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iCabMobile to the rescue

The problem: You need to share a file from a secure server with a colleague, but it is too large to attach to an email and you only have your iPad.

The solution: Download the file with iCabMobile, upload it to Dropbox, share a link via Mail.

The context: I am on the road with my family, with only my iPad, and a colleague needs a backup copy of my Moodle course right now. He does not have access to the server, so I need to download the file and send him a copy. Easy enough to accomplish in my office, or at home, but a bit more challenging when speeding down the Keiji Bypass in Kyoto.

I appreciate a good challenge, so I sent a mail to explain the situation and promise that I would work it out. After my experience using iCabMobile in the classroom the other day, I knew that it would play a central role in the solution.

The first step was to log in to my Moodle course using iCabMobile and create the backup. The backup process is all run server-side, so doing this from an iPad is no problem. Dealing with the file once created was the issue…

As you can see in the image above, the file size, while only 72 MB, is still a bit large for a quick download and email. Tapping and holding on the link to the file brings up some options.

I selected ‘Download File”, and immediately found myself looking at an error message.


To get around this barrier, I opened up the Settings app, scrolled down to iCabMobile in the menu, and changed the Edge/3G download limit from 10MB to 100MB.

With the limit raised, I was now able to download the file. Over 3G, while speeding down an expressway in Kyoto, the file downloaded in just over 10 minutes. Not exactly quick, but I had plenty of other things in the car to keep me busy…

With the file moved to my download folder in iCab, I now needed to find a way to share it. I did a long tap on the file to see what my options where, and by selecting “Open in External App” I received these options.

Since Dropbox has a file-sharing feature, I chose to move the file there. This took quite a while. The process of uploading the 70+ MB file took over 15 minutes. I simply set the iPad aside to let it do its work, and played a little Shiritori with the kids.

Once the file finished uploading I was able to simply click the ‘link’ icon in the top right corner to create and copy a link to send to my colleague.

Useful? I don’t know. I think in the future, with a file of equal size, I might wait until I have a solid wifi connection, but it is certainly nice to know that this is possible. You never know when you might need it in a pinch.

If you made it this far, I hope that you found this post useful. Personally, I was just extremely excited to find another iPad Solution to a seemingly impossible task.

Do you know a better way? Do you have an iPad Problem requiring an iPad Solution? Leave a comment and let me know.

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Composed on Blogsy while speeding down a Japanese expressway