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Following the launch of Microsoft's Office apps for iOS, Apple is updating its iWork apps for iCloud, Mac, and iOS, adding some major improvements to compete with Microsoft's Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.

As noted by 9to5Mac, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for iCloud have gained updated designs for their document, spreadsheet, and presentation editors along with support for Retina displays. All three apps have also been updated with the ability to share view-only documents and to open documents directly from iCloud Mail.

Individually, Pages has also been updated with new templates, the ability to edit charts in imported documents, and improved text wrap. Numbers now has improved pop-up menu support, and Keynote also allows charts to be edited in imported documents.

A pop-up within the iWork for iCloud apps indicates that Apple also has plans to update Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for both iOS and Mac, with the updates being required to open documents edited in iCloud.

iworkupdates.jpg
Apple last updated its iWork suite of apps across all platforms in January, adding several new features to improve the software and return functionality that was removed when the new iWork apps were introduced back in September. Apple pledged to improve the apps back in November after facing significant user criticism from power users.

Pages for Mac - [Mac App Store]
Numbers for Mac - [Mac App Store]
Keynote for Mac [Mac App Store]

Pages for iOS - [App Store]
Numbers for iOS - [App Store]
Keynote for iOS - [App Store]

Update 2:00 PM PT: Keynote, Numbers, and Pages for Mac are all available for download, with each update adding a slew of new features to the apps, including a new "view only" setting that allows users to share documents that can be viewed but not edited. The updated versions of all three apps contain a slew of new features.

Keynote, for example, has gained improved Presenter Display layouts and labels along with new transitions and builds, among other features, while Numbers has new printing options, custom data formats, and custom table styles. Pages has copy-paste style improvements, improved AppleScript support, and better placement of inserted and pasted objects. All of the updates can be found in the Mac App Store.

Updated versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for iOS are also available for download from the App Store, adding the same "view only" setting that lets users share documents that can be viewed but not edited, along with many other new features.


Article Link: iWork for iCloud Updated With Retina Support and Design Improvements, iOS and Mac Updates to Follow
 

eagandale4114

macrumors 65816
May 20, 2011
1,011
1
Very surprised iWork didn't have retina support. Doesn't affect me directly but still surprised.
 

Nickerbocker

macrumors 6502
Apr 4, 2012
273
135
Improvements to the iCloud website are always welcome. Really wish Apple would take the iCloud website to the next level and add things like iMessages and 3rd party apps. It would be great if developers could utilize iCloud web based API so that iOS app users could work with iOS app data through the iCloud website.
 

ra4oasis

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2010
356
84
iWork has a loooonnnnggggg way to go before people can ditch Microsoft Office.

That isn't necessarily true. For many people, all they use is the basic functions of Word, PowerPoint, or Excel. And although I can' stay I'm a heavy iWork user, from my limited experience, it does just fine for the basics. I fit into the category of I don't use "office" products enough to pay 100 bucks a year, so iWork will do just fine.
 

zedsdead

macrumors 68040
Jun 20, 2007
3,401
1,148
How about bringing back the ability to copy, duplicate and rearrange pages in PAGES!:mad:

Also, the lost multitouch support is a huge loss as well. Don't need it for zooming. It was better used for image manipulation.
 

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,688
4,399
Here
Redesign that ludicrously large sidebar.

Why does Bold have to be like an inch long in the desktop app!?
 

octothorpe8

macrumors 6502
Feb 27, 2014
424
0
Hoping for a fix for pasted EPS/PDF files in Keynote OS X, but not optimistic. It gets worse with every update.
 

6836838

Suspended
Jul 18, 2011
1,536
1,325
Numbers is completely useless without a basic pivot table or even a scripting language (Python would be awesome and is already installed in OSX).
 

TWSS37

macrumors 65816
Feb 4, 2011
1,107
232
Apple may have not been the first to deploy retina quality resolution on their work apps, but they took their time and did it right. Bravo! :rolleyes:
 

Razeus

macrumors 603
Jul 11, 2008
5,348
2,030
Improvements to the iCloud website are always welcome. Really wish Apple would take the iCloud website to the next level and add things like iMessages and 3rd party apps. It would be great if developers could utilize iCloud web based API so that iOS app users could work with iOS app data through the iCloud website.

That's why I prefer Google docs. Apple just doesn't cut it when it comes to web services.
 

rish

macrumors 6502
Mar 23, 2006
349
2
London UK
That isn't necessarily true. For many people, all they use is the basic functions of Word, PowerPoint, or Excel. And although I can' stay I'm a heavy iWork user, from my limited experience, it does just fine for the basics. I fit into the category of I don't use "office" products enough to pay 100 bucks a year, so iWork will do just fine.

I think you're absolutely spot on there. Working at a major health care organisation you would think that Moderate to Advanced usage of Word and Excel would be demonstrated regularly. Not so in keeping with your observation the number of intense users of Office suites is small in comparison to the infrequent users. Take that proportion if infrequent users and think how often they would use an Office suite on a mobile device. It's smaller still therefore subscription is a model that wouldn't be attractive at all. In fact for this group a down right waste of money. So iWork being free on a new mobile device would suffice.
 

MasterHowl

macrumors 65816
Oct 3, 2010
1,052
161
North of England
I hope they add the ability to rearrange sections in Pages... that's my single biggest complaint with the new iWork!

I've finally accepted the fact that Numbers will always be rubbish for anything more than very simple spreadsheets...

but Keynote! The new Keynote is awesome! I opened Keynote '09 yesterday and it's so clunky and un-intuitive compared to the new one. Love it.
 

Nunyabinez

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2010
1,758
2,230
Provo, UT
It doesn't matter how great these apps get because in my world, almost everyone uses Office. I could send a PDF if no one will ever need to edit it, but even then, it's an extra step to convert it to a PDF.

With word I can just send them the .doc file and no one ever has said "I can't open that." I can just imagine what would happen if I sent out a .pages file.
 
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