Office documents

There’s a solution for just about every format currently in use

many people’s first concern when it comes to file compatibility is office documents. For the most common file types, you don’t even need to open them in an app to view them: Apple iWork and Microsoft Office files can be viewed just by tapping their attachment in an email. If you download them through Safari, you can view them within the browser, with buttons at the top to open them. This is also true for PDFs, plain text .txt files, and .rtf rich text files.

Of course, you’ll probably want to edit these documents, not just view them. Naturally, Apple’s own .pages, .numbers, and .key files open in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, respectively. These apps can also open Microsoft’s files types, including .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, and .pptx. There may be compatibility problems with some formatting from Microsoft’s files, though, so in general we recommend opening Microsoft’s file types in their own apps: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for iOS are all free for viewing and editing files (except on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which can only view files for free – an Office365 subscription is needed for editing files). You can use Numbers to open .csv files.

Documents from OpenOffice or LibreOffice (.odt, .ods, and .odp files) are a little more complicated: you can view them with the dedicated free OOReader app or the file manager Documents 5 (also free), but neither can edit them. You can, at least, copy out some content to paste into more productive apps from there.

For editing, your only options are apps that use virtual machines – Documents U is a free app that does this, with a paid optional upgrade to remove adverts and add features. This app looks like Windows 98, and is clumsy as hell, but is functional for basic editing if you really, really need to. It’s worth noting that iOS uses a ZIP file icon for .odt, .ods, and .odp file types, but that’s just a quirk of how their file type works – as long as the file extension is one of those listed, you can still open them in our suggested apps.

You can open and edit .txt files in Pages, but .rtf files are more tricky: our recommended option is Documents 5.

When it comes to PDFs, there are many great viewing and annotation tools, including Documents 5 again, or the renowned GoodReader ($4.99), which includes all the editing and signing tools you’re likely to need. Both of these offer Apple Pencil support on compatible iPads, but you can also annotate in other ways, and fill out forms using text.

If you’re likely to be sent encrypted PDFs – which may be used for sensitive legal documents – Adobe’s own free Acrobat Reader app can open these files, and has its own editing and annotation tools (and other advanced tools unlock with In-App Purchases).

when it comes to pdfs, there are many great viewing and annotation tools