I use Pages and Numbers. I got a discounted deal on Microsoft 365 last year, used it for a few months, but found I missed the relative uncluttered interface of the iWork apps and of course the free and non-subscription access. I don’t need an alternative for the work I do.
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Apple Updates iWork for iOS and macOS With New Linking Features and More
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I can't even remember all the times I've had to go back to Office. I usually try Pages or whatever first. I was trying to print labels, not too long ago. Need MS Office.
Yeah, it’s like saying kids need to use PC’s because it’s gonna be all DOS in the business world… then when they got to the business world, it’s Windows or a Mac.
It’s almost guaranteed with the speed that things are changing that whatever’s the “standard” in 20 years will be functionally different than today.Apple has an answer for those that need Excel only features. It’s called Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is, without exception, the best way to have all the features of Excel for when you really need the best version of Excel available.
Microsoft Excel is, without exception, the best way to have all the features of Excel for when you really need the best version of Excel available.I do. For many years now. Many works done so far on Numbers and Pages. A clean and nice tool to work with. Numbers is much nicer than Excel and you can add regular expressions as well. Pages facilitates the formatting of self-made templates. I did not write my thesis on it (I used Word instead) but for the rest of (professionals) writings, Pages is much pleasant to work with.
They're pretty great and underrated IMHO, and they have a TON of polish to them that Microsoft Office apps absolutely do not.
Pages is a really robust document creation tool. For basic stuff, I will pull it out instead of InDesign or Illustrator just because it's quicker and frankly more fun to use. I guess it doesn't have some of the more arcane features of Word but it punches above its weight -- especially for free. And if your deliverable is a PDF it doesn't matter what you use to create it.
I am not a huge spreadsheet user, but I use Numbers a lot to make documents for my own use. I know there are Excel features that it can't touch, but I think for a ton of uses it's quite great. Your diehard data people are not going to be interested in Numbers, I guess.
As for Keynote, I've used it extensively in professional settings and it absolutely crushes PowerPoint. No question. PPT has gotten a ton better in recent years but the final product is still inferior to Keynote, and the workflow for Keynote is vastly superior. Secret power user feature: you can paste vector graphics directly from Illustrator to Keynote and back again. The only drawback to Keynote is that you can't play a Keynote deck on a PC and that kills it in a lot of corporate environments, sadly.
Yes. My iMac is still on Catalina and I am getting the current updates. Garageband is an exception -- it has some big interface change that isn't coming to Catalina.
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95% of people do not use the full functionality of office. They only get it to think they might one day use it. Most people can do away with office with free alternatives. Microsoft would be in trouble if that happened
I really wish Apple would push forward with this Office Suite , it has potential and the fact that I get it for free without having to set up an account or logging in makes all the difference.
It really can be an MS Office competitor. Apple feels like they made the iWork department and forgot about them, they are still on the payroll so they keep working on their own but nothing much else. I seriously doubt any one use the cloud version of it.
It really can be an MS Office competitor. Apple feels like they made the iWork department and forgot about them, they are still on the payroll so they keep working on their own but nothing much else. I seriously doubt any one use the cloud version of it.
The iWork applications are especially useful for 'home' demands: Fitness (weight etc. ) tracking; subscription tracking, simple monetary uses etc. And all at a great price with dependable updates AND a degree of privacy not available in some other apps....
Apple today updated its suite of iWork apps, including Pages, Keynotes, and Numbers for iOS and macOS, with new features related to Schoolwork and the ability to link web pages, email addresses, and phone numbers to different shapes and objects.
For Pages and Numbers on iOS and macOS, the updates include the ability for users to link different elements, such as a link to a web page, an email address, and phone number to different shapes, objects, lines, and text boxes.
Unfortunately, Keynote doesn't get this feature but, alongside Pages and Numbers, does now enable teachers using Apple's Schoolwork feature to "view student progress, including word count and time spent." The updates are available for free via the App Store on iOS and macOS.
Article Link: Apple Updates iWork for iOS and macOS With New Linking Features and More
They all work great, are fast, and easy to use/learn. They fit the needs of 99% of all users with the only exception be the 1% who hang onto Excel. Office as a whole blows and is way overly complicated for standard use.
Agree on Numbers being acceptable - it actually has a lot of formulas and will do 90% of what Excel does - but that last 10% is a killer. Excel now has PowerBI stuff embedded in it which makes it very versatile. Number is perfect for home and small business applications.
Pages is really good and I prefer it to MS Word.
Keynote has always been great.
Nice to see continued investment in iWork.
I am with you on that one - I use Numbers for an investment overview our real estate investments in rentals. It doesn't equal Excel in features but it is better than Google Docs for sure.
I think Numbers and Pages do very well. Granted, they don't get the advertising exposure Office gets but, they are very capable apps. I quit using Office and stuck with Numbers and Pages.
Number s UI is a little clumsy.
I think the beauty of iWorks and G suite is cloud based.
iWorks s web interface has to be improved a lot to compare with G suite
When it comes to functional equivalence between cloud and local, nothing compares to iWork. (G Suite is a close 2nd)
I find it odd that no one who advocates MS Office on Mac OS makes mention of the bizarre UI that results in two menu bars with overlapping function. The menu system between MS Office for Windows and Mac OS is quite jarring for those who need to work with both.
You should. I think iWork is fantastic. Sure, Numbers doesn't have goal seek, or pivot tables, but for the vast majority of people its features suffice, and it's far, far easier to use than Excel. And having multiple tables and charts on one sheet makes far more sense.
Keynote crushes PowerPoint.
And Pages also holds its own against Word. You can track changes, but you can't compare two documents. So yes, Word has some advanced features, but Pages (and the rest of iWork) is far more intuitive and easy to use.
As much as I love iWork, as long as workplaces don’t adopt it, they’ll always be occasional use apps.
With so much of North America on iOS, Apple should make a big play for the corporate world here. Adding fully featured iWork apps to the cloud with live collaboration, would be a good place to start.
With so much of North America on iOS, Apple should make a big play for the corporate world here. Adding fully featured iWork apps to the cloud with live collaboration, would be a good place to start.
Pages is my favorite word processor, a good mix of features while still feeling 'lightweight'. It does a good job with letting you do consistent formatting rules - e.g. a paragraph or header can have a custom name and consistent formatting throughout a document, and be updated in a single go. This is much harder in Word, and impossible in Google Docs. Since its native format isn't broadly supported you would typically export to share - to PDF, Word, or ePub as examples.
Keynote is perhaps the best presentation/deck builder, although that is going to be subjective based on the features you need. It was first to have tools to help you easily drag in and use images from other sources (such as Instant Alpha) and has some stellar tools to build transitions.
Numbers is unique amongst its spreadsheet peers in that a sheet is an infinite sheet of paper but _isn't_ a single spreadsheet. You aren't limited to putting graphics and charts in cells, and a lot of the templates imply they see it just as much for page layout as for spreadsheets. However, it does not have all the functional capabilities of other spreadsheet products, nor does it seem to have an internal scripting engine to add in functions you might be missing. For most users, it is probably more than enough.
That ordering is also pretty close to the ordering in terms of round-trip compatibility with the Microsoft equivalents. Also note that iCloud is free and has stellar versions of all of those, including support for collaborative features.
Good news - they have had this for a couple of years ;-)
It really is. There is only one thing PP is superior at and that's Destructible links for Quizzes etc. It's not a dealbreaker though as you can use Markup (if showing via a TV), but it doesn't look as good and it's more stuffing around.
Yes. I use them at work and at home. I work in a small shop, Numbers and Pages are perfect for our needs. We have two locations and use the collaboration features daily.
Not everybody needs pivot tables…