Is there any way to send folders from an Apple laptop to a PC via Bluetooth? I can send individual files, but I would like to send an entire folder with subfolders.
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by John Cole| 44 Comments
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Is there any way to send folders from an Apple laptop to a PC via Bluetooth? I can send individual files, but I would like to send an entire folder with subfolders.
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George E. Marcus
zip the folder (i.e., compact it) – that creates a single file that you can unzip at the other end…
wmd
zip archive into one file, unzip on PC.
John Cole
Christ, why didn’t I think of that?
justawriter
zip … oh, I am already too late to this party
Yutsano
@John Cole: What would you do without your beloved
proletariatcommentariat?Jay in Oregon
I have Dropbox set up on all of my machines (home and work) and anything that gets dropped into the folder gets automatically synced to every other machine. It really doesn’t get any easier. (Plus, you can access your Dropbox via a web browser.)
I’ll even be a whore and throw out a referral URL: if you use it, we both get an additional 250MB of free storage (the starting amount is 2 GB; if you do their tutorial and install the Dropbox app on more than one machine, you get an additional 500MB.)
http://db.tt/cBh28J3
sherifffruitfly
zip the folder.
Mustang Bobby
Did somebody already mention zip?
emdee
Zip it! Ziiiiip. Ladies and gentlemen ExZIP IT A. I’m Zippi Longstocking! Would you like a suckle of my Zipple? When a problem comes along, you must zip it! Zip it good!
Cf.
wmd
You could also use tar/bzip2… Unix afficiandos call that making a tarball. Same thing using slightly different programs… Hmm I wonder if you can pipe through a bluetooth device?
Comrade Mary
Isn’t zipping dangerous?
Catherine D.
Whip it! Oh, wait, zip it. Actually I too use Dropbox to move things between my different computers/devices.
Strandedvandal
Just put it on a thumbdrive.
James Hare
If they’re both on the same network, use windows sharing. Just connect using the “Connect to Server” option in the Go menu and use smb://computername/share as the server name.
Much faster than bluetooth.
RareSanity
@Jay in Oregon:
You bastard! You beat me to it!
Anyways John, use Dropbox. It syncs across multiple machines and mobile devices. One of the really cool things about it is that anytime file is changed in your Dropbox folder, it creates a new version of the file on Dropbox’s website. Then if you make a mistake, you can “push” a previous version out to your computers.
Also, if you have people that you share stuff with, you can share a folder with them. What’s cool about it is, whenever you put a file in that folder, it automatically copies it to the people you are sharing the folder with…cool, huh?
Anyways, if anyone wants to spread out the love and the additional storage, here’s my referral link as well. However, Jay in Oregon was first, so he gets priority.
http://db.tt/Qydudrk
WaterGirl
@RareSanity:
I have thought about using Dropbox for awhile, but haven’t had time to research it. I want to sync my files between my macbook pro and my macbook air.
Dimmic Rat
Put it in a RAR file.
WaterGirl
As long as we’re talking about technical things…
I am trying to make myself wait for the next generation iPad, but it’s an on-going struggle.
I know I can google and find out, but I’m really hoping to get feedback from someone who has an iPad. Do you basically need to turn everything a client might want to see into a .pdf so you can view it on the iPad? Or can I run regular apps like FileMaker Pro, etc.
RareSanity
@WaterGirl:
Premature comment submission…it’s so embarrassing…
I added it with an edit…
On a side note…the edit works…and even on Chrome! Cole, in spite of all of our bitchin’ I haven’t encountered a technical problem with the site in many months now, please pass along thanks to the web-mistress, and thanks to you for always trying to make sure the site runs smooth.
WereBear
@WaterGirl:I believe you need the iPad versions… if there are such.
I too lust after the iPad, but my G4 laptop is getting decrepit (with kitten help) and so the Mac Air is more practical.
WaterGirl
@RareSanity:
I just looked that up in the manual all girls receive when we come of age, and it says I’m supposed to tell you that it’s not a big deal, it happens to every guy now and again, not to worry.
RareSanity
@WaterGirl:
Whew, that’s a relief! It’s also a relief that when your girlfriends giggle when they see me, it’s merely because of a joke one of them just told the others, every time they see me…
Right? It was a joke, right?
WereBear
@WaterGirl: LOL!
MikeTheZ
OT – So, its VCU vs. Butler in the Final Four. We all had that predicted, right?
WaterGirl
@RareSanity: Absolutely! It’s not about you. Really. I mean it. :-)
WaterGirl
@WereBear: So if I break down and buy the iPad then i can sell it to you at half price when the new ones come out?
Edit: I could use an intervention here. Somebody please tell me why I should wait. Anybody? Bueller?
J Frank Parnell
Zip it!
dmsilev
@WaterGirl: Depends on the type of document, and also what apps you buy for the iThing. PDFs it does natively, so you’re set there. $9.99 for a copy of Keynote for iPad will get you pretty decent Powerpoint import capabilities, the $16.99 premium version of Docs To Go makes a good stab at viewing and editing the entire MS Office set of filetypes, etc.
There are various ways of getting files on and off the iPad (e.g. many apps have integrated DropBox support, etc), but the one that annoying doesn’t work is reading and writing to USB memory sticks. If that’s a dealbreaker for you, stick a pin into a voodoo doll of Steve Jobs and take a look at other tablets.
dms
dmsilev
@WaterGirl:
Well, if you buy the current New Shiny, in several months an updated version will inevitably appear and you’ll be sad because you own the now-obsolete Old Shiny and will crave the Newer Shiny.
More seriously, if the current version fits a need for you, go ahead and get it. Apple’s been on a once-a-year update cycle for their iThings for quite a while now, so it seems silly to wait 11 months for a hypothetical future version.
dms
MazeDancer
@WaterGirl:
Be advised that interactive PDF’s are only clickable in iBooks on an iPad.
Not the question you asked, but just in case a client asks. Many, many people add links to their PDF’s for tables or content or easy navigation. Those – or any links – will not work on an iPad except in iBooks.
The Apple/Adobe Wars included Adobe choosing not to make a Reader App for the iPad. And those that filled the gap – like GoodReader – don’t support the clickability of interactive PDF’s. About a month ago, Apple added that function to iBooks. Works really well, actually.
MazeDancer
@WereBear:
It was only 8 months ago, with great reluctance, and only because InDesign 5 wouldn’t run on it, that I gave up my beloved G4 12″ PowerBook. (Used an external big monitor for bigger work.)
Just wanted to mention that because of an unfortunate Zinfandel connection with that new machine – a larger MacBook Pro – I had to, in an emergency, drive an hour to the nearest Apple Store and buy the cheapest MacBook Pro, in stock, in the place. A 13″, no bells and whistles, not even extra RAM. Which turned out to be basically about as powerful as the one I had paid twice as much for 8 months earlier.
But, interestingly, the new 13″ MBP is so much like my little PowerBook in size and portability. Though so much faster. Now when I fire up the PowerBook for retrieving a file, or when I was, say, researching where to get MBP de-Zinfandeled, the PB felt so, very, very slow. So when you do change, you will be happy. (And, miracle, turning the MBP upside down immediately after spill, leaving it that way, and letting it sit many days to dry, and taking it to get cleaned, it works.)
lol
Screw zip, use 7-zip.
The 7z format is ridiculously better than zip by pretty much any metric.
Lojasmo
I fourth (or fifth) drop box.
I am waiting for iPad 3 with the shiny new high res screen (I didn’t get an iPhone 4either)
dmsilev
@lol:
Except ubiquity. Which matters a lot when you’re sending things between computers, or especially to other people.
Same reason that we still use jpegs most of the time even though better image compression systems have been developed over the last couple of decades.
dms
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: Stick a pin in a voodoo doll of Steve Jobs? I could never do that! :-) But I do hate Microsoft…
I may just go handle one in person, but the lack of USB connection might just be a deal-breaker for me. i also read some griping (can’t remember where) about the screen being too bright (or dim) in some circumstances. That might be an issue, too.
Edit: I am also trying to wait on replacing my 4-year old macbook pro, hoping the next model will be a game-changer.
WaterGirl
@MazeDancer: Good to know. Thanks. Surely preview works on the iPad, though? I don’t do much with interactive PDFs.
WaterGirl
@Lojasmo: Thank you for input on both. I am almost off the ledge.
dmsilev
@WaterGirl: You can dial down the brightness easily enough. The display is reflective enough to be a problem in direct sunlight, but otherwise not really an issue in my experience (gen 1 device, but I believe the screen on the new ones is the same).
Re: getting stuff onto the device, the kludgy but effective workaround is to email the doc to yourself; you can open mailed attachments in any app that supports the particular file type you want. Another alternative, as mentioned above, is DropBox. A lot of apps have integrated DropBox support; for those that don’t, you can use the DropBox iPad app to download the file, and then open it in the other app.
This is a major weak spot for using iOS for serious work; I would hope that fixing it would be on Apple’s to-do list for the next version of the OS. The hardware to talk to a memory stick already exists (the Camera Connection Kit add-on basically provides a USB port for the iPad), so it should be a feature which is addable in software.
dms
WaterGirl
@dmsilev:
Now that’s intriguing! I had seriously been thinking about Dropbox anyway, so all the dropbox support on this thread pretty much has me thinking I will use that, which would help mitigate the USB issue.
i wonder if they left USB off because Apple doesn’t want to cut into the market share of the macbook lines?
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Read this first, before firing up the Visa card. It’s how they do.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: That was too funny! And sadly true, but I laughed out loud a bunch of times.
No one wants to be the sad face looking on as the new Whatever version N+1 comes out, and “Will gargle for money or iPride” was a delightful bit of irony. But you can’t ALWAYS wait, or you would never have a shiny electronic toy, ever, and that’s just not right!
P.S. Happily for me these days, I only buy things I have saved up for, no credit cards for me. :-)
LosGatosCA
@John Cole
And don’t forget, when the time is appropriate, to unzip it.
Pseudonym
Just cpio it!
guckertgannon
Remember, of the four things that progressively happen to drunks, the last is forgetting to unzip it!