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.
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 “computer path” that many Windows users may relate to is: iPad / Files / On My iPad / [AppName Folder]
If you want to access your Case File from both the iPad and Mac, you need to have iCloud Drive enabled on your iPad: Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Drive > On
For the Mac you should store the Case Files on the Desktop or in the Documents folder.
If you want to access your Case File from both the Mac and iPad, you need to have iCloud Drive enabled on your Mac: System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Drive > On
This saves your Desktop and Documents folders to iCloud Drive so you can access these folders from all your devices that use the same Apple ID.
This means that if you have iCloud Drive enabled on both your iPad and Mac, you can start a Case File on either device, saving it to the Desktop or Documents location in iCloud Drive, then use your other device to access that same Desktop or Documents location (because both devices are using the same Apple ID) to open and access 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 upload/download and become available to open on the other device.
If the Case File is edited on multiple devices at the same time you may lose some changes. We recommend closing a Case File on one device before opening it on another device.
Recommendations on Storage Locations
| iPad | Mac | |
|
Local Storage |
On My iPad is recommended for storing Case Files. |
Desktop or Documents is recommended for storing Case Files. |
|
iCloud Drive |
Supported for storing Case Files. ¹ ⁴ |
Recommended for storing Case Files. ² ⁴ |
|
Dropbox (and other cloud storage providers) |
Archival use only. Case Files must be compressed (zipped) before moving to a cloud storage provider. |
Not supported for storing Case Files. ³ ⁴ |
|
USB Flash / Thumb Drive |
Archival only. |
Archival only. |
|
Network Share |
Archival only. |
Archival only. |
1. Case Files may not be accessible when you are offline, and may need to be downloaded before opening.
2. If "Optimize Mac Storage" is enabled for iCloud Drive in System Settings, Case Files may not be accessible when you are offline, and may need to be downloaded before opening.
3. Case Files will only be accessible to Mac versions if stored in this location.
4. Case Files should not be edited from multiple devices at the same time.
Dropbox, or any cloud storage provider, cannot be used to store or work on a Case File. 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.
IMPORTANT: If you want to archive a Case File on Dropbox, or another cloud storage provider, it must be compressed (zipped) before moving it from your local storage to the cloud storage provider, and then uncompressed (unzipped) after it is moved back from the cloud storage provider to local storage.
Storing, or even temporarily transferring an uncompressed Case File to an unsupported cloud storage provider (e.g. Dropbox), may result in a corrupted Case File that can no longer be opened.