This article was published on April 19, 2013

Doo for Android gives you access to documents stored in the cloud – just don’t expect to edit them


Doo for Android gives you access to documents stored in the cloud – just don’t expect to edit them

File management and search solution doo has launched on Android today as a simple, if somewhat limited way to access documents stored both in the cloud and on a local hard drive.

Doo is already available as an app for Windows 8 and Mac OS X. It can synchronize with any folder stored on a local device, as well as the following cloud-based storage services; Dropbox, Google Drive and Skydrive.

For people who use multiple solutions and want to streamline their workflow, it’s a great way of enabling easy access to important files. Doo automatically extracts relevant information from each document and uses it to create smart tags, which users can then leverage to look up files containing particular words or phrases.

The mobile iteration is markedly different, however.

A confined document reader

Doo for Android takes the desktop experience and scales it down somewhat. For starters, the app is strictly for documents; so images and other file types are immediately off-limits.

The app does pull-in from all of the cloud-based services tied to your existing Doo account. There’s no mechanism for filtering documents by a specific service though, which seems odd given the emphasis on file management.

dooscreens1

The second major drawback is that doo for Android is a mobile document reader. Everything is stored as a PDF file, which means that there’s no way of making immediate changes and synchronizing it with all of your other cloud-based storage solutions.

Instead, you’ll need to download the file to your Android device, make the changes in another app and find a way to upload it again to your doo account. It works, but feels more than a little arduous and unnecessary.

The search functionality works great, however, and the tag-based system makes it easy to find any document, regardless of how buried it is in your folder hierarchy.

dooscreens2

Viewing PDF files is crisp and clean, with a simple double-tap for zooming in and out. Documents can also be downloaded selectively for offline use, helping users to manage their available disc space.

The bottom line

Doo for Android is available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish and Portuguese. The company says it is already working on an iOS app, with updates for Mac OS X and Windows 8 in the works.

The Android iteration is robust, but has some serious shortcomings in its current form. We’re hoping that future updates will extend the functionality to match the stellar experience found on the desktop.

➤ Doo for Android | Google Play

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