Whether you use an iPad or Mac, the LIT SUITE Case File that you want to work with has to be available locally on the device, NOT stored somewhere in the cloud that requires WiFi or internet access to access it (whether that be iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or some other cloud storage provider).
For the iPad you should store your Case Files in the On My iPad storage location, which is the physical storage location on the iPad, in a corresponding app specific folder. The “path” that many computer users may be able to relate to is: iPad / Files / On My iPad / [AppName]. You can also store your Case File in iCloud Drive if you intend to use the Mac version alongside the iPad version.
For the Mac you can store the Case Files on the Desktop or in the Documents location if you do not have iCloud Drive enabled.
If you do have iCloud Drive enabled (System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud Drive > On) this moves files from your Desktop and Documents location to iCloud Drive so you can access these files from all your devices that use the same Apple ID.
This means that if you have iCloud Drive enabled, you can start a Case File on your Mac, save it to the Desktop or Documents location, then use your iPad to access that same Desktop or Documents location (because both devices are using the same Apple ID) to open and use the Case File. NOTE: Both devices have to be online for this process to work, and if it is a large Case File it may take some time to download and become available to open on the other device. If the Case File is edited on multiple devices at the same time, or on a second device before the first is brought back online, you may lose some changes.
| iPad | Mac | |
| Local Storage |
On My iPad is recommended for primary storage. | Desktop or Documents is recommended for primary storage. |
| iCloud Drive | Supported for primary storage. ¹ ⁴ | Recommended for primary storage. ² ⁴ |
| Dropbox (and other cloud storage providers) | Archival only. | Not supported for primary storage. ³ ⁴ |
| USB Flash/Thumb Drive | Archival only. | Archival only. |
| Network Share | Archival only. | Archival only. |
Notes:
1. Case Files may not be accessible offline, and may need to be downloaded before opening.
2. Case Files may not be accessible offline, and may need to be downloaded before opening unless "Optimize Mac Storage" is disabled for iCloud Drive in System Preferences.
3. Case Files will only be accessible to Mac versions, if stored in this location.
4. Case Files cannot be edited from multiple devices at the same time.
IMPORTANT: Your Case File can be archived and stored on Dropbox or another cloud storage provider, but it needs to be zipped (compressed) before moving it from your local storage to the cloud storage provider; and then unzipped (expanded) after it is moved back from the cloud storage provider to local storage.
You cannot open and work on a Case File while it is stored on Dropbox, or another cloud storage provider.
The reason for this is that Dropbox and other third party cloud storage providers do not support the Apple package file format on iPadOS. While package files appear to be a single file when viewed on Apple platforms, they actually contain many other files and are represented as a folder on non-Mac computers and most web browsers. Storing, or even temporarily transferring an uncompressed Case File to an unsupported location, may result in a corrupted Case File that can no longer be opened.