How can I copy GarageBand projects to a new iPad?

Question

I recently got a new iPad Air 2 running 8.1.1  and I wanted to transfer GarageBand projects from my old iPad 3 running 8.1.2 to my new device. I found this harder than I expected.
You'd think the help instructions I found at http://help.apple.com/garageband/ipad/1.0/index.html#chsec12c387 would be sufficient, but some of the steps didn't work for me. Was it because I was running Windows on my partnered PC  rather than a Mac?  What this help link doesn't tell you is that, as difficult as it is for me now to navigate around and find my devices after recent changes to iTunes, that all that's available for File Sharing are GarageBand projects that have already been Exported to iTunes.  However, then I ran into problems with these instructions "Send a GarageBand Song to iTunes".  Step 1- the only place I see My Songs on my old iPad is at the edit screen of a project. When I hit My Songs, it shuts down that recording session and switches to a list of songs, but there is no Export Song button, just a plus sign in the upper left.  Hitting the plus doesn't get me to " Export Song button", it gets me to "Create New Song" or " Copy From iTunes File Sharing". It took me a long time to figure out I had to Select a song first, then the icons in the upper left changed and one icon gave me a way to upload to iTunes. Not at all like the help instructions, but at least I could get a project to File Sharing. (or Dropbox) However, if I selected more than one project, the Upload button grayed out.  I had 40 projects to transfer, so I wanted to find a solution that would be better than this.
I looked at Re: Import a proyect from garage band to ipad  and It is really unacceptable that I cannot transfer my garageband format songs from iPad to iTunes for windows and then add them to my new iPad.  Any ideas?  but they weren't matching up to my problem.  However, it was nice to find out about iFun http://www.i-funbox.com/ , which looks more understandable than iTune File Sharing.
What I eventually discovered was I could select multiple GB projects on the old iPad, and still have the Upload to iCloud icon available in the upper left.  All my remaining GB projects went to iCloud in one step and eventually they started to appear in GB on my new iPad Air, except that I had to buy some more iCloud storage.
Is this really the only way to move many GB projects to a new iPad?

Answer 1

Hello marcia999,
This can be done through the Filesharing pane in iTunes (when the iPad is connected).
iMovie for iOS (iPad): Import from iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH3239
If you created a project or trailer on an iOS device (such as iPad or iPhone) and sent the project to iTunes, you can then import the project to another compatible device through iTunes.
Import a project or trailer from iTunes
Connect your device to your computer, then open iTunes on your computer.After a moment, your device appears in iTunes, below Devices on the left.
Select the device, then click Apps at the top of the iTunes window.
Select iMovie in the Apps list below File Sharing (you may need to scroll to see it).
Click Add below the iMovie Documents pane; in the window that appears, navigate to the file you want to add.
Select the file, then click Open to copy the file to your device.The file appears in the iMovie Documents pane when copying is complete.
Open iMovie on your device; if you’re not in projects view, tap the My Projects button in the upper-left corner above the viewer.
Tap the Import button at the bottom of the screen, then tap the name of the project you want to import.When the import is complete, the project opens and can be edited like any other project.
Cheers,
Allen