Instant New iPad Features in iOS 6 How-to: Learn to use Mail, iCloud, Photo Stream, iPhoto, iWorks, iTunes, iMovie, and Garageband through easy-to-follow recipes

Open up the Settings application and select Mail, Contacts, Calendars from the left-hand menu, as shown in the following screenshot:

To the right, we see Accounts. Select Add Account…, as shown in the following screenshot:

We're taken to a menu with a variety of options as shown:

For this example, we're going to select Gmail. Setting up other e-mail addresses is very similar and requires the same information. The exceptions are setting up iCloud, Exchange, or Other accounts. The task of setting these up is a bit more advanced.

Let's set it up for a Gmail address. After selecting Gmail, we're taken to a screen with the fields Name, Email, Password, and Description, as shown in the following screenshot:

We'll enter our name as we'd like it to appear in our outgoing messages. Then, we'll enter our e-mail address, password, and a description of the account. Hitting Next will finish up the process, verifying the e-mail address.

When complete, we're given the options of turning this address ON or OFF. Keeping it ON will allow our e-mail messages to appear on the iPad. We definitely want this e-mail address ON; whether or not we decide to enable calendars and notes isn't relevant to this task. Having either turned on will sync our Calendar and Notes data associated with this e-mail address. Tap Save:

Now that we've got an e-mail address, let's set up a VIP inbox. New in iOS 6, this filtered inbox is a mix of contacts from all of our e-mail addresses allowing us to create a special inbox with contacts we deem important. This ensures that they don't get overlooked when going from device to device and e-mail address to e-mail address.

From the Settings app in Mail, Contacts, Calendars, select Add Account…, and then select iCloud.

We're prompted to enter an Apple ID and password. If you don't have one, tap Get a Free Apple ID and follow the ensuing steps:

Enter your Apple ID and password, and then tap Next. The following screen appears, and we're prompted to turn on or off various iCloud sync features. Turn them all on, including Photo Stream (which does not default to ON, so double check that it's enabled):

Tap Save and we're done. We've got iCloud enabled! We were also automatically given an iCloud e-mail address. We now see our account listed in the Accounts list view, as shown in the following screenshot:

Now tap iCloud to view all of our settings one more time. Scroll to the bottom of the list and select Storage & Backup, as shown in the following screenshot:

Now we need to make a decision. Do we want to enable iCloud Backup? Enabling this will avoid the need to manually back up our iPad using the cable, our computer, and iTunes. iCloud allows us to do this when our iPad is locked and connected to Wi-Fi. Flip the switch to ON; we're given a prompt alerting us to the changes we've just made, as shown in the following screenshot. This is telling us that when we plug our iPad into our computer, it will not sync automatically. This is because it will have been syncing via iCloud Backup and there is no need for the sync when you plug in your device. Everything will already be backed up, up to 5 GB.

Open the Photos app and tap on a photo. In the upper-right corner, we see the Edit, Slideshow, and the share icons.

Tap Edit and the edit menu is displayed at the bottom of the screen, as shown in the following screenshot:

Tap Crop to begin editing an image.

Note that a new menu appears at the bottom of the screen. We see Constrain and Reset, as shown in the following screenshot. Constrain will crop the image to a common set of dimensions, and Reset brings the entire image back into the grid.

Tap Crop in the upper-right corner of the screen, and the menu will change, as shown in the following screenshot. Tap Save, and we will have successfully edited a photo.

Now that we've successfully edited a photo, let's share it with Photo Stream. What is Photo Stream? It's a section in the cloud where we are able to save photos and access them from other Apple devices.

To share, tap on the share icon. A menu pops up with a variety of options. We'll be selecting Photo Stream, as shown in the following screenshot:

Sharing to Photo Stream brings up our options. You'll notice a To: field. This will share to an e-mail address, something we won't be doing in this exercise. We'll be creating a Photo Stream folder called My Edits, as shown in the following screenshot:

Tapping Next will allow for a comment and the ability to finalize your share by hitting Post. Your photo is now in the cloud and available in the Photo Stream tab, in the Photos app, shown in the following screenshot:

Open the app and tap the Camera Roll album shown in the following screenshot:

Tapping Camera Roll will open up the folder and give us a slew of editing options. Take some time to look at all of the icons appearing in the upper and lower portion of the screen. Focus on the tools in the upper-left corner and tap the question mark icon. Tapping that icon will reveal a description of all the tools appearing on the page. The following screenshot shows the upper menu with descriptions:

Take a look at the options on the lower menu, shown in the following screenshot. Some of the options are familiar, based on our use of the Photos app. Crop & Straighten, Auto-Enhance, and Rotate are here, but you'll notice that they're more refined and provide more options. This lower menu is where all of the magic happens.

Let's select an effect for our photo. Tap Black & White. Now we see even more options appear in the lower menu. This will help us refine the effect. Tap one of the options shown in the following screenshot. The option farthest to the right in the following screenshot will bring up the menu of effects again. Give it a try.

Now that we've applied the Black & White effect to our photo, let's save it by using the share icon in the upper-right corner, as shown in the following screenshot:

Here we see many different options. To save this photo to our iPad, we'd tap Camera Roll and choose the selected image.

Let's focus on the Beam option. Beaming allows us to send a photo to another iOS device. To do this, both devices must be on the same wireless network and must be running iPhoto. Once you tap Beam and select the photo, iPhoto will begin searching for devices in range, as shown in the following screenshot:

To start a new project, tap the plus icon. This brings up a menu where we can select New Project or New Trailer, as shown in the following screenshot:

Tap on New Project. We're taken to the editing interface with a media browser, timeline, and a video viewer.

If no video exists on our iPad, we're able to shoot video directly into the app, using the video camera icon located on the right, just below the video viewer. Once the icon is tapped, our screen goes into record mode. To record some video, simply tap on the record button (the one with a red dot). Let's record some video of our surroundings and use that video to explore the editing interface. Tap on the record button, and when finished, tap again. Then, tap on the Use button in the lower-right corner (shown in the following screenshot):

This brings our video into our project. You can see our video in the video viewer, timeline, and media browser. Editing the clip length is done by tapping on either side of the video and sliding it to the desired length. When selected, the video is highlighted and we can double-tap it to display the clip settings, as shown in the following screenshot:

Here we see Title Style, Location, an audio icon, and a Delete Clip button. We can set the title of the clip, the location, and can adjust its audio. Let's go ahead and select Title Style and type in a title for our video clip.

What determines where our title appears? Our project settings, located in the upper-right hand side menu, determine the look and feel of our project. There's a selection of templates in the upper row. Below that, we see Theme Music, Loop Background Music, Fade in from black, and Fade out to black, as shown in the following screenshot:

Flip both fades to ON and tap outside of the menu. Then play the clip back using the play button. Note that the color changes to black at the beginning and end of the clip.

Try out some of the templates to explore the look and feel of each one.

To view the audio settings of our video clip, tap on the audio icon and then double-tap on the video in the timeline, as shown in the following screenshot:

Go ahead and use some media from the browser mentioned in steps 2 and 3, and select some media by double-tapping on Photos and Music. We want to have something to export, so play around for a bit.

If at any point you want to undo something, there's a handy Undo button in the upper-right corner of the screen. Also located in the upper menu above the video viewer is the iMovie Projects icon. Both the Undo and iMovie Projects icons can be seen in the following screenshot:

Let's tap on that iMovie Projects icon so we can get back to the main menu for iMovie. Here our project is selected. When we have more than one project; they will all display in a row in this view. In the lower menu, we see the plus, play, share, Copy from iTunes, and the trashcan icons, as shown in the following screenshot:

Let's focus on the share icon. Tap on the share icon to view all of our share options, as shown in the following screenshot:

We can share movies to our Camera Roll and a variety of social media sites. We can also send our project to iTunes. This will allow us access to the project when we connect our device to iTunes. When our iPad is plugged in to our computer, we see our projects at the bottom of the Apps menu, as shown in the following screenshot:

Keynote

Numbers

Pages

In the upper-left corner of the screen, there's a plus icon. Tapping the plus icon will prompt us to create a presentation. The plus symbol will be a running theme throughout the iWorks suite of apps. You'll notice it in later recipes on Numbers and Pages.

This then takes us to a selection of themes. You'll see a menu appear when you tap on the plus sign.

Let's select Gradient as it's a fairly common background for presentations. There are templates within each theme that help speed up common layouts. Tap the one titled Gradient. Then tap the plus icon in the lower-left corner and select the first slide. We'll begin by adding an image and title. Notice, in the following screenshot, that tapping the plus sign brings up the template's slides for that particular theme:

Editing the text is as easy as double-tapping, which will bring up the keyboard.

Tapping on the image icon on the bottom of the screen will give us the option of inserting an image from our library. Let's go ahead and tap the image icon so we can insert our own image.

Tap the image, and the editing options will appear. Take a moment to manipulate the image. Use pinch, twist, and swipe gestures and watch the image transform. Note the yellow guides that help align the image with the middle of the page and help align the selected object with other objects. We also have options for cutting, copying, deleting, and replacing the image. Animating is a bit more advanced. It's a feature that turns a static image into a moving object as the slide loads in and out. In the following screenshot, you'll see all of the options available when you have an object selected:

After manipulating the object, tap Undo in the upper-left corner of the screen. That's one of the many options sitting in the top menu. Take a moment to try them out. The following screenshot shows some of the options that drop down from the top menu items.

It's time to utilize these tools in order to complete our presentation. We've learned that tapping and using pinch and swipe gestures edits objects. We've inserted a new image, placed it on the page, and edited the text by simply tapping on the sample text and editing it.

Next, tap on the plus sign in the lower-left corner of the screen and add two more slides. Select the bulleted list and an empty slide so that we can customize it ourselves.

Each slide in the left-hand navigation window has a series of transition options. On tapping, select the plus icon sitting to the right-hand side of the word None. None indicates that no transition has been set, but if one were set, it'd be labeled here.

This pulls up a menu of transitions. Each slide can have a different transition. Select one, and we are given a preview. If it looks good, tap outside of the menu. The transition will be labeled by its name, as shown in the following screenshot:

For our final slide, we'll select the blank gradient and insert a chart using the plus icon in the upper-right corner of the screen, as seen in the next screenshot. Select a chart, and it will populate the center of the slide. We're able to manipulate the chart in the same manner that we did the image. This time, new options appear when you have the chart selected. Edit Data will allow you to edit each region in your chart. Tapping the brush icon while the chart is selected will give us options for editing the chart. Options such as 2D and 3D, as shown in the following screenshot, as well as options such as Legends, Fonts, and many others are available:

Now we have three slides. A title slide with an image and title text, a bulleted slide, and a slide with a chart. Tap the play button in the upper-right corner, and we've completed a brief presentation. Tap on each slide to play through our presentation, and if there's anything you'd like to change, it's as easy as tapping on the slide in the left-hand menu to edit it. The project is complete; you can tap Presentations in the upper-left corner of your presentation, and you'll be taken to the main Keynote menu.

Start by selecting the Blank spreadsheet from the array of templates. Take a moment to look at the options. A lot of these templates are very useful and easy to utilize because all of the functions have been completed for us.

Our blank spreadsheet is pretty boring, so let's start formatting. Tap anywhere on the spreadsheet. We will see a vertical and horizontal bar with circles on each end. These circles adjust the number of rows and columns visible in a table. Use the pan gesture on each bar so that we have three columns and six rows.

While we're there, let's give it some color. Select the entire first row by tapping on the bar directly to the left of the first row. When it's selected, tap on the brush icon in the upper-left corner and select Cells. In that tab we'll see Fill Color. On tapping, a pop-up will appear with an array of colors. Choose a color for the top row. Below it, you'll see cells with a green fill.

Now that it's got some color, let's get it looking and working like a monthly budget calculator. Begin by double-tapping in the first cell. The keyboard pops up and we're given four icons representing four inputs—numbers, date/time, text, and functions, as shown in the following screenshot:

Begin filling data in each row and column. Double-tap and select the input type. Once done, tap outside of the table. Label the contents of the spreadsheet as well as the data.

The keyboard will adjust itself depending on the input option we selected. In the preceding example, the number keypad was selected. In the following screenshot, we have the clock icon selected, so the keyboard is displaying in date/time:

To finish up our budget and calculate our monthly total, we'll use the SUM function. Double-tap on a cell beneath the figures in column B. Select the equals-to icon so that the special keyboard pops up. Tap functions. This brings up a list of common functions. We want to calculate our total monthly bill expenditures, so select SUM, as shown in the following screenshot:

After selecting SUM, the input bar should reflect this by showing a SUM function. We're able to select the cells of which we want to add the values up by tapping and dragging the selection. Tap cell B2 and drag the selection down to B5. We'll see the cells reflected in the input field. We can then save by either tapping outside of the table or selecting the green checkbox, as seen in the following screenshot. Are you getting the same total?

Let's begin by creating a very basic document with some text, an image, and a shape. We'll be using the plus icon and its variations a lot as this is our way of adding elements to the page.

In our blank document, select the plus icon in the upper-right corner, as shown in the following screenshot:

Select a photo from the Photo Library. It will display on the page, and we're able to resize it by tapping and dragging on the circles surrounding the image. We can rotate our image by using the two-finger gesture, twisting the image around, as follows:

Let's go ahead and use the plus icon in the upper-right corner to select an arrow shape for our document, as follows:

After you've selected the right-facing arrow and it's displaying on the page, tap and select Copy, duplicating the arrow so we have two arrows on the screen. Tap outside of the arrow and hit Paste. You can now position the arrows as you please.

Let's give Copy and Paste a try with the image we selected from our photo gallery. Tap to select the image, select Copy, tap outside of the image, and select Paste. We can always undo our work by tapping Undo in the upper-left corner. Tap and hold the Undo button and we see a Redo button appear. This will return our edit to its state prior to the undo action.

Now we've got two images and two arrows. Let's label our images with some text. Once again, select the plus icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. In Shapes, just as we did for the arrow, we'll select the T icon. A textbox appears, and the keyboard will pop up. Let's describe our images by adding text and moving it around the page. This will give us a final result of two images, two shapes, and two text fields, as shown in the following screenshot:

Back out of our newly created document by hitting the Documents button.

Tap the plus icon and select Create Document.

The top of the screen will say Choose a Template, and that's exactly what we'll do.

Select Modern Photo Letter.

After the page has loaded, tap on each paragraph of the page. Notice the upper formatting bar. The font size, paragraph style, and other elements will change in order to reflect the item's formatting. Tapping on the brush icon will give you a deeper look at the formatting, more so than the top formatting toolbar. Inspect the images and notice the differences in the upper toolbar, such as font size and styling, as shown in the following screenshot:

Tap Edit in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Select the document we just created, and tap on the text to give the document a name. Once named, tap Done in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Tap on the document, and then on the share icon in the upper-left corner of the screen. You will see a list of options, as shown in the following screenshot:

You also have the option of sharing from within the document we created. To do this, tap to open the document.

Tap on the tool icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Select Share and Print. You'll see a list of options, as shown in the following screenshot:

E-mailing is a great way to share files for use within Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Selecting Email Document will give us three formats to choose from. We see the three formats in the following screenshot:

Selecting one of the options in the preceding screenshots will bring up an e-mail window containing the file in the body of the e-mail.

The second option under Share and Print is Print. It gives us the ability to wirelessly print our files by a printer sharing the same network. To check whether there's a printer on our network, we tap Print. This will list out any printers the iPad is able to print to, as shown in the following screenshot:

Open in Another App is a great way to share your files across many applications. There are many different apps that are able to read the formats that sharing enables us to use. This includes file formats such as .doc, .xls, .ppt, and .pdf. After tapping Open in Another App, tap the PDF file format and then tap Choose App. In the following screenshot we see examples of the different apps our .pdf file can be shared to:

Copy to iTunes is probably the least common way to share. Tap Copy to iTunes on the Share and Print menu. We're prompted to select the file format, and immediately after selecting, it saves the file so that we are able to access it when our iPad is plugged into our computer on iTunes.

To access that presentation, we have to plug the iPad in to our computer. Once plugged in and open in iTunes on your desktop or laptop, select the iPad and click on the Apps tab on the top navigation bar of the screen. Scroll to the bottom; of the list view of applications, to the left, we see the apps that are capable of sharing documents with our computer. In the following screenshot, we see the document of Numbers we created in the recipe titled Numbers – starting and editing a spreadsheet. Here, we can click and save it to our computer, or we click and transfer it to our iPad.

The Copy to WebDAV option is advanced and beyond the scope of this book. Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) is a protocol; in other words, it is a standard for sharing and editing documents on a server.

Let's begin by tapping Store in the upper-left corner of the screen, as seen in the following screenshot. This will take you to iBookstore, Apple's book version of the App Store. It looks and works in the exact same way as that of the App Store:

There are a lot of different ways to browse the store. We'll be looking for free books. In the lower navigation bar of the store, we see Featured, NYTimes, Top Charts, Categories, Browse, and Purchased. All are great ways to explore. For the sake of time, let's click on Browse, as shown in the following screenshot:

You'll get a list view in the left column with the default view being TOP AUTHORS.

Select Free from the upper-left corner, and you'll get a list of all free books sorted in the alphabetical order of the top authors. Select a free book by tapping on the Free button next to the book of your choice.

This will save it to our book library, where it's available for offline reading.

Let's try an alternative way of getting good free books. Go back into the store by tapping Store in the upper-left corner of the screen, as we did in an earlier step. In the lower navigation bar, tap Top Charts. We have hundreds of free books to browse through and download.

The ability of iBooks to import, display, and organize PDF files is one of its best features. To illustrate how easy it is, we'll download a PDF file from the web and import it into iBooks. Go to http://www.reneevaldez.com/ibooks.pdf in Safari, either by clicking on the link (if you're reading a digital version of this book) or by typing the URL into Safari manually.

When the PDF loads, we see Open in "iBooks" and Open in... in the upper-right corner within the browser window, as shown in the following screenshot:

Select Open in "iBooks". That imports the document to our iBooks collection.

Using the plus icon located in the upper-left corner of the screen, we'll select New Song.

Let's begin by recording a few bars of piano notes, so we can familiarize ourselves with the menu bar and all of the options at our disposal. We use the plus icon in the upper-left corner of Garageband's home screen.

We're immediately taken to a screen where we can select our instrument of choice. Selecting Keyboard brings up the keyboard with piano keys.

Let's go through the menu at the top of the screen, as shown in the screenshot after the following list:

Let's tap on the record button and play some notes on the piano keys. We see the top track indicator turn red as we record. Press the stop button.

Now the length of the track is displayed in green and we've recorded some notes, as shown in the following screenshot:

After we've recorded a few bars of piano notes, tap on the track icon located to the right of the piano keys icon in the top menu, as previously shown. This will allow us to edit our track.

Tap on the track so it turns green, and play with the length. Double-tap and you get a menu of options including copy, paste, and delete.