Managing Office files on an iPad

TechRadar: All latest feeds Managing Office files on an iPad

Managing Office files on an iPad

Microsoft Office for iPad is closely integrated with OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud-based storage system. Sign up for a OneDrive account and you'll get 7GB of online storage space for free (with an additional 20GB of space if you subscribe to Office 365).

The 20GB of additional space gives Office for iPad users a generous 27GB of OneDrive storage; typically this is more than enough for saving all your Office documents. You can store any kind of files with OneDrive (images, audio files, and files created by other apps, for instance), and documents created with the Microsoft Office for iPad apps are saved directly to OneDrive by default.

Office for iPad creates new documents as fully-fledged Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, and you can access and share these using OneDrive for your Mac or PC computer.

If you've ever used a rival cloud service such as Dropbox, you'll feel right at home with OneDrive. With OneDrive installed, a OneDrive folder appears inside the Home folder of a Mac computer. Any files you add to this OneDrive folder on your Mac can be accessed on the iPad.

Files created using Office for iPad apps appear inside the OneDrive folder on your Mac. Each of the three main apps Word, Excel and PowerPoint have the same interface for viewing documents, but each only displays the files that are compatible with that app.

You access previously created files using the Recent and Open icons in this same window; the New icon is used to create documents.

Let's have a more in-depth look at the process of creating, managing and editing files…

Save As and renaming files

There is no rename file option, or Save As option in Office for iPad apps. The lack of Save As and Rename is a bit confusing at first, but both are replaced with a Duplicate option.

Open a document and tap the File menu option (in the top left, just next to the Back icon). Now tap Duplicate to display the Choose Name and Location window. Enter a new name for the file, and tap Save. You will now have both the new and old file.

If you've used this method to rename the file, simply delete the old one – preferably before you forget!

Add a second account

It is possible to add more than one OneDrive account to each Office for iPad app. Adding multiple accounts is handy for increasing storage space or allowing multiple people to use the Office for iPad app.

To add a second OneDrive account tap on Open and Add A Service > OneDrive. Now enter your OneDrive account ID and Password and tap Sign In. The account appears underneath the main OneDrive account in the Open window. If you want to remove the second account, tap on your Account Name icon (at the top left) and slide your finger left across the unwanted account. Now tap Remove.

Which files can you open?

Only files created and used by the specific program can be opened by the particular Office for iPad app. So if you are using the Open window in Microsoft Word, you will only view Word and compatible text-based documents – not Excel, PowerPoint, or any other files such as images).

Using the Office app

1. New

The New icon in the sidebar is used to create documents. Each app's New window displays a New Blank Document option, plus a selection of templates. Tapping on New Blank Document or choosing one of the templates switches from this document view to editing mode.

You tap the Back button (in the top left of the editing window) to return here.

2. Documents

Documents you have created appear next to the Recent and Open sidebar windows. You give a name to a document when editing it: tap the File icon in edit mode to view the Name option.

Tap Name to open the Save As window, enter a name and choose Save. One oddity is that you cannot create a new folder within the app; instead you must create folders using the separate OneDrive app. Normally we choose the Documents folder.

3. Opening documents

Tap a document in the Open or Recent menu to download it. The Office apps first download the file and cache it locally, so you will need to be online.

Documents you have saved recently will appear with a green tick next to them; these are stored locally and you can edit them without an internet connection. You switch back to the edit mode to make further adjustments to the file.

4. Recent documents

The easiest way to find a document is to tap the Recent icon. This displays documents that have been recently created or edited. Files are organised by Pinned, Today, Past Week, Past Month and Older.

To the right of each document is a File icon – tap this to open the Remove From Recent option. This removes the file from the Recent menu, it doesn't delete it. There is currently no search option for files, so it's best to keep them organised.

5. Pin and File

We find it best to pin documents in the Recent folder so we can quickly find them. Tap Recent and locate a document you're working on. Now tap the Pin icon (which is to the far right of the document's name). The Pin icon turns blue, and the item is added to the top of the Recents list.

Tap the blue Pin icon again if you want to remove the item from the Pinned area of Recents.

6. Delete and recover files

You can delete files from the Open menu. Locate the unwanted document and tap the File icon (to the right of the filename) and choose Delete; tap Delete again to remove the file completely.

Note that you can not recover deleted files from the Office for iPad app (or the separate OneDrive app), but you can recover deleted files using the OneDrive website. Tap the Recycle Bin to view deleted files.

• Enjoyed this article? Get more tutorials, guides, and tips on how to get the most from your Apple devices inside MacFormat. Take advantage of an exclusive offer in our sampler today.

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How to use AirPlay

TechRadar: All latest feeds How to use AirPlay

How to stream music and video using AirPlay

Your iPhone and iPad's portability makes them the ideal entertainment device, whether you want to listen to music or enjoy video content on the move.

But there will be times when you want to hear your music through a proper set of speakers, watch your movies on your large-screen high definition TV, or view your slide shows on compatible digital photo frames.

The great thing about the iPhone is that you can do all of this – and all without a wire in sight…

Wireless for sound

The technology that makes it possible is called AirPlay. This sends audio or video via your Wi-Fi network to compatible speakers or video receivers such as the Apple TV. Depending on your setup, you can even play your music on multiple sets of speakers in multiple rooms.

AirPlay is built into your iPhone and iPad, so you don't need to find or install any additional apps. You will however need a set of speakers or a video receiver with the right hardware built in. Note that AirPlay is not the same as Bluetooth, and the two are not interchangeable – you'll need specific AirPlay-enabled kit to use it.

To get started, your iPhone or iPad and the receiver need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network. You can see which your device is connected to by pressing the Home button, then tapping Settings > Wi-Fi.

Exactly how you connect the receiver to the same Wi-Fi network varies from device to device; the receiver's instruction manual will guide you through the process (most are online if you can't find the paperwork).

With both devices connected to the same Wi-Fi network and the receiver switched on, your iPhone or iPad should detect it automatically. Now all you need to do is start your media playing, swipe upwards from the bottom of the screen to open Control Centre, tap AirPlay and select the receiver you want to play your media on. It's that simple!

AirPlay Mirroring

As well as streaming audio and video to a receiver device, the iPhone and iPad can perform what's called AirPlay mirroring, where the entire content of the device's screen is output to a video receiver such as the Apple TV.

This means you can browse the web and show others what you're looking at, for example, without everyone having to crowd around your iPhone. You can also show any app on a large screen, and one of the most exciting uses for this is the ability to mirror games.

Depending on how they've been configured, some games enable you to use your iOS device as a controller while displaying the action on the big screen via your Apple TV.

Others provide extra information on your iOS device's screen – in the case of MetalStorm: Online, for example, you view detailed airplane controls and information on the screen while flying a plane. Other games, such as Real Racing 3, have a split-screen mode, enabling you to play against a friend, using separate iOS devices as controllers. It's the future of gaming!

1. Check your Wi-Fi

Make sure your iPhone is connected to your home Wi-Fi network: look for the symbol to the right of the network name (top left corner of the screen). If you don't see it, tap Settings > Wi-Fi to find it and connect.

Make sure your AirPlay receiver is on the same Wi-Fi network.

2. Free your tunes

Now press the Home button, then tap the Music app and tap a song to start it playing. To output it through your AirPlay speakers instead of the phone's, swipe up from the foot of the screen to open Control Centre, then tap AirPlay above the bottom row of buttons.

3. Pick your speakers

You'll see all the AirPlay receivers on your network, each with either a speaker or a video symbol next to it. Simply tap the AirPlay speaker you'd like to use.

Your music will seamlessly switch to playing through that speaker. Now swipe Control Centre downwards to close it.

4. Control your music

With the music coming out of the AirPlay speakers, you can control it directly from your iPhone: play, pause, skip or control the volume.

To switch AirPlay off, open Control Centre, tap AirPlay again, and pick iPhone. This returns the controls to just playing music on your phone.

5. Enjoy your videos

The procedure is the same in the Videos app: tap a video you'd like to watch to start it playing. Swipe upwards to open Control Centre, then tap on AirPlay. Your Apple TV will be included in the list.

6. Destination Apple TV

Tap a receiver with a video symbol and your video will start playing on it. Your iPhone screen will turn black and specify where the video is being played.

Tap Done and you can control the playback from the comfort of your iPhone using the standard playback controls.

7. Stream from your apps

Some apps (like BBC iPlayer) feature the AirPlay icon on-screen: tap it to pick a receiver. You can almost always divert playback over AirPlay using Control Centre.

You might need to swipe upwards once to show the Control Centre handle, then swipe once again to open it.

8. Sharing options

You'll also find AirPlay among the options available to you when you tap the Share button in many apps, including Photos. This works in the same straightforward way: tap AirPlay, then tap the video receiver in the list on which you want to display the selected image or images

9. Solving connection problems

AirPlay is so simple to use in iOS 9 that you should rarely have any problems switching output to the device you want. The only thing to watch out for is the difference between receivers capable of video and those capable only of audio.

If you do have any problems, most come down to a weak wireless signal. Try to site your speakers closer to your main router if possible, or invest in a wireless range extender (such as an Apple AirPort Express) to relay the signal to the far ends of your home.

You can also try moving the router or speaker around.

• Enjoyed this article? Get more tutorials, guides, and tips on how to get the most from your Apple devices inside MacFormat. Take advantage of an exclusive offer in our sampler today.

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How to Remotely Ping Microsoft Azure VMs

Petri IT Knowledgebase How to Remotely Ping Microsoft Azure VMs

In this post, I'll explain why you can't use Ping with Azure virtual machines via the Internet, and how you can use an alternative (PSPing) that is actually more useful.

Pinging an Microsoft Azure VM

Imagine that you're an IT pro that has just gotten your hands on Azure for the first time. I have a pretty good idea of what you're going to try to do:

1. Deploy a virtual machine in Azure.
2. Probably run a broadband speed test from the Azure virtual machine for laughs and giggles.
3. Try to ping the Azure virtual machine from a remote location.

The first step should go pretty well, and the second step should make you wonder about how you can use all that bandwidth. And you'll be left scratching your head on step three because no matter what you do with Azure endpoints or NAT rules, you won't be able to ping that virtual machine over the Internet.

There's a reason for this. The following diagram depicts this simple example. Someone has deployed an Azure virtual machine. The only possible connection to that virtual machine is via the Internet. Any traffic entering the virtual network must pass through a load balancer, and this balancer is filtering ICMP traffic.

Note: Ping uses the ICMP protocol to measure the latency of the connection between a local machine and a remote machine. Any connections exceeding a default latency are deemed to be unavailable.

So this means that we cannot use Ping to verify that the virtual machine is actually online on the Internet.

Why PING to Azure VMs fails (Image Credit: Aidan Finn)

Note that you can use Ping with Azure virtual machines if:

• You have a network connection, VPN or ExpressRoute, that bypasses the load balancer, and
• The firewall in the guest OS of the Azure virtual machine allows inbound ICMP traffic.

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Free Tool: PsPing

There's another way to verify that your virtual machine is online, and that is to use PsPing, a tool from Microsoft SysInternals, available in the free PsTools suite.

PsPing is similar to Ping in that it verifies connectivity to a remote machine using a command line interface. Where PsPing differs is that it doesn't use ICMP; instead, you define which TCP port to target. That's where the added value comes in — instead of doing an ICMP test to a standardized destination service that has little to do with your business, you will target a service that means something to your business.

The following simple example will use PsPing to target HTTP (TCP 80) on a remote machine via a cloud service endpoint (Service Manager):

psping demopetriaf.cloudapp.net:80

The above command will execute one warmup ping to TCP 80 on the destination address, and then run an additional four tests by default, reporting the latency of each ping, and then summarizing the results, much the same way that Ping would have done. So, we lose nothing, but we gain something by being able to test against a TCP port that we care about.

Using PowerShell's Test-NetConnection cmdlet

Another alternative is to use a tool you have built into your operating system: PowerShell. Windows 8.1 and Window Server 2012 R2 added the Test-NetConnection cmdlet, which can be used similarly to PsPing.

The following example will verify that the RDP port that NATs to a virtual machine is listening:

Test-NetConnection demopetriaf.cloudapp.net -Port 60058

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So all is not lost if you cannot ping your Azure virtual machines over the Internet. Far from it, because you're going to be forced to use either a more powerful tool, like PsPing, or one that you can wrap clever scripts around, such as Test-NetConnection.

The post How to Remotely Ping Microsoft Azure VMs appeared first on Petri.

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