Apple Updates Pages, Numbers and Keynote for Mac and iOS

[Razeus]

Desktop app only updated to support iOS Device changes.

Citing the lack of updates to iPhoto, iWork, and Aperture, does Apple even employ Desktop app developers anymore?

[MacFoodPoisoner]

iOS versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote have experienced more significant updates, while the Mac versions have been updated mainly to support the iOS changes.

Wow, that's a big surprise, and we thought apple gave a damn about os x...

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Originally Posted by brightstarbeing

Where the EFF is iWork '13?? Will we be stuck at iWork '09 forever?

It's officially entered abandonware status imho. I really can't see how the biggest company in the world, with 100s of billions sitting in the bank can't put together a team of 50 people to work on iwork for os x. Maybe, if need be, also HIRE some people too, you know? Their wages would be about 1/10 they spend opening up a new store or something... It's beyond my comprehension...

[LagunaSol]

Originally Posted by swingerofbirch

However, in terms of exporting a recorded presentation to QuickTime video, it was extremely buggy.

Yes, Keynote is horrible at this. I've had to use ScreenFlow to create movies of my presentations. It's baffling that Apple can't get Keynote (from Apple) to export to QuickTime (from Apple) correctly.

[brendu]

To me it seems obvious that apple is more invested in the iOS side for iWork. There is no Microsoft office for iOS yet and apple wants to get as many users on iWork as possible before office does inevitably become available. Conversely, on the Mac side, office has always been available and most users choose to pay more for it because of the major brand recognition it has so apple isn't going to focus they efforts there until they build up a user base From iOS users. That's how it looks to me anyway.

[Mad Mac Maniac]

I'm going to be buying a macbook air soon and I've kind beeen thinking I'd ditch office at that point and go iWork... but considering how it's now 4 years old I would hate to buy it and then Apple turns around and releases a full paid upgrade.

I can't quite tell where Apple is heading with iWork. It seems almost like an Apple TV level hobby...

[thundersteele]

so essentially nothing new for keynote (and iwork in general) on OSX?

Improved export to powerpoint is good... more options for the future to get away from outdated software.

For those who are asking, one feature that I would like to see is support for hand-writing on slides. Microsoft can do it.

Besides that, I feel that there should be some new innovation in presentation technology. Keynote used to be ahead of powerpoint by a large margin, but I don't think this is the case anymore.

[MacFoodPoisoner]

Originally Posted by BillyBobBongo

Not entirely sure what you feel needs to be added. If it ain't broke...

They should have taken your advice with Snow Leopard...

[The Bulge]

Originally Posted by zin

The iWork apps for Mac need a complete overhaul, in my opinion. I think that Microsoft did a great job with the ribbon interface; it really fits well for productivity.

From my experience users hate ribbon. I have actually seen people crying trying to get used to it.

[skaertus]

Originally Posted by Razeus

Desktop app only updated to support iOS Device changes.

Citing the lack of updates to iPhoto, iWork, and Aperture, does Apple even employ Desktop app developers anymore?

I ask myself the same. All iWork updates in the last four years were only to support changes to the environment of OS X or to keep up with the iOS version. Does Apple even care about it?

[osx11]

Originally Posted by brightstarbeing

Where the EFF is iWork '13?? Will we be stuck at iWork '09 forever?

What features are missing in iWork '09?

[skaertus]

Originally Posted by BillyBobBongo

Not entirely sure what you feel needs to be added. If it ain't broke...

Well, let's see... what about cross-references in Pages? All serious word processors have support for cross-referencing, which is a basic feature for writing anything reasonably complex. Word, Word Perfect, OpenOffice/LibreOffice Writer, Nisus Writer Pro, Mellel... you name it.

[spetznatz]

Track Changes in Pages for iOS... Yes!!! Get in! You beeeeeeeauty!

Mind you, Track Changes in Pages is ****, but it's better than nothing...

[PsudoPowerPoint]

Originally Posted by AppliedMicro

What do you think is missing?
Sure, Pages uses something like an inspector window instead of ribbons but is that necessarily bad?

• Software that helps make documents that look professional, even when the author is not an expert on professional document formatting
• Smarter and easier use of styles to simplify the creation of documents with consistent styling that's easy to change globally
• Automatically updating cross references for figures, tables and other numbered items
• Smarter control of figure placement within documents e.g. figures are place d at the top or bottom of the first page where they are referenced
• Captions that stay with figures and tables and never break to the next page
• Headers and footers with content that are automatically set based on the content of the page (e.t. if a paragraph is labeled "confidential" that the word "confidential" shows up on the page or pages where that paragraph is printed)
• The ability to hide notes and comments, spelling errors and grammar corrections, and to prevent changes to the document except when the document is opened with a password
• Figures and tables that are automatically updated when the external "source" file is updated
• Smarter tools for creating and formatting tables
• Hyperlinks to and back-from figures, tables, table of contents and index items

[babyj]

I've given up on iWork (Mac and iOS) and switched back to Office.

The real killer for me is the lack of proper cloud support, Skydrive and desktop Office works perfectly and will only get better with Office 2013 especially if there are native apps of some kind for iOS.

The lack of 100% compatibility with Office doesn't help iWork either. Microsoft did an excellent job with making the Mac and Windows versions of Office compatible. Like it or not documents need to be in Office format when you're sharing them, unless everyone involved has Google docs.

[Zauberer]

I like the ribbon interface in Office and I like its implementation in OS X a lot more than in Windows. That said, I find these iWork updates underwhelming. Hopefully this is a sign that iWork is continuing to receive support.

[The Phazer]

Originally Posted by teknikal90

No dropbox support.
Not ideal to Apple's integrated approach. but not practical either.
almost noone does real work in a closed apple environment.

At least it has SkyDrive support.

Ironic that, given Apple's need to "control" key services meant they destroyed Maps that their crappy iCloud implementation has meant that they've handed over the key service of the file system to be run by Microsoft.

Meanwhile, Pages for iOS still lacks word count on sections, and keyboard copy/past shortcuts :-(

[NewtonAurelius]

I am happy to see that they are at least paying some attention to iWork. I use Pages pretty much everyday, and I enjoy iWorks' simplicity when compared to MS Office. I do think the current Mac MS Office is a big improvement, but Microsoft's philosophy of features for the sake of features is a bit much for me.

As much as I look forward to iWork '13, or whatever it ends up being, I am more then willing to wait until all the skeuomorphism has been stripped out, and the Mac OS and iOS are in harmony.

[JAT]

Originally Posted by rdlink

And then there are those who have used Ribbons for 4 years, and still hate them...

Have you modified them to fit your personal needs?

[SteveJobs2.0]

Word for iOS needs proper ability to create lists! At the moment, it is next to impossible to make changes to numbered lists since the app fights way too much to follow it's own format. That is the is the single most annoying problem for me with the app.

[Saladinos]

Originally Posted by AppliedMicro

What do you think is missing?
Sure, Pages uses something like an inspector window instead of ribbons but is that necessarily bad?

In Pages? An equation editor and better reference/footnote support for starters.

Right now you need to buy 3rd party plugins for those (which each cost more than a copy of Pages itself) - and even when you do that, they're still not as good as the ones built-in to the Office applications.

I agree with the others here who wonder if Apple even hires OSX software engineers any more. They haven't released anything big for the Mac in several years now, and even then they seem to work on one product at a time like it's all being done by the same team or something.

If Apple isn't going to support these applications, it'd be nice of them to spin them off (like with Filemaker) so they can continue for those of us who do use them.

[Epiphron]

Will apple ever update ios iworks with dropbox support? Seems pretty useless without it imo

[Razeus]

Originally Posted by Epiphron

Will apple ever update ios iworks with dropbox support? Seems pretty useless without it imo

iCloud is completely useless for documents. I use Dropbox these days. It's like once you're in Apple's walled Garden, you can't get out of it. Their solution to everything is to email it to yourself. iCloud is strictly used for device backups, nothing more.

[ipedro]

• Hide and unhide rows and columns

Thank God! This has been my top request since iOS Numbers 1.0

Very often you want to create a number crunching table that feeds numbers into the main table but you don't want to print the number crunching table. Until now, the only way around that was to do it on a separate page and then hide it under a white square. This works but it forces the printing of a blank sheet. Hiding rows and columns finally solves that!

[paul800m]

Just give me PDF export with crop/bleed marks and CMYK colour.

I spend all day working with pages and it's fantastic apart from these two problems.

[CrickettGrrrl]

Odd, doesn't show any iWork updates for me. My Pages version is still stuck at 4.1 too....hmmm baffled