Cloud Hosting

The new dream in computing is keeping all of your files in the cloud, on remote servers that you can access from anywhere at any time. Apples cloud-based syncing and storage service, iCloud, debuted in June 2011. Still, only since the release of OS X Mountain Lion that enough applications have started to support iCloud document syncing for this feature to be useful. Working with iCloud is fairly simple, but you need to know the ground rules if you plan to start storing your documents in the cloud.

If you dont have a free iCloud account, or if youre just starting out with it, this article will give you an overview of how to set up a new iCloud account. To store documents in the cloudno matter which application puts its files thereyou also need to activate the Documents & Data setting in the iCloud pane in System Preferences, as well as in the Settings of any iOS device you plan to use (to do so, selectSettings > iCloud). Once youve done this, any iCloud-compatible app can store files in iCloud.

For now, only a limited number of applications can store files in iCloud. By files, I mean documents that you create, not data that an application such as Calendar stores in the cloud. On the Mac, many of Apples apps do support iCloud, including Preview, TextEdit, the iWork 09 suite (Pages, Numbers, andKeynote), and GarageBand.

Third-party apps that store documents in the cloud include text editors such as iA Writer, Byword, and Smultron; the PDF editor PDFpen; the graphics editor Pixelmator; and some others. At this point, compatible programs can produce files in Microsoft Office formats, but Microsoft Office itself doesnt support iCloud.

Note that Apple lets onlyapps sold through the Mac App Store use iCloud to store documents. If your favorite productivity app is only sold directly by the developer, youre out of luck.

If youre using an application that can save documents in the cloud, doing so is fairly simple. Say youre using TextEdit. After youve created a new document, press Command-S, and make sure the Where menu shows iCloud. Name the file and click Save, and the document will be sent to the cloud.

Once youve saved a file to the cloud, you can access it from multiple devices. Say you have a desktop Mac and a laptop; you can save any files you need on the road in iCloud and access them from either computer as long as you use the same app.

To open files youve saved to iCloud, press Command-O in an iCloud-savvy application, then click on the iCloud button. Youll see something like this:

Note that in the above screenshot you see a folder. To create a folder, just drag one file on top of another, as you would with icons on an iPhone or iPad. Name the folder, and itll be saved on iCloud.

You may have a number of files on your Mac that youd like to put in the cloud; this is straightforward. Just open a file with an application that can put documents on iCloud, choose File > Move To, then choose iCloud from the Where menu. If you want to move a file from the cloud to your Mac, click on the Where menu and find the folder where you want to place the file. If the folder where you want to move the file isnt in the menu, choose Other from the bottom of the menu, and navigate to the location you want.

Link:
How to share documents with iCloud