Accessing file information apple lap top to iPhone

A cloud service is the best way to go. Of all the cloud services I find Icloud very user unfriendly. OneDrive, Google Drive, and Drop Box are much easier to use.

If it's a simple small file, it might be easiest just to copy the whole file and email it to yourself.

There are many ways to do this, but since you already have iCloud drive and an iPhone I'd suggest the following:

First, be sure iCloud Drive is actually turned on in your iPhone settings (Hit the Settings Icon > Click the top item on the next page (it is often your name, with a round icon of your initials next to it or any photo you might have uploaded to be your icon. It should also say "Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes" and other things below your name) > Click the iCloud item > scroll down and be sure the iCloud Drive toggle is enabled (button should be green).

Once you do that...

• Go to iCloud.com in any browser window and sign in with your AppleID. Your AppleID is what you use to login to iCloud on your iPhone and any other device (laptop, iPad, etc). You may be asked to verify identity (usually a code sent to your phone or something).

  • On the screen you see after you login, there are a number of icons. One of them is iCloud Drive (it looks like a blue cloud on a white background). Click on that.
    
  • On this screen you can upload the files you want to access. You can either drag and drop them (simply drag the file from the folder on your computer in to the browser window), or click the upload button (a little cloud with an upward pointed arrow towards the top of the window) and locate the files you want, select them, and upload them.
  • After doing the above, you can then go to your phone and find the "Files" app. It's one of the iPhone's basic apps so most all phones should have it. The icon is white, with a blue folder in it. Click that, and the files you uploaded on your computer should now be visible and accessible on your phone either in the "Recents" category, or if you click "Browse" you'll also find them in the "iCloud Drive" category.

Hi everyone and thank you all for your very very detailed instructions and help! The Rick Steves' team is the best!
I found out today how to access my computer download files from iCloud to my phone. A very young woman in the electronics dept at my local Walmart showed me - yeah, I know, actual customer service at Walmart. I bragged on her to the manager. She was so very helpful. . I need some young people in my life. But I have a very old and small phone and the files may be hard to read. Would it be worth $100. to buy a cheap tablet and transfer my files over to it, and have it for the trip? Does anyone travel with a tablet and how beneficial are they to you when traveling. I don't want to take my good apple air.

Thank you everyone for your help.
Elaine

Glad ya found someone to help at Walmart!

I don’t know if I’d bother buying a tablet just for this.

There are ways to make the phone a bit easier to use, even if it is a smaller phone. In the iPhone Settings, then General, there is a “Accessibility” option. If you find text is too small or it’s difficult to read files, some of the options there might help - they can increase text size and make it easier to zoom on certain items. Many of them will change display across your whole phone though, and not just individual files. So it’s worth keeping track of what changes you make so you can undo them later if you don’t like them.

You can always zoom in on any document you’re viewing by just using your thumb and forefinger, and you can also try using your phone in landscape mode (just tilt it sideways) to see if that helps at all in making things larger and giving you more space to work with.

Thank you 1885bd,
I hadn't thought of using accessibility. I will try that and see how it works for me. Also hadn't thought of landscape - will try that too
Today we had some bad weather and I tried to look at a weather radar site on the phone - it was useless to try to see it even by enlarging the screen- so that's what made me think of getting a tablet.

Again thank you for your help

I've looked at my settings in my account and I can't figure out how to stop entries to this question.

Thanks,
Elaine

People will keep responding until the topic moves a few pages deep in the listing. And sometimes years old topics get resurrected when someone posts a response again. Don't worry about it. You don't have to read every response. :-)

My suggestion is a bit different. If you live in Indianapolis or Mishawaka, there is an Apple Store at both., Apple stores offer free training sessions in their stores for their various hardware such as their computers and iPhones. I have attended the session on the Mac laptop four times (all free) to learn different aspects to do different things and once for an iPhone. They generally do an excellent job of instructing and will answer specific questions you may have and show you how to do it (depending on the instructor).

Type "apple.com/today' to get to their website. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen to find a link "Find a Store" and click on it. This opens a dialogue box asking for city or zip code. It opens a second dialogue box listing nearby apple stores. Click on the store you'e interested in and scroll down until you come to a link "See all upcoming sessions". Click the "View Calendar" button to display a schedule of sessions.

Thank you David, The nearest Apple Store is about 60 miles from me. So it's a pain to get too. But I think your idea is a great one, and I should get going on this, as I've been procrastinating for what- 8 years now. haha.

It sounds like you need a new phone. They do not last and after a while can’t keep up with the new technology. And if you get a tablet, buy a good quality one, not for $100, and it will be helpful. I always travel with both. I use Apple products as does my spouse. I never take take my laptop on international trips.

I'm an Apple guy, though my main laptop is a Windows 10 Surface Pro, since many Microsoft Office applications are pretty weak in their Apple versions.

When I travel, I take my iPhone and iPad Pro. The iPad is light and easy to store, and is just as good as a laptop at half the weight. However, I don't use iCloud storage for more than a few items. The reason is that after the free 5GB iCloud storage, you have to pay an additional monthly fee.

Over the years, I've found that OneDrive (unlimited storage with an annual Office 365 subscription and "shareable" with four additional users) and Google Drive (free with I think 15 GB of storage) are great alternatives to iCloud, and both are easily installed on an iPhone or iPad. Further, Google Photos has unlimited photo storage.

Of these two, the Google products are probably the easiest and most user-friendly to set up and operate, particularly if you aren't exactly a tech geek. I also like the fact that cloud storage eliminates the possibility of lost files, photos, etc., if your device dies.

As for the iPad, yes, they're expensive. But the quality and longevity of support are superior to any Android based device I've ever had, and I'm sold on them. (Just my experience. Others are devoted to Android. Vive la difference!)

In any case, a somewhat current phone, tablet, and one of the cloud services should serve you well when on the road. Good luck.

If your file is text, like Word or any other text editor, simply email it to yourself. You can then open it on your phone and click on the links to the web pages or whatever and get where you need to go. If you do get a new iPad, the same process works.

The other options work as well, but you do have to be careful about iCloud storage space. It seems to fill up quicker than you expect.

I agree with wildcatmcc about Google Drive storage and traveling with the iPad. In my case I have a good Android phone (go figure) and Apple computers and an aging but reliable iPad Mini 4.

I take my iPad Mini 4 pretty much everywhere I travel. It's my main device to read Kindle books and other e-books, I use many of its other apps as well, and it's so small and light that it's no problem to bring along.

Of course it's also a few years old and not worth a lot of money, so it wouldn't be a financial disaster if it were lost/stolen/damaged. I have it password protected have a premium security service (lookout.com) for my mobile devices which reduces my worries somewhat. I wouldn't bother with a cheap tablet; I've tried them but after using an iPad I wouldn't waste five minutes or five bucks on another type of tablet.