Storing Files

A tiny Massachusetts software company — Ecamm Network — sells an inexpensive piece of OS X software called PhoneView ($29.95), which lets you copy files from your Mac to your iPhone and copy files from the iPhone to a Mac. (No Windows version is available.) Better still, you can try the program for a week before deciding whether you want to buy it. Go to www.ecamm.com to fetch the free demo.

The big deal here is that while automatic backups protect most of the files on your iPhone, you can’t manipulate them. They’re backed up and restored, but heaven help you if you want to extract one or more individual iMessages, SMS, and MMS messages, specific songs, videos, notes, or other types of data from your iPhone. The bottom line is that there’s no easier way to manage files on your iPhone than by using PhoneView.

In a nutshell, here’s how PhoneView works. After downloading the software to your Mac, double-click the program’s icon to start it. Then do one of the following:

To transfer files and folders to the iPhone (assuming that you have room on the device), click the Copy to iPhone button on the toolbar and then select the files you want to copy. The files are copied into the appropriate folder on the iPhone. Alternatively, you can drag files and folders from the Mac Desktop or a folder into the PhoneView browser.

To go the other way and copy files from your iPhone to your computer, highlight the files or folders you want to be copied and then click the Copy from iPhone button on the toolbar. Select the destination on your Mac where you want to store the files and then click Save. You can also drag files and folders from the PhoneView file browser to the Mac desktop or folder. Or you can double-click a file in the PhoneView browser to download it to your Mac’s Documents folder.

If you need access to the files on your iPhone or if you want to use your iPhone as a pseudo–hard drive, PhoneView is a bargain.

Bob says: I use Printopia, also from Ecamm ($19.95), to print from my iPhone to several of my non-AirPrint printers. It works great and costs a lot less than a new AirPrint-enabled printer.