The Daily App: GoDocs for iPad

While competition is good in many regards, it has done nothing to allow for decent integration of Google Docs on the Apple iOS platforms – either for iPhone or iPad. Some apps exist to try to bridge that gap. One of them, GoDocs for iPhone and iPad, seems to come as close to real integration as any other apps for the iOS platform.

A $4.99 download from the Apple iTunes App Store, GoDocs for iPad is simple enough to navigate. Simply install the app, click into the home screen, and log in to your Google Docs account. A navigation pane on the left will show you all of your created and shared documents. Clicking the document link will send you to another navigation pane and options for opening the document on Google Docs or another app, the ability to edit it online, download, share, email, rename or delete the doc entirely.

GoDocs for iPad is fine for base-level access to your Google Docs and limited functionality. Unfortunately, GoDocs can’t fix Google’s inability to provide full editing functionality in the iOS operating system. Nor will GoDocs allow you to create a document right in Google Docs; you have to create the document in another app, like Apple’s Pages for iOS, and then GoDocs will let you upload the document right to Google Docs.

This is a kludgy app but in a pinch will let you use an iPad to work in files on and shared through Google Docs.