share a quick how-to on enabling this excellent service.
Hit the break for details on how to enable Find My iPad on your iPad …
I write this blog to the strains of “Don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”.
This past Sunday was nearly perfect, but somewhere between brunch with friends and an afternoon museum visit, I lost my iPad.
And the most frustrating thing is, the person who found it did not return it. So now it’s officially stolen and more importantly gone. Damn. Continue reading
Apple’s TV ads for the iPad are slick and well-executed, as are nearly all Apple TV campaigns. A lot of focus in the ads has been on iPad apps, and a lot of very good apps have been showcased within the commercials.
If you’ve ever wondered what’s the easiest way to find all the apps shown in the TV ads, the answer is very easy.
I spotted a basic but very cool iPad keyboard tip the other day, over at the iPad in Canada site – on how to insert an apostrophe quickly via the iPad keyboard. This method allows you to insert an apostrophe straight from the main Qwerty section of the keyboard, without having to shift over to the numbers / special characters section.
All you need to do is tap on the comma key and hold for just a second or two. You’ll see the apostrophe symbol popup in blue. Once you see that, just release the key and the apostrophe will be inserted – much quicker than having to swap keyboard areas.
Thanks to Danielle at iPad in Canada for the tip.
Have you ever started reading a long article on the web and thought that it would be great to be able to read it in iBooks on the iPad? If so, did you know it’s quite easy (on a Mac) to print a web page as a PDF to iTunes and read it later on the iPad (or iPhone) in iBooks?
Well … it is. Read on for a quick rundown on how it’s done …
Here’s a swell little iPad feature that I’ve never made use of before today. I have no great excuse to explain why, but I’ve just never realized / remembered this was a feature on the iPad:
the Bookmarks Bar
As in, the thin bar running just below the address bar and search field etc. at the top of the Safari app. I use it constantly in my desktop browsers to have quick access to sites and online services I most often visit – but had never thought to use it on the iPad until reading a tip at Mac OS X Hints about it.
One of the very first things Steve Jobs mentioned about the iPad when he introduced it is the ability to set custom wallpapers for both the home screen and lock screen. This is a nice, and very easy, way to personalize your iPad – so it seems well worth a quick how to post.
Here’s another basic but very handy tip for those of you who are new to the iPad. You may often receive a photo in an email that you want to save and keep on your iPad – or spot an image in a web site that you’d like to save.
It’s very easy to do this on the iPad – hit the lovely little read more link to see how …
Just like the iPhone and the iPod Touch, the iPad is able to take a screenshot, to capture the contents of its current screen as a new image.
This is very easy to do, and there is also a neat little trick for creating new images out of existing photos via the screenshot feature on the iPad.
Hit the jump for a quick run-through on these …