AppleWorks 6.2.7 Update

[MacRumors]

Apple has finally posted (http://www.apple.com/appleworks/update/) the Appleworks 6.2.7 upgrade:

This free update to AppleWorks for Mac OS X provides improvements to the presentation module, AppleScript, web content searching, printing, label printing, table support, and spell checking with user added words. The update provides better recognition and handling of Office 97 and Office 2000 files, improved support for multimedia files in database documents, improved web template downloading over slow internet connections, improved spreadsheet module--including Auto-Calculation, as well as enhanced support for documents which contain links. This version also supports web based templates and clipart on networks using proxy servers.

[rice_web]

I actually saw this story a few days ago..... let me go find it.

[arn]

Originally posted by rice_web
I actually saw this story a few days ago..... let me go find it.

the 6.2.7 version was on Apple's web store for a few days... but the actual download wasn't available.

[robotrenegade]

How does Appleworks compare to Word?

[Doctor Q]

Note: It is a 15MB download and is only for the North American English version of AppleWorks.

They also posted AppleWorks 6.2.5 for Mac OS 8/9:This free update to AppleWorks for Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9 provides improvements to spreadsheet Auto-Calculation as well as improved support for multimedia files in database documents.and AppleWorks 6.2.1 for Windows:This free update to AppleWorks for Windows provides improvements to spreadsheet Auto-Calculation.

[bretm]

Sounds good to me! Gonna go check it out...

[voicegy]

That's great...but we're so dang "Microslop Word" centric these days, does it matter a whole heck of a lot?

You know, I still open up ClarisWorks 4 when I want to slap together a quick letter and drop in a pic or two? Of course, then I have to copy and paste it in Word so the rest of the world can see it...am I still in the dark ages, or do I just simply appreciate a low-overhead, easy word processing program?:confused:

[reedm007]

I use AppleWorks 6 almost exclusively for all of my word processing. It's not the best, but it deals with graphics really nicely compared to Word's random "wherever-it-wants-it" placement.

The way I share this is by simply printing to PDF. That format has become so pervasive that anyone can take a PDF file, and it guarantees font consistancy, etc. If you're co-authoring a document, you'll have to do it in Word, but for documents you're just aiming to share with others, try the "Print to PDF" button in the Print dialog.

[RBMaraman]

Arn, do I have to remind you to do a search before posting. :) :D

I posted this a little while ago:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?threadid=25156

I was going to submit it, but I just went ahead and posted it in the Software forum.

[sXe]

there's an accounting "project" or whatever you want to call it in the update. so Spymac was kinda right.

[knoxer]

Also note that 6.2.7 for Mac OS X and 6.2.5 for Mac OS 8-9 are both installed by the same updater.

I don't know why they don't give both versions the same version #, since it's the same application. I'm sure it confuses some people to be able to double click the same application (icon) in OS X and OS 9, but open different versions... Although not many people use BOTH OS's any more I guess....

[QCassidy352]

wow, the update downloaded at over 500k/second. Go apple!

[Aciddan]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
Note: It is a 15MB download and is only for the North American English version of AppleWorks.


Take Heed of the Doctor:- I tried to install Appleworks 6 Updater, But there seems to be some difference between the 'US' version and the 'Australian' version I have (ie it said that it needs the 'US' version)

is this simply a regional setting or is there some binary difference between say Australian and/or British (English) versions of Appleworks?

(I would have thought the only differences would be in date formatting and the dictionary - Colour/Color, Realise/Realize etc)

-- Daniel

[stukoch]

(I would have thought the only differences would be in date formatting and the dictionary - Colour/Color, Realise/Realize etc)


Defence/Defense, and then theres the whole aluminum thing...

[tribalogical]

Originally posted by Aciddan
Take Heed of the Doctor:- I tried to install Appleworks 6 Updater, But there seems to be some difference between the 'US' version and the 'Australian' version I have (ie it said that it needs the 'US' version)



I've never been entirely clear on the differences between the US version, and the International English version (which I also have, and this updater won't work on)...

Hoping they'll soon release an Int'l update soon... those usually do follow fairly quickly...

tlc

[MOM]

Hi folks. I'm a long-time Appleworks, Clarisworks, MacDraw user. I just spent a very frustrating day scanning Clarisworks drawing files so that i could provide them as 600dpi tiff documents. The publisher required EPSF files (which Appleworks no longer exports unlike ClarisDraw) or high resolution tiffs. I'm still using OS9. Could someone with an OSX version let me know if the updated version will allow saving tiffs (of the draw documents) in any resolution higher than 72dpi? Also, does the pdf format work well in OSX to save files with clean crisp fonts to be opened in another program? I could then make my drawings in Appleworks and open them up in another program to boost the resolution. However, this doesn't work if if the fonts have already been slaughtered by conversion. I really hate tiffs and jpgs for graphics with writing. Its like going back 15 years to jagged fonts and no laser printers.

Thanks, MOM

[stukoch]

Not sure about dpi but the Appleworks options on saving a TIFF file are as follows...

BTW, I have not applied the update refrenced in this thread.

Depth: Best Depth
B & W
4 Grays
4 Colors
16 Grays
16 Colors
256 Grays
256 Colors
Millions of Colors
Millions of Colors+

There is a checkbox to turn "Little Endian" on/off, not sure what this is.

Compression options are PackBits, or None

Hope this helps,

Stu

[GeeYouEye]

Dang. Still doesn't let you have more than 500 rows in a spreadsheet.

[stukoch]

Originally posted by GeeYouEye
Dang. Still doesn't let you have more than 500 rows in a spreadsheet.

Always has let you...

Format --> Document...

Just type the number of rows you want in the "Rows Down" box.

-Stu

[Doctor Q]

Originally posted by MOM
Could someone with an OSX version let me know if the updated version will allow saving tiffs (of the draw documents) in any resolution higher than 72dpi? Also, does the pdf format work well in OSX to save files with clean crisp fonts to be opened in another program?Sure. anything for Mom.

(1) I put a high-resolution image in an AppleWorks drawing document, saved it as a TIFF (using "Millions of Colors+", which I think means 32-bits plus an 8-bit alpha channel), and then opened it in an image editor. It was 72x72ppi and looked pixelated when I enlarged it. Saving the same document as a PDF and opening it in Preview (the Mac OS X file viewer) let me enlarge it without pixelation, so it retained its resolution.

(2) I put 6-point type in an AppleWorks word-processing document, saved it as a PDF, opened the PDF in Preview, and zoomed way in on the text. It enlarges to perfectly smooth text, no matter how big I make it. So the character is being rendered on the fly, not rasterized.

This is confirmed by Mac OS X Help, which says "Mac OS X creates a "Digital Master" PDF file, which is larger than a typical PDF because the resolution of images in the PDF file are not scaled down. The PDF file also includes each font character used in the document, including characters from the standard 13 fonts."

Happy Mother's day.

[bmeyer]

It still doesn't support the use of a bloody wheel mouse... Or am I smoking crack on this one?

[AllenPSU]

Originally posted by robotrenegade
How does Appleworks compare to Word?

I have both programs installed and pretty much use Word exclusively for text documents.

Word is more powerful, more Windows compatible, and more buggy. The fact that I have to use Word at the office almost forces me into using Word at home but I think I would be fine with Works if I didn't have to deal with taking stuff between work and home.

In case you are wondering why I use both... I have Appleworks for the drawing and painting features.

[achmafooma]

great update I suppose, but... nothing particularly useful to me.

The ONLY THING I really wanted in an AppleWorks update was "Check Spelling As You Type". Considering it's OS-wide, of all companies Apple should be able to implement it into their word processor.

We skipped from 6.2.4 to 6.2.7, and they still haven't put in this feature which is present in nearly all word processing applications - from Word and OpenOffice to TextEdit and freakin' iChat!

Anyway, I need to play around with it some today (in class, of course ;-) so I'm not taking any of my time that isn't already taken) and see if I can find any changes I can really use!

[CrackedButter]

I don't like the fact that you cannot use a wheel mouse with appleworks. It to me makes me feel Appleworks is still 1995 when we HAD to click the up and down arrows.

Yet Safari beta2 supports it wonderfully, even better than mozilla.

Strange.

[zedwards]

Also, from the front Appleworks page (note the added language dictionaries):

AppleWorks 6.2.7 for Mac OS X
This free update provides improvements to the presentation module, spreadsheet module , AppleScript, web searching, printing, label printing, table support and spell checking. The update provides better file handling, English, French, Italian and Spanish spelling dictionaries and other improvements.

[jouster]

For me, the lack of spell check as you type is no big deal.

I can't stand it and always turn it off when i have to use word.

It is distracting, stops the flow that you need to keep writing effectively, and you can go back and check the doc once you're done anyway.

I find that most of the mistakes I make are typos anyway, and it sux to have to stop just to correct minor things that will be corrected anyway.....


just my 0.02

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by achmafooma
The ONLY THING I really wanted in an AppleWorks update was "Check Spelling As You Type". Considering it's OS-wide, of all companies Apple should be able to implement it into their word processor.

Spell checking is "OS-wide" only in Cocoa apps, just as Services, the Font Pane and sheets are only available in Cocoa apps. AppleWorks is little more than a carbonized version of earlier incarnations of Apple/ClarisWorks, and is really showing its age now. It's almost embarrassing for Apple to still be distributing this barely OSX-compliant product. I use it, but I know Apple can do much better -- and I hope they do, very soon.

[Qball]

Any opinions on how Appleworks compares to Thinkfree Office?

[celaurie]

Took them long enough. The updated AppleWorks has been avaliable from the Apple Store for over a week!

[MOM]

Stu and Doctor Q, Thanks for your help!! Your MOM thanks you : )

It looks like the OSX version with the PDF capabilities of OSX help to get around the lack of EPSF export. This still means that to get a high resolution tiff that the PDF has to be opened in another program (graphics converter?) and then saved as a hi-res tiff. Hopefully, this results in better quality text. I've had the same problems with jagged text when importing into MSWord. Years ago it worked great in ClarisDraw to export EPSF and then import the graphic in word. Now importing any of the formats that Appleworks Draw exports results in poor text in the graphics.

I'm doing my best to stay with Appleworks, but the limitations are making me think I need to switch to using Adobe Illustrator or go back to ClarisDraw which can still export EPSF. Too bad, because Appleworks is simple and for my simple needs does most of the job.

I hope the rumors are true and Apple has a real upgrade to Appleworks in the works. I also hope that when it comes out that it can read Appleworks files! I still can't believe that Appleworks won't read ClarisDraw files. Complain as much as you want about MS proprietary file formats, Apple does the same and then doesn't even support them in futre versions!

MOM

[celaurie]

Now that's interesting... this updater is only for North American versions of AppleWorks. I thought we were past all that limited regionalisation stuff?

[phrancpharmD]

Originally posted by robotrenegade
How does Appleworks compare to Word?

I put MS Office on my iBook shortly after acquiring it, but decided to try to use AppleWorks and Keynote instead; I figure, why not go for the whole "switch" enchilada all at once? I never did use any of the advanced Word features so AppleWorks is just fine with me. And I hate and deactivate "check spelling as you type" too; I just wish the 'Works window would automatically open full screen. Also, I avoid any other conflicts by saving as .rtf; people at work use Word and WordPerfect so I don't have to translate for anyone. . .

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by Qball
Any opinions on how Appleworks compares to Thinkfree Office?

I tried ThinkFree Office and found it too slow and the interface too foreign. Nice effort otherwise!

[Doctor Q]

Originally posted by robotrenegade
How does Appleworks compare to Word? You should either compare AppleWorks word-processing to MS Word, or compare AppleWorks as a whole to the combination of Word/Excel/Powerpoint in MS office. For the latter, the AppleWorks advantages are:

* price

* word-processing: simpler and therefore easier to learn

* spreadsheet: no advantages I can think of; I find it unusable without in-cell editing

* drawing: much easier than trying to use Word's drawing tools, which always seem to have a mind of their own; more oriented towards creating drawing documents, instead of presentations, than PowerPoint

* painting: the AppleWorks module isn't fancy, but at least it's a full member of the suite

If you want to compare AppleWorks word processing with Word, feature by feature, you'll find that Word has everything while AppleWorks has the stuff you need most often.

[matznentosh]

I did the upgrade on two different copies of Appleworks 6.2.4 I have. Both now say 6.2.7 in the get info box, but inside the program "About Appleworks" still says 6.2.4. Anyone else see this?

[Snowy_River]

Originally posted by matznentosh
I did the upgrade on two different copies of Appleworks 6.2.4 I have. Both now say 6.2.7 in the get info box, but inside the program "About Appleworks" still says 6.2.4. Anyone else see this?

Nope. My "About Applework" box say 6.2.7.

However, I must say that I'm really not impressed with this. It seems to me, for the amount of time that has gone by since the 6.2.4 upgrade, you'd think they could have managed a little better. The one example I can point to is that, in most apps I work with (both Carbon and Cocoa) when you change a document the close button gets 'dimpled'. This makes it easy to see when a document has been modified. Appleworks still doesn't support this.

Ever since moving to OS X, I've had rather mixed results with Appleworks. I have seen it do things that I'm told it shouldn't be able to do. (Though I've had Apple authorized techs at my local reseller/servicer say that they've seen the same and more from AW). The classic example is having AW crash, and it brings down the Classic environment and any classic apps that are running with it. In general, when I run AW, I try to make sure that I keep Classic shut down, as that seems to improve AW's stability. Go figure...

All of that said, I still prefer AW to MSW. However, not by as much as I used to prefer ClarisWorks. That was a lean, mean program in its day. But I'll be happy when there are more options on the table. (Apple Office, OpenOffice, etc.)

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by Snowy_River
The one example I can point to is that, in most apps I work with (both Carbon and Cocoa) when you change a document the close button gets 'dimpled'.

Take another look and I think you'll find that only Cocoa applications support this behavior.