Who else wants iPad productivity apps?

Tablets are really starting to come into their own. They are great for users who need to take their business on the road and don’t want to be tied down to bulky laptops. The one tablet that’s proved to be the catalyst to this movement is the iPad. One of the main reasons for this is due to the sheer number of apps, especially productivity related, that help users do their job.

Here’s some useful apps for the iPad that can help boost your productivity.

Document compatibility
It’s highly likely that your office uses a document production program that isn’t made by Apple – Microsoft Office. Using another program to create documents and then spending time formatting on your work computer isn’t a great productivity booster, but there are options.

If you do use Microsoft Office the iPad kind of supports Office documents through Apple’s iWork. iWork does support Office files, however formatting and other things like fonts normally won’t transfer over. This can be counter-productive.

While there will be a version of Microsoft Office heading to the iPad sometime in early 2013 (no set date yet), you’re likely better off purchasing an app like Documents to Go which allows users to open, edit and create Office documents.

If you aren’t doing serious work on the iPad and just need it for mobile document production, you can skip paying for an app and instead sign up for an outlook.com or Office 365 account. Doing so will give you access to cloud based versions of Word, PowerPoint, OneNote and Excel.

Not a Microsoft fan? There’s also Google Drive. It’s not 100% compatible with Microsoft Office though as many functions and formatting won’t transfer over properly. However, with solid word, spreadsheet and presentation programs it’s a great option for Google users.

Notes
Because of the iPad’s size, it’s a perfect tool to take notes on. There are literally hundreds of different note apps available for the iPad, some are great, others lack functionality. One of the most consistent is Evernote. Evernote is available for nearly every system, so a note made on your iPad can be accessed on your computer, iPhone, Android Device or even BlackBerry.

Evernote really excels when you need to take simple notes. There’s also a number of excellent add-on apps like Penultimate – which allows you to take handwritten notes – which make it a nearly all-in-one solution. The best part is: The basic app is free.

Sharing files
When you are mobile with the iPad, you will no doubt need to share files with users. There are many different ways you can do this. The easiest way is to use an app like Dropbox or SugarSync which allows you to upload files and share them when needed. While you can upload most programs or files, you won’t be able to edit some of these.

How most of these work is that you put a copy of the app on your hard drive which is essentially a folder. When you put files/folders into this folder, they will be uploaded to the cloud and allow you to access the files/folders from any device you have installed the app on.

There are many other apps available that can help boost your productivity. Have you found some that you can’t live without? Let us know.