OS X Mountain Lion Bible

Using Cloud Storage Services

Many companies offer services to store documents on the Internet, whether to hold documents in applications that don't use iCloud syncing or to share files with others. They often provide free storage for less than 2GB or even 5GB of usage. Some also offer additional features, such as allowing you to create shared folders for workgroups or providing administrative controls for IT to use to ensure data security.

The two best-known cloud storage services are Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) and Box (www.box.com); Skydrive (https://live.com/skydrive) and SugarSync (www.sugarsync.com) also have a following. They work on Macs, Windows PCs, and iOS devices, plus they typically work on other devices such as Google Android tablets and smartphones. And they give you easy access through desktop disk icons and through web pages.

In mobile productivity apps such as Quickoffice Pro and Documents to Go, you add access to these services via the accounts list. But to use them with Apple's iWork suite of iOS productivity apps (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers), you have to access them through a WebDAV account (WebDAV is one of the options you get when downloading or uploading files from the iWork apps). If you're using Dropbox, set up a $5-per-month WebDAV account at www.dropdav.com; if you're using Box, set up a free WebDAV account at www.box.net/dav. After it's set up, you sign in to your cloud storage service using its WebDAV account; all files transferred go in your regular ...