Offline iGuide on a tablet

General Discussions
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#1

We are often asked about the best way to show an iGuide during a listing presentation.

iGuides are available for offline viewing in a web browser from local disk by downloading the offline zipped copy of the iGuide from the iGuide Portal. You need to unzip it and point your browser to index.html file found in the unzipped folder.

This is quite easy to do on a laptop. Tablets are a bit more challenging as they were not designed to provide easy manipulation of local files. If you want to use a tablet during presentation, the easiest way is to use your phone as a hotspot to get internet access from the tablet and use an online iGuide.

If that is not an option, the process gets a bit more involved but it is still doable. Windows tablets are trivial and the procedure is the same as on a desktop computer.

With Android you need to first download zipped iGuide, then use a file manager app to unzip it and find the location of the index.html on your local storage (full path). Then you need to enter in the address bar of the web browser: "file:// (instead of “http://youriguide.com/”).

iPads are the most complicated. You need to install an app that is an offline browser. GoodReader app and HTML Reader app are couple such apps. Then you need to load the unzipped iGuide into that app. For HTML Reader you need to use iTunes, for GoodReader you can get the fils into iPad via Dropbox.

#2

It would be helpful to prepare a document, such as the paragraph above, to answer this question for our clients.

#3

Keep it simple - use hotspot on your phone - affordable and not technically challenging. Or use a laptop. The rest is for geeks.

#4

Sure.

But it is a common question that I get, specifically when a homeowner wants to store a copy of it on their computer. It is quite difficult for me to explain those solutions, not to mention, that the index.html file is actually where they’ll find the offline tour, that is if they even get past unzipping the folder lol.

One thing I’ve done is deliver USB sticks at an additional cost where I’ve gone in and specifically sorted the materials into specific folders:

  • Offline iGuide (Please keep all contents within this folder)
    • relabeled index.html file as “Offline iGuide”
  • Floor Plans
  • Photos

This isn’t a very lucrative solution. It’s also tedious and time consuming. If I could deliver them a document with specific instructions on how to download, open and store an offline iGuide, it would save more than a few headaches.