As a lot as I really like my iPad Professional, my use of it has at all times been restricted to being a mere multimedia pill. In relation to actual work, I usually myself turning to a real laptop computer to get it carried out. Shopping for the wonderful Magic Keyboard as a companion to the iPad was step one towards reversing that pattern.
However finally, turning the iPad into a greater laptop computer alternative ended up being so simple as making the next modifications to my workflow, together with some minor settings tweaks.
Put your favourite apps within the dock for fast entry
Amongst my favourite issues about MacOS and Home windows 11 are the dock and the taskbar, which allow you to pin your favourite apps for faster entry. Properly, with iPadOS 15 bringing some tweaks to multitasking, and letting you slide over a 3rd app when multitasking, the dock on an iPad can be utilized to do the identical.
I’ve my favourite apps that I take advantage of for work pinned down in my iPad dock. The record contains Microsoft Groups, Feedly, and Asana, as properly another social media apps. With these apps pinned within the dock, when I’ve two apps on split-screen — say two periods of Safari — I can pull up on the dock, then pull up a 3rd app like Groups or Feedly in the course of the display. This then opens an iPhone-shaped app that Apple calls a Slide Over mode.
That is form of the identical workflow I’ve on Mac and Home windows, the place I hold Groups minimized and pull it up solely after I want it. But, from there, I can repeat the method, and open the iOS-like app switcher from inside any app that’s operating in Slide Over mode to change between different open apps that I put in Slide Over mode.
It’s been an effective way for me to open a number of apps on my iPad, with out having to continuously go to my dwelling display, and it has saved me a ton of time when responding to Groups messages or including tales to Asana. The apps I would like are proper at my fingertips, and one fast drag away!
Use Safari as an alternative of Google Chrome
A second tip includes utilizing the iPad’s native net browser, Safari. On iPad OS, Safari capabilities nice, as it should mechanically provide the desktop model of particular web sites. Which means you don’t have to particularly inform the browser to fetch you a desktop web site such as you would in Chrome.
Safari additionally has a scaling characteristic that you should use to scale web sites down to suit extra in your display. It’s on the high of the display, subsequent to the tackle bar. Oh, and Safari additionally has multi-window help, so you possibly can drag tabs out to the left or proper facet of your display for added multitasking.
I take advantage of the scaling and multi-window help to separate Safari home windows facet by facet (identical to I’d on my Mac.) One facet has my WordPress movement, and the opposite facet has an area for open tabs and any articles I’m monitoring or referencing whereas writing. In comparison with what I normally have open on my Home windows and Mac machine, the distinction is barely noticeable when web sites scale accurately.
Change display textual content measurement so extra can match on the display
Third up, is a factor about textual content measurement. With the iPad Professional having a super-high 2732 x 2048 decision show, I’ve at all times needed to vary the scaling so extra issues can match on my display. Home windows and Mac do a great job with this, however iPad OS does have a hidden scaling characteristic, too. It could enable textual content to look smaller so that you get more room in supported apps.
Go to Settings > Show & Brightness > Textual content Dimension, and also you’ll see a slider that makes textual content larger or smaller. Dragging the slider all the best way down will modify the textual content measurement in apps that help Dynamic Sort. Examples embody Twitter, Microsoft Groups, and plenty of different apps. It makes an enormous distinction in Twitter, for instance, as extra Tweets can match on the display without delay. And, in Groups, extra chat messages present within the area.
iPad Magic Keyboard tweaks
My final tip is one which includes the iPad Magic Keyboard. As we discovered after we reviewed it, this non-compulsory accent can actually change how you employ your iPad. It “floats” the iPad within the air, whereas including a MacBook-like keyboard and trackpad so that you can use. But there are nonetheless some further tweaks that I take advantage of to make my iPad really feel extra like a laptop computer.
The primary of these is remapping keys. The Magic Keyboard has no “escape” key, so I remapped the Possibility Key to deliver again the misplaced perform. You are able to do this by going to Settings > Common > Keyboard > {Hardware} Keyboard > Modifier Keys. From there, an unused key will be remapped to one thing extra helpful. For me, the Possibility key was tweaked to turn out to be the escape key, so I can exit full-screen movies on YouTube with out scrolling round with the trackpad.
One other Magic Keyboard tweak includes keyboard shortcuts. Like what I’m acquainted with utilizing on MacOS or Home windows 11, the keyboard has sure shortcuts that can be utilized in apps. When you long-press the Command key, you’ll see a pop-up immediate with keyboard shortcuts.
In Safari, for instance, you see desktop-like copy-paste shortcuts, in addition to shortcuts for opening a brand new tab, attending to your historical past, and extra. In the meantime, on Twitter, there are shortcuts for settings, refresh, and search. Once you’re on a mobile-first machine like an iPad, these could make all of the distinction in saving time.
Be aware there are additionally keyboard shortcuts for iPad navigation too, identical to there are on MacOS and Home windows for navigation. Command + H can take you to the house display, Command + Tab can change you to lately used apps, Command + Shift + 3 can take a screenshot, and Command + Possibility, + D can present and conceal the dock. Further keyboard shortcuts will be added by going to the iPad’s Accessibility settings.
Making me use my iPad extra
With these tweaks, I now discover myself utilizing my iPad much more for work. They’ve helped me turn out to be far more environment friendly, although I nonetheless need to get used to leveraging cellular first-apps, somewhat than desktop apps. But for web-based work, these ideas might help flip your iPad into your important pc.
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