I use Files as a basic PDF editor. To combine files I select them all and choose Create PDF from the 3 dot menu. To delete pages from a PDF I select Print from the menu, uncheck the pages to delete, then tap the share button at the top of the page to save a PDF with only the selected pages.
I've only watched a few of your videos but it's clear to me that you work very hard to make your videos clear and helpful. I'm very impressed. Well done and keep up the good work!
I love the files app. I’m using it more and more recently, and trying to get rid of the other third party apps where my other data is stored. By the way, thanks for leaving your “like and subscribe” at the end of your video where it’s more appropriate. Most people throw it in the beginning annoying the heck out of me.
I use the Files app all the time. I think it is brilliant and handles everything that I need it to do. Thank you for all the information you have provided as I learned a few things that I did not know about.
I used the files app all the time. For the most part, I do think its utility is very underrated, and I appreciate how you illustrated how versatile it can be. Of course, I would definitely appreciate it more if it has feature parity with Finder in MacOS. But I can see why Apple would not want to do that given that they want iOS to remain more simple.
The Keep Downloaded option looks new. Very useful. I find it annoying when documents I want to keep readily available on device are off loaded. I may not access regularly, but when I do it is often abroad on business when I don’t want to use roaming data to download again.
Thank you so much I have always been lost with this app but I have spent a little time with this video and my phone to organise everything and no I will use it constantly.
Another excellent video, thank you. You are one of the best creators that I’ve found for tutorials. You’re always very clear and concise. Keep it up, as it is greatly appreciated by me and I’m sure many other people who won’t necessarily write a comment 🙂👍🏻🥇
I compress files and combine pdf fils using my Mac. I didn’t realize that I could do all of this using files on my phone. This has been a great lesson.
Wow wow wow!! I do not use the Files feature currently. I use Notes extensively including storage of PDFs and Photos and shared (with my wife for Costco and grocery lists). Question: if I go into Files, can I see all the pdf’s I have saved in Notes?? My notes are icloud based. I should mention that Some (not all) of the Notes folders are password protected. Thanks so much! I will start using Files now that I have some great insight from you. Btw: everything I do on Notes I learned from your Notes video.
Thank you for this video! There were lots of handy tips to consider. However, as much as I’d love to replace Google Drive with Apple Files and iCloud, my biggest constraint is the folder sharing experience. If I share a folder (not a file) and set the permissions to “Anyone with link” (which I often do with Google Drive), the recipient is required to log in with an Apple ID. This is a terrible and baffling experience, especially because sharing an individual file with the same permissions does not have the Apple ID login requirement. I keep hoping that Apple would improve this with each WWDC, but I suppose I’ll have to keep waiting.
Thanks for a great video. Have you ever used Samsung galaxy 24 ultra. Do you ever wish for the customisation features on the that for the iPhone. Split screen etc. do you think we will ever get on iPhone? So you ever use a Samsung or android?
Thanks for the video. Is there a way to view dot files in iOS 18 now? (aka hidden files) This is what bugged me most with the iOS Files app. I can't even see all my files stored in iCloud without a 3rd party app.
I don’t understand what people mean when saying that the file management on iOS/iPadOS is bad. Like it works the same like on Mac or Windows, its just files what do the people want more??
On current level of iOS, 2 problems with Files are: 1. If you have a Word or Pages document and a same-named PDF it’s hard to work out which one is which as the preview thumbnails are the same. 2. If you have OneDrive as a connected service, often the files in OneDrive don’t refresh (it’s a OneDrive thing I’m sure) and more inconveniently they don’t show in Recents and… 3. Search doesn’t pickup OneDrive files/folder
When I add a shared folder from Google Drive into the files app it shows as 'read-only' although in the Google Drive app I have full accessibility to add, edit and remove files. Any solutions to this? Love the videos btw, keep up the good work!
Great tutorial. Is it true that everything showing in files on my iPhone exist in the phone’s storage, as well as any of my other devices? If so, removing download seems very handy for removing those I don’t want taking up space on my phone. Can you re-download any you’ve removed? Thanks
Only the items in “On My iPhone” are always in the phone’s storage. Items in other locations like “iCloud Drive” are stored in the cloud and may only be in iPhone storage temporarily. So if you need more space on your phone you should copy or move anything in “On My iPhone” to a cloud location such as “iCloud Drive”, before you delete it from “On My iPhone”.
I’ve set my iPhone and iPad download folders to be saved in iCloud and not on the device so I have one synced downloads folder for iMac, iPhone and iPad.
I switched to Apple ecosystem since 2020. I was an android user before and let me tell you, I had to install many third party File Management apps because android's native Files apps sucks and lacking. With Apple's, I no longer look for a third party apps. Apple's suits my use case.
Excellent video!! If I can please ask a question … When the file app is open there are 3 prompts on the bottom- Recents, Shared, and Browse. I know that browse will show you each individual drive in which you can find a file within the drive you select (ex One Drive, iCloud, Google Drive, etc). My question is if I select Recents or Shared, Does it list all of your files from various drives together from the various sources? Thank you and Great channel.!
I use Dropbox to scan receipts, I now see from your video I can choose Dropbox as my location and scan from the files app. You didn't go into detail about the scan option in the files app. Is the scan from the files app better than the Dropbox app? Is there any difference?
As a long time Mac user I certainly do use the files app. However, it falls way short of the functionality of other services such as onedrive, which I have used for many years at work. Apple really need to up their game tremendously when it comes to their cloud offering, especially the files app and mail, even more so when it comes to use in a browser. It’s woefully short on even basic features.
Thank you! And they're Genelec 8010s. Oldest items in my entire setup, owned them for around 10 years now, and they sound as good as they did the day I first plugged them in.
I have two samsung T5s, one touch T7 and now have found that I can't use the T5s on my latest M1 mac. I was very disappointed with this and don't think I will continue using them and will look at other SSDs.
@@jojolerigolo one for the iCloud downloads and the other for the iPhone’s local storage. Edit: the third one is not downloads folder as far as I know. I assume you are referring to the ‘Recents’ section. Which does what it says.
@@ProperHonestTech Yeah, I’m just hoping that app will be included as all apps won’t be lockable. I haven’t found anyone who knows for sure if the Files App will be included and able to be locked. Something Apple should have done way back when they made the Notes App. lockable.
Caveat first. I own an iPhone 15 Pro Max (personal use), and iPhone 13 Mini (for work), an M1 iPad Pro 13” (using it right now), AirPods Pro 2, several Apple TVs and so on. With that out of the way; “File management on the iPhone isn’t the best…”. Understatement of the millennium. It’s dire. The worst file management on any mainstream OS; end of story. ALMOST enough to switch me back to god-awful wasteland of Android and Windows. Almost. Thankfully (for Apple) there is the rest of the ecosystem to keep me where I am. And it’s no better on the iPad.
File management not as intuitive on iOS' Files app as MacOS? 😆 Imagine how much worse it is when compared with Windows or Android. It feels like the UX & usability designers at Apple are from an alien world... They don't design softwares for humans.... And definitely they aren't intelligent enough, even with "Apple Intelligence" 😅
Colloquially one could say, attempting to understand Apple's apps is like trying to understand a woman's mind.... More moody and emotional than logical.
“And several other cloud providers”. Ai, ai, ai… Mate, you’re being an Apple shill by not naming the biggest third party cloud storage providers like Amazon and Microsoft. That is wildly disappointing.
I'm an "Apple shill" because I didn't mention Amazon and Microsoft (whilst also mentioning Google, Dropbox and Box)? Nope, I'm looking for the logic in your comment, but just can't find it...
@@ProperHonestTech To be clear; I’ve loved a lot of your videos. I’ve picked up a ton of tips. But to be clear, the vast, VAST majority of enterprise tier organisations make use of M365. To ignore that is questionable. In and of itself is somewhat innocuous and acceptable. To go on to promote / advocate for the files app (admittedly you aren’t saying it’s the best thing since sliced bread, but conversely you aren’t giving it the “it’s actually dire” treatment it deserves - yes, it deserves that assessment), that leads any critical viewer - and I use “critical” in its most constructive sense - to believe that you are in the “Apple can do no wrong” camp. That may well be inaccurate, and I accept that. But even the most ardent Apple fan can (arguably should) be calling them out on what is frankly a substandard solution to a long known, well understood problem. File management is critical in many, possibly most, business work flows. I wouldn’t give up my Apple devices unless I had a gun pointed to my head, but the file management options in iOS, iPadOS and (to a slightly lesser extent) MacOS are frankly inferior to any alternative you care to mention. You may justifiably claim to be calling out the positives that do exist - and that’s fine, laudable even. But to not call out the fact that the overall solution is dire…that’s what generates the “shill” vibes for me at least. I don’t wish you harm, discomfort or any form of ill. I really don’t. You seem like a top bloke doing his best to make a living on RUclips. And more power to you that you can. I genuinely wish you well. But this video and its overriding positivity while excluding the main Apple competition from your comments leads me to believe that you are overly focused on promoting Apple, its ecosystem and downplaying the primary competition - inadvertently or not is up for debate. Dropbox is NOT (wish I could underline that) a competitor to Apple in a meaningful way.
Honestly. Leading with, “The iOS Files App experience is dire, but here are some ways to make it tolerable”, would be more than fine. I dislike Android intensely. But I would take the file management experience in Android over the current shambles in Apple’s mobile OSs - arguably over the Mac’s - any day. The vibe feels disingenuous, that’s all.
I hope I’ve clarified where I’m coming from to acceptable level and you can take the comments in the spirit that they’re intended. As a father to a young family - as you’ve mentioned you are - again, I wish you nothing but the best. I just hope that you can temper your videos to acknowledge that the experience that the users of these operating systems / applications are sub-par.
If you've appreciated my content in the past, perhaps don't begin your comment by calling me a 'shill'. You lose my respect immediately with a comment like that. You don't know me, and you're also ignoring the many, many times where I call Apple out for mistakes I believe they've made. Secondly, you seem to have totally misunderstood the purpose of the video. If the video were titled 'An honest review of the iPhone Files App', I'd accept your criticism. But it's not, it's a tutorial. It's designed to show people how to get the most out of the app that we have. Thankfully, it appears the majority of viewers have understood this. I'm not saying that your criticisms of the app are wrong, unfair or invalid - I'm saying that pointing the finger at me and being angry that I didn't add those criticisms to a tutorial video is misdirected anger.
➡ Get your Samsung T9 here - geni.us/cMkA
➡ Get your Samsung T5 EVO here - geni.us/yfJeI
I use Files as a basic PDF editor. To combine files I select them all and choose Create PDF from the 3 dot menu. To delete pages from a PDF I select Print from the menu, uncheck the pages to delete, then tap the share button at the top of the page to save a PDF with only the selected pages.
What an amazing life-hack that PDF page(s) delete 👍 Thx for sharing 🙏
I like you. Instead of clickbaiting us with Beta 3 news. U did your job tremendously
I've only watched a few of your videos but it's clear to me that you work very hard to make your videos clear and helpful. I'm very impressed. Well done and keep up the good work!
I love the files app. I’m using it more and more recently, and trying to get rid of the other third party apps where my other data is stored. By the way, thanks for leaving your “like and subscribe” at the end of your video where it’s more appropriate. Most people throw it in the beginning annoying the heck out of me.
I did not know so much one can do in files app. Thank you so much
I use the Files app all the time. I think it is brilliant and handles everything that I need it to do. Thank you for all the information you have provided as I learned a few things that I did not know about.
I've always used the Files app but now, with your tutorial, it will be even more useful. Thanks
This carries over to the iPad as well.
I used the files app all the time. For the most part, I do think its utility is very underrated, and I appreciate how you illustrated how versatile it can be. Of course, I would definitely appreciate it more if it has feature parity with Finder in MacOS. But I can see why Apple would not want to do that given that they want iOS to remain more simple.
You make great videos! This one is perfectly paced and very informative.
The Keep Downloaded option looks new. Very useful. I find it annoying when documents I want to keep readily available on device are off loaded. I may not access regularly, but when I do it is often abroad on business when I don’t want to use roaming data to download again.
Great content as always much appreciated. Your videos are always extremely helpful and concise. 👍🏻
WOW! Excellent in terms of content, delivery and detail. Thank you.
you make a very good teacher
Thank you so much I have always been lost with this app but I have spent a little time with this video and my phone to organise everything and no I will use it constantly.
Great video as always. You are great when it comes to tips and tricks about iOS. Glad I found your channel
Another excellent video, thank you. You are one of the best creators that I’ve found for tutorials. You’re always very clear and concise. Keep it up, as it is greatly appreciated by me and I’m sure many other people who won’t necessarily write a comment 🙂👍🏻🥇
I compress files and combine pdf fils using my Mac. I didn’t realize that I could do all of this using files on my phone. This has been a great lesson.
I don't use it as much as I should. This was helpful. Thanks!
Wow wow wow!! I do not use the Files feature currently. I use Notes extensively including storage of PDFs and Photos and shared (with my wife for Costco and grocery lists).
Question: if I go into Files, can I see all the pdf’s I have saved in Notes?? My notes are icloud based. I should mention that Some (not all) of the Notes folders are password protected.
Thanks so much! I will start using Files now that I have some great insight from you.
Btw: everything I do on Notes I learned from your Notes video.
Thank you very much for the excellent tutorial. Learned a lot from it.
I have less photos in files app. But I occasionally use it.
Excellent work Sir! From Hollywood!
Thank you for this video! There were lots of handy tips to consider. However, as much as I’d love to replace Google Drive with Apple Files and iCloud, my biggest constraint is the folder sharing experience. If I share a folder (not a file) and set the permissions to “Anyone with link” (which I often do with Google Drive), the recipient is required to log in with an Apple ID. This is a terrible and baffling experience, especially because sharing an individual file with the same permissions does not have the Apple ID login requirement. I keep hoping that Apple would improve this with each WWDC, but I suppose I’ll have to keep waiting.
Quite a lengthy one and like you said, quite thorough too! Thanks, learned a lot from this! 🙂
Wow great to know so many features. Thanks a lot for this. Just subscribed to your channel and hoping for great content in future as well 😎👍
Thanks for a great video. Have you ever used Samsung galaxy 24 ultra. Do you ever wish for the customisation features on the that for the iPhone. Split screen etc. do you think we will ever get on iPhone? So you ever use a Samsung or android?
Thanks for the video. Is there a way to view dot files in iOS 18 now? (aka hidden files) This is what bugged me most with the iOS Files app. I can't even see all my files stored in iCloud without a 3rd party app.
Excellent - very useful.
Thank you, Clear and concise. Just as I like. 😃
I really appreciate the time and effort put together for this tutorial. Well done !
Oh yes, thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thanks! Love your content. Hope this helps to keep content coming. Cheers
Thank you very much!
I don’t understand what people mean when saying that the file management on iOS/iPadOS is bad. Like it works the same like on Mac or Windows, its just files what do the people want more??
On current level of iOS, 2 problems with Files are:
1. If you have a Word or Pages document and a same-named PDF it’s hard to work out which one is which as the preview thumbnails are the same.
2. If you have OneDrive as a connected service, often the files in OneDrive don’t refresh (it’s a OneDrive thing I’m sure) and more inconveniently they don’t show in Recents and…
3. Search doesn’t pickup OneDrive files/folder
When I add a shared folder from Google Drive into the files app it shows as 'read-only' although in the Google Drive app I have full accessibility to add, edit and remove files.
Any solutions to this?
Love the videos btw, keep up the good work!
Which is the best files app out there? You mentioned not the Apple one…..
I don’t understand why I can’t save a music file to the music folder and play it in the app
A very useful video. Well done.
Great tutorial. Is it true that everything showing in files on my iPhone exist in the phone’s storage, as well as any of my other devices? If so, removing download seems very handy for removing those I don’t want taking up space on my phone. Can you re-download any you’ve removed? Thanks
Only the items in “On My iPhone” are always in the phone’s storage. Items in other locations like “iCloud Drive” are stored in the cloud and may only be in iPhone storage temporarily. So if you need more space on your phone you should copy or move anything in “On My iPhone” to a cloud location such as “iCloud Drive”, before you delete it from “On My iPhone”.
I’ve set my iPhone and iPad download folders to be saved in iCloud and not on the device so I have one synced downloads folder for iMac, iPhone and iPad.
Can you recommend either of the SSD drives you mention in this video as backup drives for Time Machine?
it is only great if you do nothing efficient like transferring between devices.
I switched to Apple ecosystem since 2020. I was an android user before and let me tell you, I had to install many third party File Management apps because android's native Files apps sucks and lacking.
With Apple's, I no longer look for a third party apps. Apple's suits my use case.
Excellent video!! If I can please ask a question … When the file app is open there are 3 prompts on the bottom- Recents, Shared, and Browse. I know that browse will show you each individual drive in which you can find a file within the drive you select (ex One Drive, iCloud, Google Drive, etc). My question is if I select Recents or Shared, Does it list all of your files from various drives together from the various sources? Thank you and Great channel.!
Yes, recents shows all recent files from all sources - I just verified since I use Google Drive with Files.
Great video, is there away to clear the Recents ?
I use Dropbox to scan receipts, I now see from your video I can choose Dropbox as my location and scan from the files app. You didn't go into detail about the scan option in the files app. Is the scan from the files app better than the Dropbox app? Is there any difference?
As a long time Mac user I certainly do use the files app. However, it falls way short of the functionality of other services such as onedrive, which I have used for many years at work. Apple really need to up their game tremendously when it comes to their cloud offering, especially the files app and mail, even more so when it comes to use in a browser. It’s woefully short on even basic features.
Great video. However… any tips on utilizing with windows 11?
This is off topic from the video but how do I leave the beta for iOS 18 my battery drains so quickly on the iPhone 15
Excellent video 👌🏾
Probably your best video to date! BTW, what is the name of your computer speakers (I assume you like them!)
Thank you! And they're Genelec 8010s. Oldest items in my entire setup, owned them for around 10 years now, and they sound as good as they did the day I first plugged them in.
You’re the BEST. Thanks!
Interesting walkthru
I use it all the time
Comment number 1
Very useful video 👍🏻
I can not see the screen you open with on my IPhone 5.
I’ve suddenly got screenshots saving in my files and I can’t work out why? Any ideas please?
I have two samsung T5s, one touch T7 and now have found that I can't use the T5s on my latest M1 mac. I was very disappointed with this and don't think I will continue using them and will look at other SSDs.
Hmm, I'm on iOS 17.5.1 and do not see "Zip and Email" as a Shortcut???
Unbelievably complicated
Do you know why I have 3 different « download » folder ? (I have an iPhone and an iPad). It is bothering me so much.
@@jojolerigolo one for the iCloud downloads and the other for the iPhone’s local storage.
Edit: the third one is not downloads folder as far as I know. I assume you are referring to the ‘Recents’ section. Which does what it says.
Rename the Download Folder to Local Download or your own name choice
The only way the Files App. Would be 100% beneficial would be if Apple made it so that the App. could be locked, which it presently cannot be.
True, although the ability to lock apps is coming in iOS 18, due out in September.
@@ProperHonestTech Yeah, I’m just hoping that app will be included as all apps won’t be lockable. I haven’t found anyone who knows for sure if the Files App will be included and able to be locked. Something Apple should have done way back when they made the Notes App. lockable.
Just tested it on the beta - Yes, it can be locked to Face or Touch ID.
@@ProperHonestTech That’s awesome! Thanks for taking the time to check that out. I appreciate it😀
OK, what?
Caveat first. I own an iPhone 15 Pro Max (personal use), and iPhone 13 Mini (for work), an M1 iPad Pro 13” (using it right now), AirPods Pro 2, several Apple TVs and so on. With that out of the way; “File management on the iPhone isn’t the best…”. Understatement of the millennium. It’s dire. The worst file management on any mainstream OS; end of story. ALMOST enough to switch me back to god-awful wasteland of Android and Windows. Almost. Thankfully (for Apple) there is the rest of the ecosystem to keep me where I am. And it’s no better on the iPad.
I use an M1 MacBook Pro for work and a (yuck) Intel based MacBook Pro for personal use.
File management not as intuitive on iOS' Files app as MacOS? 😆 Imagine how much worse it is when compared with Windows or Android.
It feels like the UX & usability designers at Apple are from an alien world... They don't design softwares for humans.... And definitely they aren't intelligent enough, even with "Apple Intelligence" 😅
Colloquially one could say, attempting to understand Apple's apps is like trying to understand a woman's mind.... More moody and emotional than logical.
“And several other cloud providers”. Ai, ai, ai… Mate, you’re being an Apple shill by not naming the biggest third party cloud storage providers like Amazon and Microsoft. That is wildly disappointing.
I'm an "Apple shill" because I didn't mention Amazon and Microsoft (whilst also mentioning Google, Dropbox and Box)? Nope, I'm looking for the logic in your comment, but just can't find it...
@@ProperHonestTech To be clear; I’ve loved a lot of your videos. I’ve picked up a ton of tips. But to be clear, the vast, VAST majority of enterprise tier organisations make use of M365. To ignore that is questionable. In and of itself is somewhat innocuous and acceptable. To go on to promote / advocate for the files app (admittedly you aren’t saying it’s the best thing since sliced bread, but conversely you aren’t giving it the “it’s actually dire” treatment it deserves - yes, it deserves that assessment), that leads any critical viewer - and I use “critical” in its most constructive sense - to believe that you are in the “Apple can do no wrong” camp. That may well be inaccurate, and I accept that. But even the most ardent Apple fan can (arguably should) be calling them out on what is frankly a substandard solution to a long known, well understood problem. File management is critical in many, possibly most, business work flows. I wouldn’t give up my Apple devices unless I had a gun pointed to my head, but the file management options in iOS, iPadOS and (to a slightly lesser extent) MacOS are frankly inferior to any alternative you care to mention.
You may justifiably claim to be calling out the positives that do exist - and that’s fine, laudable even. But to not call out the fact that the overall solution is dire…that’s what generates the “shill” vibes for me at least. I don’t wish you harm, discomfort or any form of ill. I really don’t. You seem like a top bloke doing his best to make a living on RUclips. And more power to you that you can. I genuinely wish you well. But this video and its overriding positivity while excluding the main Apple competition from your comments leads me to believe that you are overly focused on promoting Apple, its ecosystem and downplaying the primary competition - inadvertently or not is up for debate. Dropbox is NOT (wish I could underline that) a competitor to Apple in a meaningful way.
Honestly. Leading with, “The iOS Files App experience is dire, but here are some ways to make it tolerable”, would be more than fine. I dislike Android intensely. But I would take the file management experience in Android over the current shambles in Apple’s mobile OSs - arguably over the Mac’s - any day. The vibe feels disingenuous, that’s all.
I hope I’ve clarified where I’m coming from to acceptable level and you can take the comments in the spirit that they’re intended. As a father to a young family - as you’ve mentioned you are - again, I wish you nothing but the best. I just hope that you can temper your videos to acknowledge that the experience that the users of these operating systems / applications are sub-par.
If you've appreciated my content in the past, perhaps don't begin your comment by calling me a 'shill'. You lose my respect immediately with a comment like that. You don't know me, and you're also ignoring the many, many times where I call Apple out for mistakes I believe they've made. Secondly, you seem to have totally misunderstood the purpose of the video. If the video were titled 'An honest review of the iPhone Files App', I'd accept your criticism. But it's not, it's a tutorial. It's designed to show people how to get the most out of the app that we have. Thankfully, it appears the majority of viewers have understood this. I'm not saying that your criticisms of the app are wrong, unfair or invalid - I'm saying that pointing the finger at me and being angry that I didn't add those criticisms to a tutorial video is misdirected anger.