Apple Releases iWork '06

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Steve Jobs released the newest version of the iWork suite (http://www.apple.com/iwork/), which includes updated versions of both Pages & Keynote. iWork 06 is available immediately (http://www.dailytunes.com/applestore.php) for $79, with a family pack price for up to 5 users of only $99.

New in Both Pages 2 and Keynote 3
- Perform basic spreadsheet-like calculations and formatting in tables.
- Display your data in beautiful three-dimensional charts with life-like textures.
- Add stars, polygons or draw freeform custom shapes with Bézier curves in any document or presentation.
- Mask photos and images with any shape.
- Adjust photos just like you’d adjust them in iPhoto.
- Add comment “stickies” to any document or presentation to capture to-do’s or reminders.

Pages 2
- Start with any one of 66 templates, including 27 new designs.
- Import documents created with AppleWorks or Microsoft Word — from both PC and Mac.
- Export as a cross-platform PDF, Word, HTML, RTF or text-only file.
- Build form letters with drag-and-drop simplicity using your Address Book.

Keynote 3
- Choose from 32 themes, including new HD themes up to 1920x1080 pixels.
- Add gorgeous cinematic transitions, animations, slide builds and more.
- Import presentations created with AppleWorks or Microsoft PowerPoint on from both PC and Mac.
- Export your presentation to PowerPoint, or to iDVD or iPhoto.
- See all your slides at a glance in Light table view and easily reorganize them.

[FoxyKaye]

Kind of a downer, actually. Was hoping for a full-on spreadsheet app.

[Edit] Cool, post 1.

[Edit 2] Also, it's interesting to me that Apple continues to develop iWork even though M$ has announced a minimum 5-year committment.

[nagromme]

Does the FrontRow remote work with Keynote?

[bellis1]

No free upgrade for current iWork users? I was hoping to see it in software update. This is the last time I buy the first version of Apple software ever if this is the case. Apple should pay me $79 just for having to endure the first version of pages. Very disappointed.

[saurus]

No free upgrade for current iWork users? I was hoping to see it in software update. This is the last time I buy the first version of Apple software ever if this is the case. Apple should pay me $79 just for having to endure the first version of pages. Very disappointed.

No kidding, or at least half off! Pages 1 is probably the worst application Apple has ever released as far as usability is concerned. Yeah it's easy to use after you've spent half an hour pulling your hair out trying to do something that should be simple to do. And to date, it's the only app that you MUST read the manual to figure out...

Nope, forget the upgrade. No deal, no sale. :(

[aswitcher]

Kind of a downer, actually. Was hoping for a full-on spreadsheet app.

...
[Edit 2] Also, it's interesting to me that Apple continues to develop iWork even though M$ has announced a minimum 5-year committment.

Yeah, I bet Apple backed off given this committment by M$

[joelwnelson]

System requirements listed are G4 minimum. Wonder if I can still get it to run on my G3 or if it will just give me an error message...

[DakotaGuy]

iWork? Yawn. It seems that Apple has backed off this area with Microsoft giving them a new commitment. Office is a great product and there is no reason that Apple has to compete with everything out there. iWork will be fine as a standard shipping app. with consumer models. Kind of like Appleworks. It is and probably will never be an Office killer. Apple has better things to worry about right now.

[Project]

No kidding, or at least half off! Pages 1 is probably the worst application Apple has ever released as far as usability is concerned. Yeah it's easy to use after you've spent half an hour pulling your hair out trying to do something that should be simple to do. And to date, it's the only app that you MUST read the manual to figure out...

Nope, forget the upgrade. No deal, no sale. :(

You seriously think its the worst Apple app ever? Earlier iPhotos spring to mind. Even FCP 1.0. I love Pages, and cant wait to get my greasy fingers on 2.0

Whatever happened to Numbers though?

[TopCatz]

Woohoo! A full priced update for more themes! And 3D charts! And polygons!
Just what I was waiting for.. just part of what surely must have been the lamest MWSF Keynote for years.

[fitinferno]

No kidding, or at least half off! Pages 1 is probably the worst application Apple has ever released as far as usability is concerned. Yeah it's easy to use after you've spent half an hour pulling your hair out trying to do something that should be simple to do. And to date, it's the only app that you MUST read the manual to figure out...

Nope, forget the upgrade. No deal, no sale. :(

I agree...Pages is alright, but leaves much to be desired. And Keynote, at least for me, would not stop crashing! I definitely wanted at least a $25 discount.

And no spreadsheet (i.e. standalone app) yet finalises the decision not to upgrade.

[~Shard~]

Interesting move on Apple’s part to include basic spreadsheet functionality into Pages and Keynote as opposed to developing a standalone application instead. I guess thins follows the Apple mentality of seamlessly integrating everything with itself, but it will be interesting to read the first user reviews of this functionality to see if it is indeed as slick as Jobs makes it out to be.

[Ashapalan]

i still think for now that office is best suited to me,
its just excel.

keynote i much prefer to powerpoint.

but excel i need.

[~Shard~]

The update to Pages seems less than stellar, but some updates are better than no updates at all! ;) There definitely doesn’t appear to be any groundbreaking new major features though...

As for Keynote, the new HD themes and transitions looks impressive, so this update definitely gets my thumbs up.

On the whole, some solid improvements to the iWork suite in my opinion, however I still don’t think I’ll be shelling out any money for it, and will just be sticking with Office v.X for now – at least until iWork ’07 comes out, then I’ll reevaluate things. ;)

[Platform]

Nice update but I won't be upgrading I think...I have 05 and Office 2004 :p

Very good still, but where is numbers :confused:

[~Shard~]

Very good still, but where is numbers :confused:

Yeah, I found it interesting that Apple decided to integrate basic spreadsheet functionality into Pages and Keynote asd opposed to developing a separate app. It will be interesting to see in the future, if Apple decides to implement further spreadsheet capabilities, whether they will end up developing a separate app or continue integrating it into Pages and Keynote - in my mind, the latter would start making Pages and Keynote bloatware, however if Apple's plan is to develop a separate app eventually, why would they do what they have done here?

[bigandy]

why don't we all just give in and admit it, you buy iWork for Keynote, and keynote alone.

[ddrueckhammer]

Charts are a welcome addition albiet not as good as a separate app would have been. I'm not sure if form letters are a new feature but if they are this is a really good addition. I think this suite will suit most college students quite well but the lack of a spreadsheet app will be a hinderance to professional users. I use Excel for some of my Engineering classes but nothing I can't live without.

It seems like Apple could add a scaled down/simplified version of Filemaker to fill-in the gap of a database/spreadsheet app...

[MacFan782040]

In Jobs We Trust.

[Vanilla]

why don't we all just give in and admit it, you buy iWork for Keynote, and keynote alone.

I completely agree, this is EXACTLY the way to think of it. Pages is simply a bonus.

Vanilla

[spade]

I buy iWork for Keynote, but Pages is fun sometimes for quick page layouts. It beats me paying Adobe cash for InDesign, not to say that Pages equals that program, but for my needs it's fine. I love Keynote!

[maya]

Was never really interested in the first iWork suite, however I will reserve judgement till I give it a try. :)

[jackc]

Free trials only for new macs? That sucks, I'd like to try out Pages.

[jsalzer]

Oh no! A G4 and 32 MB Video RAM? I feel like my poor little Pismo (with its G3 and 8MB) is being pushed out!

Here's hoping it's a "I'll install and work, but just not do fancy slide transitions in Keynote" requirement, rather than a Toast-like "the installer is going to laugh at you and call you names before quitting on you" requirement. Any insights?

Here's hoping Equation Editor found its way in! (Not that I'm counting on it.)

:) :(

In Steve we trust! In Steve we trust.

[joelwnelson]

Oh no! A G4 and 32 MB Video RAM? I feel like my poor little Pismo (with its G3 and 8MB) is being pushed out!


That's my concern too... although my G3 has 32MB VRAM. :rolleyes:

[cwedl]

[Edit 2] Also, it's interesting to me that Apple continues to develop iWork even though M$ has announced a minimum 5-year committment.

I think that my not releasing a new app i.e. "numbers" shows that apple is not trying to be a M$ office killer.

[Tymmz]

iWeb looks really nice!

In combination with all the other apps - great!

[JW Pepper]

What are they thinking of? I would really like to try Pages 2. Pages 1 looked good but it was really difficult to use and had some shortfalls. I am really disappointed that the new mail-merge function seemingly only works with addressbook. I would really like it to work with databases, csv or Excel or .merge formats. Does apple think I really want to import a database into Address Book just to do a mailmerge, that's brainless.

If you like the concept of Pages can I suggest that you try the little known Swift Publisher (http://www.belightsoft.com/products/swiftpublisher/overview.php) It really is excellent as intuitive.

[bbyrdhouse]

Ordered mine already. I have grown to love Pages. I use it for so many things. One feature that I hope that they added is an automatic save feature where you can set it up to save every so many minutes. The other features that they have added will be icing on the cake! Good job Apple!:D :D

[bbyrdhouse]

....If you like the concept of Pages can I suggest that you try the little known Swift Publisher (http://www.belightsoft.com/products/swiftpublisher/overview.php) It really is excellent as intuitive.

I recently purchased Swift Publisher (about 3 to 4 months back) and it is a great program with tons of potential. I use it often as well, and it has some features that Pages does not. The reason that I find myself using Pages more often is because Pages seems to be always open on my desktop and I just navigate to it right away rather than open up another app.

I really think that the next release of SwiftPub will be phenominal and become a major Publishing app for Mac platform. It needs to add a couple of more export options, add the ability to create tables.

[JW Pepper]

I recently purchased Swift Publisher (about 3 to 4 months back) and it is a great program with tons of potential. I use it often as well, and it has some features that Pages does not. The reason that I find myself using Pages more often is because Pages seems to be always open on my desktop and I just navigate to it right away rather than open up another app.

I really think that the next release of SwiftPub will be phenominal and become a major Publishing app for Mac platform. It needs to add a couple of more export options, add the ability to create tables.

And Mail-Merge!

[bbyrdhouse]

And Mail-Merge!
Yes, I agree. I used Microsoft Publisher for about 10 years and the switch to Mac left me looking for a replacement (Indesign and Quark are WAY to much over kill for me) and I was so glad to have come across SwiftPub. In my opinion it is one good release from surpassing MSPub in all areas.

[~Shard~]

I think that my not releasing a new app i.e. "numbers" shows that apple is not trying to be a M$ office killer.

I agree. Plus, Apple would be foolish to try and take on Excel, as in my opinion it is the strongest of the Office apps.

Oh, and if you're going to try and be clever and type the much overused "M$", you might as well start typing "App£e" as well, as they're no different. :p :cool:

[Spinnetti]

No free upgrade for current iWork users? I was hoping to see it in software update. This is the last time I buy the first version of Apple software ever if this is the case. Apple should pay me $79 just for having to endure the first version of pages. Very disappointed.

I'm with you on that one.. I loved the concept, paid the money, then got left out in the cold with a worthless app (Pages).. Now they upgrade and still leave it half finished and want to charge me the full price again? (same with iPhoto etc..)

[emutree]

I bought iWork '05 last year just because the price with edu discount (it was $50 Cdn for a day because of a typo) made it too good to turn down. Unlike almost every Mac user out there, I've fallen in love with Pages over the year and it is now my go-to app for printing pretty much anything with photos and text - it really is easy to make stuff come out looking stellar.
That said, I was hoping for a major upgrade this year, when all Apple's seemed to have added are new templates and (dare I say ugly) 3D charts. I reluctantly upgraded just because I really do put Pages through it's paces and I'm hoping some of Pages' rough edges have been massaged in the newer version. That said, I am disappointed that Apple did not give iWork the same amount of love that went into iLife. It seems they're targeting brand new users with it rather than those of us who bought it last year.

[kretzy]

I have to say I wasn't all that impressed with the charts Steve used in the Keynote - they looked kinda tacky - woodgrain and marble were so 90s word art style.

[Zatko]

I've always hated word processors and almost never used them.

One day I was asked by a company who I develop websites for if I could "make a version of the website in a different format". I decided to try the Pages demo I had on my new Mac... whipped up a nice lookin doc, put it in PDF... looked super fine and has since generated alot of extra cash for me.

It is not perfect... has some bugs that bit me on a few occassions and its PDF export doesn't look exactly the same in acrobat... shadows and transparencies are pretty much nonexistent.

Hopefully Pages 2 fixes these.

[MacIke]

Well this is a really stinky update. I cannot belive this really qualifies as a 'new' version.

I want numbers.

[Kirbdog]

Unlike almost every Mac user out there, I've fallen in love with Pages over the year and it is now my go-to app for printing pretty much anything with photos and text - it really is easy to make stuff come out looking stellar.
I agree, I really like the simplicity of Pages and have used it for all my school papers and for a newsletter at work. I like the way photos and text easily come together. Version 1 was not perfect but ver. 2 looks better.
I simply cannot use Indesign as good as people that use it all the time, it ends up taking me twice as long.

Does anyone know if you can use the IR remote on the intel macs to run Keynote presentations? If not I am sure someone will hack it:)
Bless the hackers, each and everyone of you.

[digitalbiker]

No kidding, or at least half off! Pages 1 is probably the worst application Apple has ever released as far as usability is concerned. Yeah it's easy to use after you've spent half an hour pulling your hair out trying to do something that should be simple to do. And to date, it's the only app that you MUST read the manual to figure out...

Nope, forget the upgrade. No deal, no sale. :(

Pages SSSUUUCCCKKKS bad!. This is the worst app in the world. Now Apple wants me to waste another $79.00 on Pages 2 without an upgrade option. HAAHAHHAAHAAAHHAAAAAHAA
:eek:

Forget It!

Don't even get me started on Pages. I have a 100 page document with a small jpeg and a table of text on each page. It took me years to create. This piece of cra@p software can't handle *****. It literally takes 25 minutes for the document to open. I am using a PB 1.67 Ghz G4 with 7200 rpm drive, 1 GB ram, ATI 9700 and it takes 25 minutes to open.

Apple you need to pay me $79.00 to work with your crappy office suite.

Keynote is OK. Even good. Almost as complete as PowerPoint only prettier.

[gog]

Well this is a really stinky update. I cannot belive this really qualifies as a 'new' version.

I want numbers.

Agreed. For god's sake give us an apple spreadsheet! And a simple apple database and money app for that matter!
I smell a rat... I suspect microsoft's "deal in which no money changed hands" with apple may have something to do with the "stinkiness": see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10794396/from/RS.3/#storyContinued

[JW Pepper]

Agreed. For god's sake give us an apple spreadsheet! And a simple apple database and money app for that matter!
I smell a rat... I suspect Microsoft's "deal in which no money changed hands" with apple may have something to do with the "stinkiness": see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10794396/from/RS.3/#storyContinued

I think Apple's spreadsheet is ready, clearly it exists in basic form in Pages2, it seem obvious that Apple is more scared of cheesing off Microsoft than it is Adobe.

[IJ Reilly]

Pages SSSUUUCCCKKKS bad!. This is the worst app in the world. Now Apple wants me to waste another $79.00 on Pages 2 without an upgrade option. HAAHAHHAAHAAAHHAAAAAHAA
:eek:

Forget It!

Don't even get me started on Pages. I have a 100 page document with a small jpeg and a table of text on each page. It took me years to create. This piece of cra@p software can't handle *****. It literally takes 25 minutes for the document to open. I am using a PB 1.67 Ghz G4 with 7200 rpm drive, 1 GB ram, ATI 9700 and it takes 25 minutes to open.

Apple you need to pay me $79.00 to work with your crappy office suite.

Keynote is OK. Even good. Almost as complete as PowerPoint only prettier.

Pages works great for me, on three much older, slower Macs. What are you doing wrong, I wonder?

[miloblithe]

Pages seems nice as cheap layout software, but poor as a word processor. I wouldn't want to use it to write a paper, but doing anything with graphics in Word is intolerable.

[arn]

I'd like to please ask people to take some time to contribute to the Guide pages on these new products.

MacBook Pro
iWork '06
iLife '06
Intel iMac

These pages are editable by anyone.

[cwedl]

I think Apple's spreadsheet is ready, clearly it exists in basic form in Pages2, it seem obvious that Apple is more scared of cheesing off Microsoft than it is Adobe.


I'd love to see what the contract between apple and Microsoft said, probably in simple terms.... you can't add an excel killer program to iLife and we will them continue to bring mac office out.

I'm disappointed with the iLife update, its seems to me they only added some more animations that look amazing, those ugly 3-d charts (marble effect! for heavens sake! I thought I left that when switching from windows!). They still need to do more work on it before I will consider to upgrade, I do use keynote! not pages. There are still things in powerpoint that are not in keynote and that really need to be in keynote! i.e. more than 1 bullet point group on a slide to name one minor one!

I will upgrade only when I buy an intel mac, i.e. macbook pro rev.b. and want it to be fast!

[odedia]

Checkout the web page for iWork quicktour. Looks like the site had too many updates for one day, and something got left behind. Either that, or iWork records podcasts... :)

[JW Pepper]

Checkout the web page for iWork quicktour. Looks like the site had too many updates for one day, and something got left behind. Either that, or iWork records podcasts... :)

No there is nothing wrong, it just takes forever to load, it is quite a big quicktime file and it is not streamed so it does not start until the download is finished and there is no progress bar!

[odedia]

JW Pepper, I wasn't reffering to the quicktime movie, i was reffering to the content of the iWork overview to the left. look again.

[illegalprelude]

meh. no point to upgrade. iWorks 05 is doing it just fine for me right now. Its nice for whoever dosent have it but its not offering much for me to wanna go buy it again

[dogsbody]

Does the FrontRow remote work with Keynote?

From Apple Site:-

Under Your Thumb
The Apple Remote features a minimalist six buttons. Press menu to activate Front Row and the standard transport to navigate through your media. You can even use the remote to control Keynote presentations in the all new iWork ’06.

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/frontrow.html

[jsalzer]

Pages works great for me, on three much older, slower Macs. What are you doing wrong, I wonder?

I doubt he's doing anything wrong. I use Pages for a lot of things (and love it), but I quickly dropped the idea of doing any real Table work in it. For some odd reason, the use of (large) tables drags down the system. I have no trouble believing his 25 minutes estimate.

That said - I'm a firm believer in using the right tool for the right job. Pages is the right tool for a lot of jobs. It's obviously not the right tool for a 100 page document full of tables. He probably should have moved on to something else much earlier in the process. But, I'm sure he had his reasons for sticking it out. Perhaps Pages 2 will fix the issue.

[aafuss1]

The HD themes are to me, a nice addition. Shame, that Apple didn't include a dedicated spreadsheet or database.

[Passante]

Any idea if Keynote does handouts better? Getting a powerpoint like handout from Keynote is a royal pain.

[~Shard~]

The HD themes are to me, a nice addition. Shame, that Apple didn't include a dedicated spreadsheet or database.

It will be interesting to see if they do develop a standalone app for spreadsheets in the future, or if they will continue to incorporate functionality into the existing apps. At some point, I would get concerned about Pages and Keynote becoming bloatware, for lack of a better term, due to all the spreadsheet code in them. So if Apple did indeed develop a standalone app for spreadsheets, would they then remove that functionality from Pages and Keynote which they just put in? It will be interesting to see how the suite develops over the next couple of years...

[Epicurus]

From Apple Site:-

Under Your Thumb
The Apple Remote features a minimalist six buttons. Press menu to activate Front Row and the standard transport to navigate through your media. You can even use the remote to control Keynote presentations in the all new iWork ’06.


So Front Row and the Apple Remote, even using the Remote for Keynote, are all features that trickle down together. I really don't see an IR accessory to give Front Row/Remote features to older, PowerPC Macs, coming any time soon.

Keynote themes are nice, 3D graphs and functions are good too. Keynote 2 was and is great for almost everything I need. Short of streamlining iPod integration for Keynote on the go, what more are we really expecting?

Upgrade prices of $39 for iWork '05 users would be really nice...

[MacIke]

I do not know about you.... I am hoping that Appleworks will be made into an dual binary program.

I own iwork 05 and use Keynote all the time. However, for all my word processing i still use APPLEWORKS.

[IJ Reilly]

I doubt he's doing anything wrong. I use Pages for a lot of things (and love it), but I quickly dropped the idea of doing any real Table work in it. For some odd reason, the use of (large) tables drags down the system. I have no trouble believing his 25 minutes estimate.

That said - I'm a firm believer in using the right tool for the right job. Pages is the right tool for a lot of jobs. It's obviously not the right tool for a 100 page document full of tables. He probably should have moved on to something else much earlier in the process. But, I'm sure he had his reasons for sticking it out. Perhaps Pages 2 will fix the issue.

Table-handling in 1.0 does leave something to be desired, but this is one feature that has been improved -- how much we'll see.

Still, I've worked with some pretty long tables in Pages 1.0 without anything like the kind of performance hit being suggested.

[IJ Reilly]

Pages seems nice as cheap layout software, but poor as a word processor. I wouldn't want to use it to write a paper, but doing anything with graphics in Word is intolerable.

I had little discussion with one of the Apple reps about the way Pages is perceived by Mac users. I told him that Apple is making a marketing mistake by essentially advertising Pages as an entry-level DTP application instead of as a word processor with nice graphics handling capabilities. I think it is far more the latter than the former. Once you discover the powerful style sheet and template creation capabilities of Pages, I think you will change your mind about it being a "poor word processor." I've been using it for a year now, for all of my work, and I'd call it a very good word processor -- with a few reservations, one of the best I've ever used. It's kind of painful to hear Mac users dis Pages when they probably haven't really spent the time with it required to draw complete conclusions, and especially to hear recommendations for sticking with that great ball of fur and duct tape called Word. I blame this in part on Apple -- they do need to position the product better if it's going to find its audience.

[bbyrdhouse]

Pages SSSUUUCCCKKKS bad!. This is the worst app in the world. Now Apple wants me to waste another $79.00 on Pages 2 without an upgrade option. HAAHAHHAAHAAAHHAAAAAHAA
:eek:

Forget It!

Don't even get me started on Pages. I have a 100 page document with a small jpeg and a table of text on each page. It took me years to create. This piece of cra@p software can't handle *****. It literally takes 25 minutes for the document to open. I am using a PB 1.67 Ghz G4 with 7200 rpm drive, 1 GB ram, ATI 9700 and it takes 25 minutes to open.

Apple you need to pay me $79.00 to work with your crappy office suite.

Keynote is OK. Even good. Almost as complete as PowerPoint only prettier.
What! I have a 300+ page book that I am using Pages for. It has plenty of graphics in it and it only takes a few seconds to open.
Pages really is a good program although the learning curve was a bit steep. Once you figure things out it can do most anything that the High priced apps can do. But as I have said before it really needs an auto save feature. There is nothing worse than spending two hours typing away only to have a Power surge cause my Powermac to go off and then back on. I know, I know I need to get a battery back-up, but dang it, Apple should put an auto save in too.

[jsalzer]

...but dang it, Apple should put an auto save in too.

As long as it can be shut off in the Preferences. Speaking of which, there need to be a lot more preferences. Some of the "default" settings are just strange.

But maybe that's just my fear of hyphenated words. :)

[bbyrdhouse]

As long as it can be shut off in the Preferences. Speaking of which, there need to be a lot more preferences. Some of the "default" settings are just strange.

But maybe that's just my fear of hyphenated words. :)

Agree. Some folks do not like the auto save feature and I don't miss it when I am using my Powerbook.

[jonparadise]

Something funny went on.

I'm not saying that from an informed stand point, just a hunch.

Watching the Keynote yesterday, Steve seemed to become quite moody when very quickly brushing over iWork.

I couldn't decide if he was a bit ashamed that it hadn't been received well, and that the update isn't anything special, or whether he was expecting to be announcing a major upgrade to the software, but prevented from doing so because of new contracts with Microsoft.

Maybe they're developing a full office suite just in case Microsoft does the dirty some time in the future.

[frome]

Ive been using Pages for a year now and it has been brilliant. I have Microsoft Office 2004 and Adobe Indesign but i find that pages is much more suited to what i want. :rolleyes: Pages is much faster with high res photos then word plus it allows you to apply drop dynamic drop shadows and in pages 2, image reflection. I've found the learning curve in InDesign a bit step and not worth the time. Pages is for people who want a basic and cheap version of word which has more style. It is that true that Pages does not have most of the features of word but it suites me much better. I really like the new feature of pages 2 and i think pages 2 and keynote 3 is work the $79 (though i would buy iLife 06' before iWork 06') ;)

[Project]

I had little discussion with one of the Apple reps about the way Pages is perceived by Mac users. I told him that Apple is making a marketing mistake by essentially advertising Pages as an entry-level DTP application instead of as a word processor with nice graphics handling capabilities. I think it is far more the latter than the former. Once you discover the powerful style sheet and template creation capabilities of Pages, I think you will change your mind about it being a "poor word processor." I've been using it for a year now, for all of my work, and I'd call it a very good word processor -- with a few reservations, one of the best I've ever used. It's kind of painful to hear Mac users dis Pages when they probably haven't really spent the time with it required to draw complete conclusions, and especially to hear recommendations for sticking with that great ball of fur and duct tape called Word. I blame this in part on Apple -- they do need to position the product better if it's going to find its audience.

Thank you. I agree 1100%. I LOVE Pages.

[How Goes It]

I scanned most of the responses above REAL FAST.
So if I get anything wrong, please bear with me.

My feelings about iWork 06 --

Sure, I would love an Office killer. But it is quite apparent Apple has no intention of doing so at this point.

Re. the standalone spreadsheet --
I think they made it incorporated, because they want a simple, no brainer product for the masses. When you think about it, Office is 4 or 5 programs (or whatever, depending upon version) with 4 or 5 windows. Appleworks is one program, with ca. 4 or 5 windows (haven't opened it in awhile). Pages is one program, one window, ca. 4 or 5 basic functions.

At least some of us 'jack of all trade' folks out there, who wear many hats and use many programs, like the idea of not having many windows open, when it could all be done in one. Sure the table could likely have more power - but frankly, I am still waiting to get my mitts on this thing and evaluate it.

If all you want is simple spreadsheet - don't use the other parts of the program. But the great thing, is that apparently you will be able to add all kinds of fancy annotations, charts, explanations around the periphery if you want.

I would like a flat file database though, as in Appleworks. Then that thing could be put to rest once and for all.

Re. Keynote - I don't do much presentation. I am my own boss. So I haven't played with this type of thing much - ergo - no comment.

[bbyrdhouse]

Does anyboy know of a forum for those of us who actually like and use Pages. Where we could exchange templates or share ideas and have some "How To's" or should I say "How I Did's"

[gauchogolfer]

Does anyone know if Keynote 3 will support multiple bulleted lists on a page? If you add text fields to Keynote 2, you are not allowed to make those fields bulleted. This is a major shortcoming in my opinion, and one that does not need to exist. Simple enough to fix.....

[bbyrdhouse]

Does anyone know if Keynote 3 will support multiple bulleted lists on a page? If you add text fields to Keynote 2, you are not allowed to make those fields bulleted. This is a major shortcoming in my opinion, and one that does not need to exist. Simple enough to fix.....

I noticed this as well, some time back I put together about an 80 page presentation and the problem you described agrivated me, but at the time I figured out a way to work around it. It's been some time ago so I will have to go dig out the file and see what it was I did.

[yojitani]

I had little discussion with one of the Apple reps about the way Pages is perceived by Mac users. I told him that Apple is making a marketing mistake by essentially advertising Pages as an entry-level DTP application instead of as a word processor with nice graphics handling capabilities. I think it is far more the latter than the former. Once you discover the powerful style sheet and template creation capabilities of Pages, I think you will change your mind about it being a "poor word processor." I've been using it for a year now, for all of my work, and I'd call it a very good word processor -- with a few reservations, one of the best I've ever used. It's kind of painful to hear Mac users dis Pages when they probably haven't really spent the time with it required to draw complete conclusions, and especially to hear recommendations for sticking with that great ball of fur and duct tape called Word. I blame this in part on Apple -- they do need to position the product better if it's going to find its audience.

Spot on! On the apple site, it also says that there is a new endnote function in pages 2. Now this is all I need to use it all the time for word processing. I would like to hear from anyone who buys it, how well the function works and whether it is better than Endnote. I hate Endnote, btw. Word is not a terrible app IMHO, but it cannot handle images very well and the templates are ugly for the most part. I've loved the template in pages - and learnt a lot about fonts in the process. If only I could download a pages 2 trial...

YOJ
P.s. Like the 'Dunces avatar!

[erickg]

Does anyone know if Keynote 3 will support multiple bulleted lists on a page? If you add text fields to Keynote 2, you are not allowed to make those fields bulleted. This is a major shortcoming in my opinion, and one that does not need to exist. Simple enough to fix.....

Seems like it does, browsed a bit through the Keynote 3 user guide (at http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Keynote_3_User_Guide.pdf) and on page 16 at the bottom under new features it says that it supports bullets in multiple text boxes. Should be more detailed info in the document, but I'm too lazy to browse through the whole thing. :)

[gauchogolfer]

Thanks for the quick response...I'll head on over to the manual now! That was about my only complaint for the last version vs. Powerpoint, now I think I'll have to upgrade ;)

EDIT: Of course I mean upgrade from Keynote 2 to 3...PPT is a thing of the past for me.

[erickg]

Thanks for the quick response...I'll head on over to the manual now! That was about my only complaint for the last version vs. Powerpoint, now I think I'll have to upgrade ;)

EDIT: Of course I mean upgrade from Keynote 2 to 3...PPT is a thing of the past for me.

Yeah, I know what you mean. This was really my main issue with Keynote as well. Seems they've added a lot of other nice features with this update as well. With my student discount and Apple offering free shipping, it may be worth it for Keynote alone.

Edit: This manual for Pages might also be interesting, http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Pages_2_User_Guide.pdf. It's so nice that the manuals are so detailed. Gives you a good idea what the apps will be like.

[gauchogolfer]

$49 for iWork 06 is a pretty sweet deal. Any idea if I can just pay for a license and get the DVD from a colleague at my university? This would cut down on my wait time :D .
I'm looking forward to using some new transitions in my presentations, as my research group is getting jaded by the cube and paper flip. Keep 'em coming, Apple.

To create a free text box:
1 Click Text in the toolbar (or choose Insert > Text).
2 In the text box that appears, double-click the text and type.
Note: You can add bullets to paragraphs in free text boxes. To create formatted bullets
(in which all text aligns and the bullet “hangs”), you use the Bullets pane of the Text
Inspector. For details, see “Formatting Bulleted Text and Numbered Lists” on page 46.

[gauchogolfer]

Does anyone know if Apple will make the new themes available to older versions of iWork, or as an exclusive perhaps to .Mac subscribers? It might be an interesting value-add for .Mac to have some other transition effects as well. As a corollary to this, are there any Keynote template resources from third-parties?

I'd also like to see better outline/handout printing, as right now it's a bit weak.

[How Goes It]

Re. additional templates for iWork ---

There is a site, limited as it may be, where individuals can upload and download templates --

http://www.iworkcommunity.com/

[gauchogolfer]

Looks like a good start for me...Pages too:)

[jonparadise]

Well, my new version of iWork is installed, and I am quite impressed.

I can't comment on Keynote much as I don't really use it, but my partner who does, says there are quite a few improvements.

With regards to Pages, it does seem a much 'rounder' App now. I'm very happy to have the Mail Merge feature at last.

It does seem snappier, and the new basic spreadsheet stuff is very easy to use. I did notice that the Tab for the spreadsheet is actually called 'Numbers', is this what Apple wanted all along?

All in all, I think if you already have iWork, and use it, the upgrade is worth it. If you don't, it's now worth a look at.

[jsalzer]

I got my package from Apple yesterday!

The good news:

a) iWork will install on my Pismo, as before, with certain features disabled.
b) The "reflection" option is cool.

The bad news:

a) iLife will now refuse to install on any G3 computers. Even if you break into the package and try to install the apps individually. :(
[Back to iWork]
b) The "reflection" option is not connected to a "perspective" option of any kind. And isn't that when reflections look their coolest?
c) No Equation Editor yet. :(

I'm working on an important Keynote for this Thursday, so I'll report back as I discover anything good. :)

[emutree]

For anyone looking for extra Keynote or Pages templates, I've eyed these guys (http://www.keynotepro.com/index.html) for a while - their Pages templates seem really attractive and different from any of Apple's offerings, and they have a lot of kiosk/web templates for Keynote, which are hard to come by. I keep hoping iWork Community will take off but it really only gets like a post a month.

[joelwnelson]

I got my package from Apple yesterday!

The good news:

a) iWork will install on my Pismo, as before, with certain features disabled.
b) The "reflection" option is cool.

The bad news:

a) iLife will now refuse to install on any G3 computers. Even if you break into the package and try to install the apps individually. :(
[Back to iWork]
b) The "reflection" option is not connected to a "perspective" option of any kind. And isn't that when reflections look their coolest?
c) No Equation Editor yet. :(

I'm working on an important Keynote for this Thursday, so I'll report back as I discover anything good. :)

Good news on iWork, but I was really hoping to be able to use iPhoto 6 and iWeb on my G3. Have you tried extracting the files with Pacifist and running the program directly? Oh well... my copy is coming today so I can play with it then. ;-)

[joelwnelson]

Okay... based on what I just read on the Apple discussion forums, if you have a G4 you can install iLife '06 on a G4 and then copy the iPhoto and iWeb apps themselves to a G3 via ethernet or Airport and those two programs will run. Or they might work from Pacifist too. Either way, it's not supported by Apple but it looks like at least some of the iLife apps can be made to run on a G3. I'll try it out tonight and post the results.

[bbyrdhouse]

Re. additional templates for iWork ---

There is a site, limited as it may be, where individuals can upload and download templates --

http://www.iworkcommunity.com/


Hey! Now this is the kind of site I have been looking for. I hope everybody that has used Pages to build templates would contribute to this site.
Help get the word out.

[joelwnelson]

iWeb and iPhoto work well on my 800 MHz iBook G3 -- even iPhoto editing is pretty snappy. None of the other iLife apps (iDVD, iMovie, or GarageBand) work on a G3.

[~Shard~]

iWeb and iPhoto work well on my 800 MHz iBook G3 -- even iPhoto editing is pretty snappy. None of the other iLife apps (iDVD, iMovie, or GarageBand) work on a G3.

I wouldn't have thought any of it would work (or at least work well) on a G3, so that's good to know. :)

Planning on getting a new system anytime soon? ;)

[jsalzer]

iWeb and iPhoto work well on my 800 MHz iBook G3 -- even iPhoto editing is pretty snappy. None of the other iLife apps (iDVD, iMovie, or GarageBand) work on a G3.

Hold it. How did you get them to install? Didn't your installer point fingers, laugh, at you, and call you names before quitting on you? Mine did. It was something like, "you jerk, when are you going to realize that Apple's never going to release another Pismo and upgrade already?"

I even broke into the installer package and go straight to the iPhoto installer. It also poked fun at me.

Could it be that the G3 is only a part of the deal and it's also taking into consideration speed and video ram? Hmmmmm.

[joelwnelson]

I installed the apps on a G4 and then copied them to the G3. I assume that if you used a program such as Pacifist (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12743) you could directly extract the iPhoto and iWeb applications from the installer packages.

[jsalzer]

I installed the apps on a G4 and then copied them to the G3.

Sometimes it's the easiest route that you never think of. ;)

Thanks!

[yojitani]

Glad there are so many thumbs up here, because I'm giving iWork a big thumbs down. My biggest complaint with Pages 1 was that I couldn't insert endnotes. So I was quite excited to read on the apple site that Pages 2 now has endnote capability. That it does, but you can't mix endnotes and footnotes in the document:confused: . How utterly useless! Pages is really useful for someone like me who needs to write/edit academic papers that include images. Word is terrible with images on a mac and a pc. Pages is sufficiently robust to deal with just about any size image you throw at it (in a rush, I once inserted a 10MB image that crashed word every time that pages could handle easily), but without decent end/footnote capability it's $50 down the toilet (well, keynote might be worth 1/2 of it). Thankfully, I waited to find out for sure about this before buying...

[IJ Reilly]

A big thumbs down because it can't mix endnotes and footnotes in one document? This is the sole criterion for determining whether Pages is worthwhile? And if Keynote is only worth $25, then how much is PowerPoint worth?

[yojitani]

A big thumbs down because it can't mix endnotes and footnotes in one document? This is the sole criterion for determining whether Pages is worthwhile? And if Keynote is only worth $25, then how much is PowerPoint worth?

For me, absolutely yes. It means that I cannot use it for most of the wordprocessing I do. I think most of the academic crowd would have the same complaint. It was this issue alone that determined whether I would buy iWork.

I didn't really intend to put a pricetag on Keynote, though it is a fantastic program heads and shoulders above PP. Still, powerpoint has a use: making presentations compatible with MS run machines. Not sure about the latest incarnation, but the export in 2 wasn't always great.

YOJ

[Epicurus]

The bad news:
...
c) No Equation Editor yet. :(


Try the LaTeX Equation Editor (http://evolve.lse.ac.uk/software/EquationEditor/). If you're doingany sort of complicated equations you should know LaTeX anyway, and if you're just looking for a simple solution, this works too.

PDF export is really nice for use within Keynote.:D

[jsalzer]

Try the LaTeX Equation Editor (http://evolve.lse.ac.uk/software/EquationEditor/). If you're doingany sort of complicated equations you should know LaTeX anyway, and if you're just looking for a simple solution, this works too.

Knowing of it and being able to figure it out (with noone to help me) are two very different things. I got as far as installing X11, but then there seemed to be a variety of other things I had to download and put into mysterious places. I gave up. MathType/Equation Editor are exactly what I want, but without integration, creating a worksheet full of equations means saving a dozen .eps files in addition to the worksheet (if you want to later be able to edit them without recreating them). It was so much easier with AppleWorks.

As fer End Notes and Foot Notes - I'm no writer, but didn't I pick up from somewhere that it's generally considered bad form to use both? Or was that just my lousy writing teachers spreading their own opinions as fact?

[yojitani]

As fer End Notes and Foot Notes - I'm no writer, but didn't I pick up from somewhere that it's generally considered bad form to use both? Or was that just my lousy writing teachers spreading their own opinions as fact?

Well, in some respects they were right - the mix can be unsightly. But, from Chicago Manual of Style:
"In a heavily documented work it is occassionally helpful to separate substantive notes from source citations. In such case, the citation notes should be numbered and appear as endnotes. The substantive notes...appear as footnotes."

YOJ

[IJ Reilly]

For me, absolutely yes. It means that I cannot use it for most of the wordprocessing I do. I think most of the academic crowd would have the same complaint. It was this issue alone that determined whether I would buy iWork.

I didn't really intend to put a pricetag on Keynote, though it is a fantastic program heads and shoulders above PP. Still, powerpoint has a use: making presentations compatible with MS run machines. Not sure about the latest incarnation, but the export in 2 wasn't always great.

YOJ

Well fine, then don't use it. But I still think it's an extreme judgement to call it a bad application because it doesn't have one, fairly obscure feature that probably the vast majority of people don't care about at all. Pages could use some added features, but I personally think it could easily be ruined if Apple tried to make it all things to all people. I also said this about version 1.0 -- I'd prefer Pages to do fewer things well than many things poorly. We don't need another Word. At least I don't. ;)

[gauchogolfer]

I've used this program with success in Keynote as well:

http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/EquationService/

Again, knowledge of LaTeX is important for typesetting, but the ability to write a line in the Notes section of a slide and have Equation Service typeset it in the background is nice. Besides, what self-respecting Keynote user doesn't use LaTeX on a regular basis? :p

The output is always of high quality, and all the usual keynote effects, shadows, rotation, etc., can be applied to the pdfs.

This program also adds a menu to the services bar to make it available whenever you like, just highlight text and hit "typeset". Pretty nice.
Anyways, hope you find it useful.

[ashden]

I have not bought iWork '06 yet but I am going to buy it just so apple has a reason to keep improving the product. From what I have seen the spreadsheet capabilities need much improved. Other than that it will fit all of my needs except for database software which I cannot afford any current db software for the Mac. I hope they add a full spreadsheet program and database program to the mix by the time Microsoft stops making software altogether for the Mac.(I have no official info but I see it coming in 5-7 years)

[JCT]

Glad there are so many thumbs up here, because I'm giving iWork a big thumbs down. My biggest complaint with Pages 1 was that I couldn't insert endnotes. So I was quite excited to read on the apple site that Pages 2 now has endnote capability. That it does, but you can't mix endnotes and footnotes in the document:confused: . How utterly useless! Pages is really useful for someone like me who needs to write/edit academic papers that include images. Word is terrible with images on a mac and a pc. Pages is sufficiently robust to deal with just about any size image you throw at it (in a rush, I once inserted a 10MB image that crashed word every time that pages could handle easily), but without decent end/footnote capability it's $50 down the toilet (well, keynote might be worth 1/2 of it). Thankfully, I waited to find out for sure about this before buying...

I am very surprised that Apple has not tried to incorporate the ability to use bibliographic software (Endnote, Bookends, etc.) within Pages. Kojitani is making an excellent point here -- one of the biggest failings of Word is it's near uselessness for generating academic documents (especially grants, for example) that require Images and text. It is nightmarish. Many of us stuck with Wordperfect forever because it did the job -- not simple, but didn't make you want to jump out a window.

I (and many of my colleagues) are now trying to use InDesign in a rather kludgy fashion to prepare grants, but Pages + Endnote or Bookends would be a great move.

I'm sure they *could* do it. Looks like it's time to request it (again) over at Apple.

JT

[IJ Reilly]

I believe the spreadsheet is coming. I asked a leading question about this to one of the Apple reps on the floor at MacWorld. He didn't come right out and tell me (Steve would toss him out on his hindquarters if he did), but I think I detected a wink and a nod when he responded by demonstrating the new table calculation features in Pages and Keynote. This suggests to me that the code is being developed for a freestanding spreadsheet application.

[IJ Reilly]

I'm sure they *could* do it. Looks like it's time to request it (again) over at Apple.

Keep asking. I get the impression that Apple is interested in knowing what people want and need.

[Lacero]

On Apple's iWork homepage, the picture of this lady looks familiar.

http://www.apple.com/iwork/

Wasn't she on The Bachelor several years ago?

38958Here's to the Crazy Ones http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=35452 (http://www.uriah.com/apple-qt/movies/think-different.mov)

[Sunrunner]

I believe the spreadsheet is coming. I asked a leading question about this to one of the Apple reps on the floor at MacWorld. He didn't come right out and tell me (Steve would toss him out on his hindquarters if he did), but I think I detected a wink and a nod when he responded by demonstrating the new table calculation features in Pages and Keynote. This suggests to me that the code is being developed for a freestanding spreadsheet application.

With the parcity of announcements at this Expo, I wouldnt be suprised if Apple announced that item along with more hardware here in the next couple of months...

[flaire]

Does anyone know if the new 'Reviewers Comments' feature in iWork '06 (Pages specifically) is compatible with Word's "Track Changes" ability?

[Project]

Just saw this on the Pages discussion board:

Reviewer comments (NEW):
A much needed addition. Works well and is very easy to use. I have tested this with Word and the comments make it to and from Word. Unfortunately it is only comments and not change tracking but it is a very useful addition none the less.

[aaagat111]

I just installed iwork 06 and the file size for both is a huge 1.83 GB compared to the 256 MB of iwork 05,

Can somebody else check if there files are this big, and if so why is it such an increase

thanks

AAA

[~Shard~]

I just installed iwork 06 and the file size for both is a huge 1.83 GB compared to the 256 MB of iwork 05,

Can somebody else check if there files are this big, and if so why is it such an increase

Really? That doesn't seem right... I don't have a copy to test, but it's not as though Apple added a new app to the suite or anything. Were there a ton of large HD themes to account for this? Even if that's the case, I wonder why it is so much bigger than its predecessor... :confused:

[PlaceofDis]

I just installed iwork 06 and the file size for both is a huge 1.83 GB compared to the 256 MB of iwork 05,

Can somebody else check if there files are this big, and if so why is it such an increase

thanks

AAA

yep 1.83 GB is correct. if you won't be useing the HD templates you can probably get rid of them. it is a bit much of a size increase though.

[EGT]

I just installed iwork 06 and the file size for both is a huge 1.83 GB compared to the 256 MB of iwork 05,

Can somebody else check if there files are this big, and if so why is it such an increase

thanks

AAA

1.85 GB here.

853.6 MB for pages and 1.01 GB for Keynote. Both are universal which could be a reason for the large file size.

[~Shard~]

1.85 GB here.

853.6 MB for pages and 1.01 GB for Keynote. Both are universal which could be a reason for the large file size.

Good point, that might contribute to the larger file size as well, hadn't thought of that. So, between the universal binaries and the HD themes I guess the application could indeed be significantly larger. That still seems like quite the jump comapred to last year's version though, even considering all of the above.

[PlaceofDis]

Good point, that might contribute to the larger file size as well, hadn't thought of that. So, between the universal binaries and the HD themes I guess the application could indeed be significantly larger. That still seems like quite the jump comapred to last year's version though, even considering all of the above.

if you show package contents the resources are the bulk of the size, not the universal coding. the Resources folder is a staggering 967.3MB for Keynote, in there i'm sure you could find and get rid of the HD Themes if you dont need or want them

edit: okay so digging deeper the bulk of the Resource folder is taken up in the Themes folder ~ 941MB so i'm sure you could get rid of sizes that aren't needed or of no use to you.

[Bern]

Take a look at my post here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=174152) You can reduce the size of these apps safely by removing languages.

[EGT]

Take a look at my post here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=174152) You can reduce the size of these apps safely by removing languages.

That is very useful. Thanks.

[aaagat111]

I removed these unnecessary languages, and that did save some space.

I was reading up on this issue, and it seems that the universal binary code is what is causing this dramatic increase in size. It would be nice if i could remove the intel code somehow, for this powerbook will never be an intel.

If anybody finds anything about this please post

thanks for the responses so far

AAA

[axisdrama]

Does anyone else have 2 help menus in the iWork apps? It's odd. Both Keynote and Pages have 2 help menus -- one has more options, the other just has "Pages Help" or "Keynote Help". '05 version had this too. Is there a way the extra help menu?

[chmorley]

Does anyone else have 2 help menus in the iWork apps? It's odd. Both Keynote and Pages have 2 help menus -- one has more options, the other just has "Pages Help" or "Keynote Help". '05 version had this too. Is there a way the extra help menu?

Nope. Just one here.

Chris

[JangoFett124]

Does anyone else have 2 help menus in the iWork apps? It's odd. Both Keynote and Pages have 2 help menus -- one has more options, the other just has "Pages Help" or "Keynote Help". '05 version had this too. Is there a way the extra help menu?

Do you have an old version of divx installed? If so, update to Divx 6 and see if it fixes it.

[jsalzer]

Does anyone else have 2 help menus in the iWork apps? It's odd. Both Keynote and Pages have 2 help menus -- one has more options, the other just has "Pages Help" or "Keynote Help". '05 version had this too. Is there a way the extra help menu?

I'm not currently having that problem with the iWork '06 apps, but I've had it in other programs. Either two Help menus or two Application menus. The latter is more annoying! Me thinks Apple has some work to do in this area.

Funny that it tends to be Apple programs (and their subsids - FileMaker specifically) that have these glitches appear.

[bbyrdhouse]

Well fine, then don't use it. But I still think it's an extreme judgement to call it a bad application because it doesn't have one, fairly obscure feature that probably the vast majority of people don't care about at all. Pages could use some added features, but I personally think it could easily be ruined if Apple tried to make it all things to all people. I also said this about version 1.0 -- I'd prefer Pages to do fewer things well than many things poorly. We don't need another Word. At least I don't. ;)

Give the guy a break, for him that was the one feature that he particularly wanted/needed. So for him it was a deal breaker. Why should he buy Pages and have to buy Word anyway to use for what he uses it for. Should he get a copy of iWork just to take up hard drive space? Truth is there are pobably several folks who agree with his assesment.
Me on the other hand absolutely love Pages 1 and 2. It still needs a couple of features, but you are correct in Pages not needing to become a bloated program with features that will never get used.

[OCOTILLO]

I purchased iWork 05 when it was introduced. I bought it specifically for Pages. I assumed (you know the problem with that) it would be a good Publisher from the screen shots on Apple's web page. It turned out that it is not even an average word processor and a klunky publisher at that. This is a case where Microsoft Word and Publisher are far better. From what I have read here, it does not seem that iWork 06 is any real improvement.