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Old 09-28-2009, 06:58 PM   #1
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Apple addresses numerous issues with iWork '09 9.0.3 update

Apple on Monday released iWork '09 Update 3, bringing a number of fixes and improvements for the first-party suite of applications.

iWork 9.0.3 is recommended for users of iWork 9.0, 9.0.1 and 9.0.2. The 59.62MB download is available from Apple or via Software Update. It requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or Mac OS X 10.5.6 and later.

Issues addressed by iWork Update 3, according to Apple, include:

All iWork 9.0.3 Applications
Addresses general compatibility issues
Updates the help
Adds a link to online resources in the Help menu
Improves image handling when reducing the file size of images with Instant Alpha applied
Improves file size management when inserting some movies
Keynote 5.0.3

Improves the reliability of guides by changing the display frequency and relevance
Resolves an issue with GarageBand exports
Fixes an issue when working with Move actions in chart builds
Addresses an issue with the preview of some charts in the Build inspector
Resolves an issue when pasting a Numbers table that has cells with wrap turned on
Resolves an issue where pasting multiple cells containing duration or date/time values into the Chart Data Editor would only paste zeros
Fixes an issue with Sleep when the computer’s battery has completely discharged while playing a presentation
Resolves an issue with updating thumbnail previews in Navigator view after sending a presentation via Mail as PDF or PowerPoint
Improves reliability when dragging and dropping text in Outline view
Adds a presentation preference for showing the slide switcher when scrolling
Pages 4.0.3

Resolves an issue where copying and pasting multiple cells containing duration or date/time values in the Chart Data Editor would only paste zeros
Improves reliability when working with objects in Full-Screen mode
Fixes an issue with saving documents with EndNote citations containing multi-byte characters when using Mac OS X 10.6
Resolves an issue with EndNote citations when using Mail Merge
Numbers 2.0.3

Fixes an issue with columns and categorized checkboxes
Addresses an issue with categories and CSV export
Improves reliability of import and export of some Microsoft Excel files
Addresses an issue that could cause formulas to stop working after formatting a cell
Fixes an issue with hiding or deleting rows in categorized tables
Improves reliability when reverting a document to the saved version
Addresses an issue caused by quitting without saving after editing some templates
Fixes an issue with deleting table columns containing chart data
Resolves an issue that prevented dropping an audio file into a media placeholder
iWork.com Beta

Enhances security with 128-bit SSL encryption and document password protection
Improves document reviewing capabilities with Comment notification features
E-mail invitations are now sent via iWork.com instead of using Mac OS X Mail
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Old 09-28-2009, 07:21 PM   #2
technohermit
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I just downloaded the trial from Apple, I'm looking to get out of MS Office. I hope this is as good as the reviews I've been reading.


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Old 09-28-2009, 07:34 PM   #3
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Been using iWork.com lately. Very useful. Seems to be rather underrated, though.


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Old 09-28-2009, 07:57 PM   #4
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Slowly weaning myself from MS-Office. I like Pages and slowly getting used to Numbers. Haven't used Keynote yet, but haven't had occasion to. Overall I'm glad I made the switch.
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Old 09-28-2009, 08:21 PM   #5
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No iWork '08 update? :-(

I didn't find enough new features to go to '09 (a.k.a. a bundled database app). We probably won't get one either because of FileMaker's Bento app. I just don't understand why Apple doesn't fold in FileMaker and round-out iWork with Bento.

iWork X maybe out next year and I'll upgrade then.


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Old 09-29-2009, 12:09 AM   #6
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I just wish Keynote and Pages would open and save files more quickly. It's gotten better with each iteration, but opening a large Keynote file is painfully slow.
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Old 09-29-2009, 01:00 AM   #7
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Really like Pages, but every time Apple releases these "off-Broadway" apps I worry they'll decide at some point in the near future to drop them, then I'd be stuck with a bunch of useless files. Wouldn't be the first time.... Steve!


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Old 09-29-2009, 01:17 AM   #8
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I make a lot of money with iWork. More then I do with Adobe products. Mostly with Keynote, but lately, clients want Pages templates instead of printed letterhead. Weird, I know, but it's been a trend i've seen recently.
That... and i've converted pretty much all my clients offices and operations to Apple. Keynote has been selling tones of Macbooks to the medical industry and people who lecture. Power Point presentations look like complete crap compared to Keynote.

As more people switch, iChat will be huge as for the presentation power of Keynote. That will sell more .Mac accounts then anything else. At least thats the snowball effect I hope to see. Just need more business people to actually spend 5 min on a mac.

iWork, it's a freak'n awesome application set that puts Office to shame.

so yes... iWork is worth dropping Office.
so yes... iWork is going to be around for a very long time, Apple won't be dropping what is by far the best office and design production tools out there. (for presentation and document design tools - Illustrator and Photoshop are still needed.)

cheers
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Old 09-29-2009, 01:44 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by MacTel View Post
No iWork '08 update? :-(

I didn't find enough new features to go to '09 (a.k.a. a bundled database app). We probably won't get one either because of FileMaker's Bento app. I just don't understand why Apple doesn't fold in FileMaker and round-out iWork with Bento.

iWork X maybe out next year and I'll upgrade then.
I don't know what part of iWork 08 you use but if you use page layout in Pages at all, the update is worth it for that app alone. I do a lot of mixed page design and it is so enjoyable with the new processes in Pages ... instant alpha, etc. and the templates provided are superb ... Numbers as well has improved greatly. ..... Just my 2 cents worth.
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Old 09-29-2009, 01:56 AM   #10
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Really like Pages, but every time Apple releases these "off-Broadway" apps I worry they'll decide at some point in the near future to drop them, then I'd be stuck with a bunch of useless files. Wouldn't be the first time.... Steve!
I've only been using Mac for about 12 years but have not lost any files due to format change ... was worried about applework files when iWork came out ... was very vocal and unhappy at first, especially since Pages was not free like appleworks, missed database as well, but I have to say ... Iwork, when you get used to it , at least for me, really rocks... still miss database 'tho ... still on tiger so can't use Bento. I'm going to upgrade to SL soon so then I'll get Bento . Specifically, what format change are you worried about?
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Old 09-29-2009, 03:20 AM   #11
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My only gripe with iWork is I wish they would support OASIS formats. The rest is just brilliant and frictionless.
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Old 09-29-2009, 05:36 AM   #12
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Been using iWork.com lately. Very useful. Seems to be rather underrated, though.
How does it come in handy? I haven't really touched iWork.com since it came out (due to a lack of editing features) so am interested to hear from someone who finds it useful.
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Old 09-29-2009, 06:16 AM   #13
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I just downloaded the trial from Apple, I'm looking to get out of MS Office. I hope this is as good as the reviews I've been reading.
I have Word installed as well but work almost exclusively with Pages. Having EndNote computability is huge for me - a deal maker really in the sciences. Of course, it is still early days. Numbers is only useful for the most basic tasks. Try parsing input files, hopeless but full of promise. (Mathematica for serious math work.)

iWork is worth the effort in my opinion.

All the best.


Where are we on the curve? We'll know once it goes asymptotic!
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Old 09-29-2009, 07:17 AM   #14
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First time I used iWork was to edit a Word doc that someone had sent me. It didn't go very well. Pages opened the doc and it looked more or less like it did in Word, but there were a lot of minor formatting differences. I decided to carry on and fix the formatting as needed, especially as in this case the precise formatting was not critical. Once I was done I needed to convert the document back to Word to send it back to the person who had sent it to me. That's where it all went horribly wrong. The resulting Word doc was 6 pages long instead of 4 and the layout of the paragraphs and page breaks was completely wrong. What's more, the formatting was messed up in such a way that it was pretty much unrecoverable, even by editing directly in Word. In the end what I e-mailed back was a PDF which fortunately was acceptable.

Apple tout the total compatibility with MS Office as one of the features of iWork but my experience shows that the Office compatibility is very limited. The content will import and you'll get some of the formatting, but beyond that it's very hit and miss. If you need to edit Office documents that need to stay in their Office format for sending to others then iWork compatibility is totally unacceptable and there's no substiture for Office itself unfortunately.

I'd really like to get rid of Office on my Mac but since most of the documents I edit are Office docs, and need to stay that way, I don't have any choice unles Apple dramatically improve their Office compatibility.
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Old 09-29-2009, 07:22 AM   #15
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First time I used iWork was to edit a Word doc that someone had sent me. It didn't go very well. Pages opened the doc and it looked more or less like it did in Word, but there were a lot of minor formatting differences. I decided to carry on and fix the formatting as needed, especially as in this case the precise formatting was not critical. Once I was done I needed to convert the document back to Word to send it back to the person who had sent it to me. That's where it all went horribly wrong. The resulting Word doc was 6 pages long instead of 4 and the layout of the paragraphs and page breaks was completely wrong. What's more, the formatting was messed up in such a way that it was pretty much unrecoverable, even by editing directly in Word. In the end what I e-mailed back was a PDF which fortunately was acceptable.

Apple tout the total compatibility with MS Office as one of the features of iWork but my experience shows that the Office compatibility is very limited. The content will import and you'll get some of the formatting, but beyond that it's very hit and miss. If you need to edit Office documents that need to stay in their Office format for sending to others then iWork compatibility is totally unacceptable and there's no substiture for Office itself unfortunately.

I'd really like to get rid of Office on my Mac but since most of the documents I edit are Office docs, and need to stay that way, I don't have any choice unles Apple dramatically improve their Office compatibility.
Which version of Pages were you using? Compatibility has improved markedly with '09 (version 4.0.2) in my understanding.


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Old 09-29-2009, 07:40 AM   #16
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Word for Word

The person above who recommends Word for editing Word documents, despite a preferences for Pages is correct, at least in my opinion.

I prefer working in Pages too. But when you edit in Pages a document that originates in Word, things can sometimes get muddled in things like footnotes, or the use of graphics within tables.

Some clients as me to prepare documents based on their seriously over-baked Word power-templates. If I pull those templates into Pages, edit, then return to Word for delivery, some things get lost in translation. I don't always have the time to make the fixes.

Tom
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Old 09-29-2009, 08:15 AM   #17
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How does it come in handy? I haven't really touched iWork.com since it came out (due to a lack of editing features) so am interested to hear from someone who finds it useful.
With over 40 years writing ad copy, business and marketing plans, education programmes, etc., as a copy writer, author, editor, management consultant, etc., and owner operator of a advertising agency, the last thing I have learned never to do was to allow another to personally modify my master electronic file or vice versa.

In the old days, we would send a hard copy to management/client/editors and they would mark up the document, delete/add copy and make recommendations. It was up to me to take none to all the suggestions. Obviously, the higher the hierarchy, the more importance the directions were to be taken, but often with further discussions.

When computers came on board, a lot tried to circumvent and shortcut the process. Unfortunately, a significant number of changes were made to documents without consideration, in error and with dire consequences.

As such, we found that those who initiated the documents were in a better position to take the marked up copy and revise is as necessary. Send it back in circulation. And repeat the process as necessary. A process that I use with iWork.com.

The major issue with letting somebody take another's document and make changes unilaterally is that there is no record or assurance that all the necessary changes in the manuscript have been incorporated properly. Many times, I would hear, "why wasn't this changed made? to "I made the change and somebody else must have reversed it."

There is nothing that I have found that is better than a hard copy, history of the editing process and a signed off signature. Of course it all depends on your job and how important it is to your future.

I use iwork.com and I love the convenience. Others can make notes, they can be discussed immediately, clients can output a copy in Word if they prefer. Certainly, I make certain that everybody understands that formatting may change and that is why they are to use the PDF as a formatting guide. They can edit in Word, but a much simpler method is to use notations. A lot of times, changes are made because the reader misunderstands the content or the writer misunderstands the commentator. In that case, a rewrite to clarify the content may suffice. Often though, the reader may have just simply read it wrong.

In addition, sending a document that allows others to see the recommended changes often reverses suggestions that others have made. Even a boss's.


Last edited by Abster2core; 09-29-2009 at 08:27 AM..
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Old 09-29-2009, 08:21 AM   #18
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iWork Beta Cloud is now working after the update w/Snow - yea! But...

iWork Beta Cloud is now working after the update w/Snow - yea! But...does it bother anyone else (that is a mobileme user) that there is this iWork beta.com and mobileme/idisk? I mean how many interfaces do we need from apple to share things? And when are they going to fix idisk syncing of large files? Kinda crazy if you ask me


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Old 09-29-2009, 09:36 AM   #19
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and still NO Auto-Save!!!!

Brilliant.. an entire, supposedly superior office suite that lacks the most basic and fundamental feature of all! NO Autosave.. what does it takes to Apple to simply correct this mistake?!
this is absurd. it's a fourth iteration software and they missed this despite the irate customers at apple discussion foruns saying that they've discovered this the very hard way! (me included...)
hoped they would correct with this update. apparently the all mighty Apple developers stand high on they horses to look at us the peasants that buy& use their software...
and yes, very much pissed off on this.
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Old 09-29-2009, 09:42 AM   #20
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Originally Posted by lordjeremias View Post
Brilliant.. an entire, supposedly superior office suite that lacks the most basic and fundamental feature of all! NO Autosave.. what does it takes to Apple to simply correct this mistake?!
this is absurd. it's a fourth iteration software and they missed this despite the irate customers at apple discussion foruns saying that they've discovered this the very hard way! (me included...)
hoped they would correct with this update. apparently the all mighty Apple developers stand high on they horses to look at us the peasants that buy& use their software...
and yes, very much pissed off on this.
So, automatic backups aren't enough then?


Where are we on the curve? We'll know once it goes asymptotic!
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Old 09-29-2009, 09:51 AM   #21
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So, automatic backups aren't enough then?
errr.. no!? firts automatic updates are hourly based. on a hour you could as well just written 20 pages or something, done half of a database and programmed a couple of subroutines...
second, not always are we with the timecapsule disk around. mine is at home, i kind of used my macbook in the portable sense of a laptop... let's say, at work /university?
third, i'm a phd candidate, doing phd research and prefer to have my data encrypted. wich means that the timemachine backups are only done when i logout and i'm connected to my backup disck. wich is usually once a week.
again, is it too much to ask for a simple routine of save a backup copy every 5 minutes? wanna compare every office application outthere that doesn't provide this feature?
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Old 09-29-2009, 09:54 AM   #22
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I love iWork. I like the integration with iPhoto and iWeb...everything is pretty much click and drag. It is so clever and a pleasure to work on. My daughter is in Medical school and loves the templates. I'm in real estate and the graphing capabilities just make my reports look fantastic. I never use Office anymore.

Best.
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Old 09-29-2009, 10:24 AM   #23
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The best office productivity suite in the world just got a tad better. Apple, thanks for giving us this absolutely brilliant alternative to Microshit Office Garbage.
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Old 09-29-2009, 10:27 AM   #24
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The person above who recommends Word for editing Word documents, despite a preferences for Pages is correct, at least in my opinion.

I prefer working in Pages too. But when you edit in Pages a document that originates in Word, things can sometimes get muddled in things like footnotes, or the use of graphics within tables.

Some clients as me to prepare documents based on their seriously over-baked Word power-templates. If I pull those templates into Pages, edit, then return to Word for delivery, some things get lost in translation. I don't always have the time to make the fixes.

Tom
While working with Office (Word) files I miss one feature that really annoys me. If I open Word file, I guess I want automatically save it as Word file again, thus plain "Save" should update the original Word document. I hate I have to go to the Export command. Or at least it should be somewhat configurable in Preferences.
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Old 09-29-2009, 10:27 AM   #25
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errr.. no!? firts automatic updates are hourly based. on a hour you could as well just written 20 pages or something, done half of a database and programmed a couple of subroutines...
second, not always are we with the timecapsule disk around. mine is at home, i kind of used my macbook in the portable sense of a laptop... let's say, at work /university?
third, i'm a phd candidate, doing phd research and prefer to have my data encrypted. wich means that the timemachine backups are only done when i logout and i'm connected to my backup disck. wich is usually once a week.
again, is it too much to ask for a simple routine of save a backup copy every 5 minutes? wanna compare every office application outthere that doesn't provide this feature?
Okay, so the backups are produced/updated only when saving your work. It would be useful to have it save a copy more often. I have been in the habit for a long time of saving regularly, almost sub-consciously. What's your PhD in?


Where are we on the curve? We'll know once it goes asymptotic!
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Old 09-29-2009, 10:28 AM   #26
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Originally Posted by lordjeremias View Post
Brilliant.. an entire, supposedly superior office suite that lacks the most basic and fundamental feature of all! NO Autosave.. what does it takes to Apple to simply correct this mistake?!
this is absurd. it's a fourth iteration software and they missed this despite the irate customers at apple discussion foruns saying that they've discovered this the very hard way! (me included...)
hoped they would correct with this update. apparently the all mighty Apple developers stand high on they horses to look at us the peasants that buy& use their software...
and yes, very much pissed off on this.
Autosave is one of the worst features anybody could incorporate on a universal basis.

Years ago when Word first introduced the feature, the rants were prolific. Save is like Trashing. Get in the habit of doing it routinely and purposely or not at all.

Bet most here never used "Versions…" in Word 2004. Doesn't appear that it is available in 2008.

If you really need it, create an script with Applescript or Automator setting it to automatically save a backup version of the document each time it runs.

Certainly, your rant is not necessary or certainly nothing to get pissed off about.
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Old 09-29-2009, 10:40 AM   #27
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yea, iWork rocks unless you have to work with clients with MS office. But personally, I still muddle through with both iWork and Office 2007/8 to get that work done. If only the world had gone the other way...
BTW, has anyone figured out how to get margins in keynote handouts 3/4 up? The prints from that leave no margins even though set in the printer setup. Maddening and well documented bug!


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Last edited by Phoenixstudios; 09-29-2009 at 10:44 AM.. Reason: Maddening and well documented bug!
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Old 09-29-2009, 11:41 AM   #28
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errr.. no!? firts automatic updates are hourly based. on a hour you could as well just written 20 pages or something, done half of a database and programmed a couple of subroutines...
second, not always are we with the timecapsule disk around. mine is at home, i kind of used my macbook in the portable sense of a laptop... let's say, at work /university?
third, i'm a phd candidate, doing phd research and prefer to have my data encrypted. wich means that the timemachine backups are only done when i logout and i'm connected to my backup disck. wich is usually once a week.
again, is it too much to ask for a simple routine of save a backup copy every 5 minutes? wanna compare every office application outthere that doesn't provide this feature?
Personally, I hope autosave is never introduced, or I'd probably turn it off. I hit Command-S every few minutes without even thinking about it if I'm working on a large document in Pages, etc. There have been times where I realized that I needed to go back in time a few minutes, undoing a lot of changes, and I could just close the file without saving. I've never once been burned by not having autosave, and I work in iWork a LOT.

Just my opinion. I'm sure we could find a ton of users on either side of this issue.


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Old 09-29-2009, 01:16 PM   #29
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Which version of Pages were you using? Compatibility has improved markedly with '09 (version 4.0.2) in my understanding.
Definitely the '09 version, although not sure which n.n.n version it is.
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Old 09-29-2009, 01:37 PM   #30
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First time I used iWork was to edit a Word doc that someone had sent me. It didn't go very well. Pages opened the doc and it looked more or less like it did in Word, but there were a lot of minor formatting differences.
This is inevitable, unless you are using the same version of Word on the same platform with identical fonts, if only because the Word format is proprietary and the best anyone else can manage is reverse-engineering, which is always going to be an imperfect process. That's a lot of built-in limitations right from the get-go.

Also, I am willing to wager that the original Word document you received was a formatting disaster. I have rarely seen a Word document that wasn't a complete mess, with all of the fonts and paragraph setting applied manually instead of consistently with paragraph and font styles. Almost nobody seems to know how this is done is Word. It's much easier in Pages.

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With over 40 years writing ad copy, business and marketing plans, education programmes, etc., as a copy writer, author, editor, management consultant, etc., and owner operator of a advertising agency, the last thing I have learned never to do was to allow another to personally modify my master electronic file or vice versa.
Absolutely! I have never understood the attraction of "collaborating" on documents by sending them to others and having them edit them directly. In all cases where I have been involved, someone has the responsibility for the final document production. Serial editing just does not work, IMO, and its value has little/nothing to do with file formats, etc. It's just a bad idea!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brainless View Post
While working with Office (Word) files I miss one feature that really annoys me. If I open Word file, I guess I want automatically save it as Word file again, thus plain "Save" should update the original Word document. I hate I have to go to the Export command. Or at least it should be somewhat configurable in Preferences.
This can't be done, and should not be done. Pages is not a Word clone (and thank Apple for that) so like every other application it requires a native file format to store it unique features.


What have you done with...
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Old 09-29-2009, 02:49 PM   #31
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I've only been using Mac for about 12 years but have not lost any files due to format change ... was worried about applework files when iWork came out ... was very vocal and unhappy at first, especially since Pages was not free like appleworks, missed database as well, but I have to say ... Iwork, when you get used to it , at least for me, really rocks... still miss database 'tho ... still on tiger so can't use Bento. I'm going to upgrade to SL soon so then I'll get Bento . Specifically, what format change are you worried about?
It's not a "format change" I worry about. It's Apple's habit of crafting interesting, easy to use software then "offing" it with no warning leaving folks who got a workflow going stumbling in the dark looking for solutions. I foresee the day (possibly sometime soon) when Steve gets bored with iWork apps and kills the whole kit and kaboodle.


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Old 09-29-2009, 02:56 PM   #32
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Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post
It's not a "format change" I worry about. It's Apple's habit of crafting interesting, easy to use software then "offing" it with no warning leaving folks who got a workflow going stumbling in the dark looking for solutions. I foresee the day (possibly sometime soon) when Steve gets bored with iWork apps and kills the whole kit and kaboodle.
Such as...? I've been buying and using Apple products for a long time, and can't think of a single instance of the "problem" you are describing.


What have you done with...
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Old 09-29-2009, 04:23 PM   #33
Robodude
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Abster2core that was pretty informative, thanks. I guess that's a lot closer to the 'real world' experience of document editing.
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Old 09-29-2009, 05:25 PM   #34
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Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post

Enhances security with 128-bit SSL encryption and document password protection

This is the feature I WANT on the MobileMe website, at least Mail and Contacts. Then the service will be more secure when using shared or public access computers.
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Old 09-30-2009, 12:34 AM   #35
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Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post
It's not a "format change" I worry about. It's Apple's habit of crafting interesting, easy to use software then "offing" it with no warning leaving folks who got a workflow going stumbling in the dark looking for solutions. I foresee the day (possibly sometime soon) when Steve gets bored with iWork apps and kills the whole kit and kaboodle.
I guess I wasn't clear enough. Specifically, what was the name of the last software that was "offed" with no warning, making your workflow useless? I'm really curious.
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Old 09-30-2009, 07:00 AM   #36
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Originally Posted by newbee View Post
I guess I wasn't clear enough. Specifically, what was the name of the last software that was "offed" with no warning, making your workflow useless? I'm really curious.
I am too. And I have been using Mac's for 25 years now.
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Old 09-30-2009, 08:52 AM   #37
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Originally Posted by technohermit View Post
I just downloaded the trial from Apple, I'm looking to get out of MS Office. I hope this is as good as the reviews I've been reading.
iWork is a very good suite. That being said, its achilles heal is that it cannot be set to save by default in any formats other than the native ones. If you're dealing with word files, you have to save them manually every time and the save dialog does not automatically go to the folder of the original file. As much as I love iWork, this is what lead me to use OpenOffice instead.


"Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking" -Steve Jobs. I guess he forgot to add "unless its mine."
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Old 09-30-2009, 09:08 AM   #38
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Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss View Post
This is inevitable, unless you are using the same version of Word on the same platform with identical fonts, if only because the Word format is proprietary and the best anyone else can manage is reverse-engineering
Not so. The Word format is proprietary, but it is (and always has been) publicly documented by Microsoft here along with all the other Office binary (pre-XML) formats. No reverse engineering required. That's not to say it's easy, but it's certainly possible.

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Also, I am willing to wager that the original Word document you received was a formatting disaster.
That's irrelevant. Pages can either read the Word format properly or not.

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I have rarely seen a Word document that wasn't a complete mess, with all of the fonts and paragraph setting applied manually instead of consistently with paragraph and font styles. Almost nobody seems to know how this is done is Word. It's much easier in Pages.
It's not difficult in Word, but many users never bother to learn how.

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I have never understood the attraction of "collaborating" on documents by sending them to others and having them edit them directly.
In the specific case I mentioned it was my employer sending me a Word "template" where I had to fill in the required information.

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This can't be done, and should not be done. Pages is not a Word clone (and thank Apple for that) so like every other application it requires a native file format to store it unique features.
Rubbish. Pages could easily save Word files as Word files by default, perhaps warning the user if any unique Pages features would be lost by doing this, much the same way that Office handles the editing and saving of files from older versions of Office or other 3rd party formats (eg CSV and RTF). That wouldn't in any way make it a Word clone.


Last edited by michaelab; 09-30-2009 at 09:19 AM..
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Old 09-30-2009, 10:28 AM   #39
Tauron
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Originally Posted by BenRoethig View Post
iWork is a very good suite. That being said, its achilles heal is that it cannot be set to save by default in any formats other than the native ones. If you're dealing with word files, you have to save them manually every time and the save dialog does not automatically go to the folder of the original file. As much as I love iWork, this is what lead me to use OpenOffice instead.
Like many people, I have the misfortune of having to collaborate with people that for sad reasons use Word or OpenOffice. It makes me waste a lot of time cleaning up the Word formatting garbage. That being said I have no problem doing a save as... Word at the end of my review. It is a minor step with a few clicks. I don't see the need to complain about this.
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Old 09-30-2009, 10:35 AM   #40
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Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss View Post
This is inevitable, unless you are using the same version of Word on the same platform with identical fonts, if only because the Word format is proprietary and the best anyone else can manage is reverse-engineering, which is always going to be an imperfect process. That's a lot of built-in limitations right from the get-go.

Also, I am willing to wager that the original Word document you received was a formatting disaster. I have rarely seen a Word document that wasn't a complete mess, with all of the fonts and paragraph setting applied manually instead of consistently with paragraph and font styles. Almost nobody seems to know how this is done is Word. It's much easier in Pages.
That is because Word just doesn't work. The thing is so full of bugs one cannot tell bugs for "working as intended". I remember once that the mere act of pulling an automatic Table of Contents in Word corrupted the entire file, making me waste days. Styles in Word is like asking a police officer to do Calculus. Word is a patched and rotten jumble of rags and loincloths put together with spit. Pages is a Borg Cube.
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