Apple Updates Numbers, Pages and Keynote for iOS and Mac With New Features

[iokdkiedfj]

I mostly use numbers on an ipad. I hate this version. Everything in the user interface is changed. Most things requires more key presses than before. So the whole thing works much slower than before. Is there a way to revert to the previous version?

 

[Hoegy]

Can't update mine, update tab shows no updates but when I got to each individual apps page I get an update icon that I click but just keep getting the loading wheel at the top in the app store

 

[Ebenezum]

RTF support is finally back in Pages?

Nice but why it was removed in the first place? Furthermore current 6.1 version is very limited compared to Pages 09 and Apple has a lot of work to do before I consider using it.

At the moment the iWork file structure is very poorly documented and I'm very skeptical if it can be reverse engineered should Apple decide to abandon it, if that happens good luck trying to open the files in other software...

 

[2499723]

I'm sorry to say this... but... your workflow is simply wrong here. Neither in Pages NOR in Word should you EVER create a table of contents... and from THERE link to the chapters. Simply use the corresponding styles and have the ToC created FOR YOU... and then format the ToC to your liking.

I've done that in the past and the ToC tends to suffer formatting issues over long documents or if changes need to be made to the ToC formatting. Thanks for your insistence that I'm wrong, though. It's nice when subjective views are presented so firmly.

 

[talmy]

RTF support is finally back in Pages?

Nice but why it was removed in the first place? Furthermore current 6.1 version is very limited compared to Pages 09 and Apple has a lot of work to do before I consider using it.

At the moment the iWork file structure is very poorly documented and I'm very skeptical if it can be reverse engineered should Apple decide to abandon it, if that happens good luck trying to open the files in other software...

It wasn't exactly removed. After Pages '09 they did a rewrite using the iOS codebase to get file compatibility and functional parity. Functional parity meant that a lot of functionality of the Mac version was lost. But they gained the ability to share documents between iOS and macOS in iCloud and implement the Handoff feature. Obviously bad as an iWork user on the Mac with no interest in using iWork on an iPhone or iPad.

As far as the file structure is concerned, that is a risk you take with any proprietary format. I archive all my old documents in PDF so I can easily recover their content. You can also archive to RTF. I've been burned by proprietary formats of abandoned software (that no longer runs or required systems I no longer have) plenty of times.

 

[sracer]

As far as the file structure is concerned, that is a risk you take with any proprietary format. I archive all my old documents in PDF so I can easily recover their content. You can also archive to RTF. I've been burned by proprietary formats of abandoned software (that no longer runs or required systems I no longer have) plenty of times.

True. The longer one uses personal computers the greater the probability of that happening. I've got files going back to the early 80's created using DOS programs (and data from the 90's created using long-gone Windows apps) and keep a vintage Thinkpad (with swappable hard drives) just so I can access those files when I need them.

 

[dysamoria]

RTF support is finally back in Pages?

Nice but why it was removed in the first place?

As noted by another poster, the feature wasn't technically removed; the Mac version of the software was replaced with an inferior iOS version that lacked a ton of features.

True. The longer one uses personal computers the greater the probability of that happening. I've got files going back to the early 80's created using DOS programs (and data from the 90's created using long-gone Windows apps) and keep a vintage Thinkpad (with swappable hard drives) just so I can access those files when I need them.

Why not export them to a more supported format and be done with the vintage equipment (which could fail). This is what I did with my GoBe Positive and Word Perfect documents. I converted them to RTF and never looked back. My documents weren't very complex. If my documents were more complex, I might've converted them to Word because the market is stuck supporting that, but I refuse to use Microsoft stuff if not absolutely necessary.

 

[sracer]

Why not export them to a more supported format and be done with the vintage equipment (which could fail). This is what I did with my GoBe Positive and Word Perfect documents. I converted them to RTF and never looked back. My documents weren't very complex. If my documents were more complex, I might've converted them to Word because the market is stuck supporting that, but I refuse to use Microsoft stuff if not absolutely necessary.

I have a LOT of files that span 40+ years. Not all of them are word processing documents. There are vector illustrations/diagrams, flat-file databases, newsletters, as well as word processing documents. Converting them to RTF or PDF is not an option in most cases because the software that generated those files didn't have those options available at the time. PDF didn't exist at the time, and RTF wasn't a widely used format. And obviously those file formats don't make sense for databases.

Back-in-the-day there was a much wider variety of software that was used. Import/export options were often limited, if they existed at all. MS Office was NOT the "standard" that it is today but just one of 1/2 - 1 dozen viable options.

I prefer to use vintage equipment with the software of the era to access those files. I settled on vintage ThinkPads because they were built like tanks and still function quite well 10, 20+ years later. Should that equipment fail, I would then resort to running virtual machines on modern hardware to use those vintage apps.

 

[caric]

In the iPhone version of numbers, there used to be a custom keyboard for entering dates. Tap month, and you got a keyboard with a button for every month. I can't find it now, can anyone find it? I'm afraid it's gone, and I found it extremely useful for my budget spreadsheet, where bumping an item just to the next month is a common operation.

 

[hugoniot]

Has anybody found a way to make the numeric keyboard appear on the updated Numbers?

It isn't as convenient as before, but the free keyboard NumPad helps out with this problem. It is a big number pad similar to what used to appear automatically in Numbers. Search for it in the App Store.

I am also annoyed with the new way to fill columns or rows. It takes more taps than before, and one has to go to the bottom corner to enable the ability to fill. Lots of taps and lots of motion. Like the change in the keyboard, this has reduced my productivity.

 

[dysamoria]

I have a LOT of files that span 40+ years. Not all of them are word processing documents. There are vector illustrations/diagrams, flat-file databases, newsletters, as well as word processing documents. Converting them to RTF or PDF is not an option in most cases because the software that generated those files didn't have those options available at the time. PDF didn't exist at the time, and RTF wasn't a widely used format. And obviously those file formats don't make sense for databases.

Back-in-the-day there was a much wider variety of software that was used. Import/export options were often limited, if they existed at all. MS Office was NOT the "standard" that it is today but just one of 1/2 - 1 dozen viable options.

I prefer to use vintage equipment with the software of the era to access those files. I settled on vintage ThinkPads because they were built like tanks and still function quite well 10, 20+ years later. Should that equipment fail, I would then resort to running virtual machines on modern hardware to use those vintage apps.

It sounds like a difficult situation. I appreciate it. I started my writing and music exploration on a Tandy PC with software that didn't export anything. I moved to more standards-supporting tools but there's still stuff I've done in various tools over the years that'll never be seen again (various 3D formats, too). Luckily, I wasn't making good stuff yet. It wasn't career work either.

 

[Bigphiluk]

My phone and iPad unfortunately updated the Numbers app automatically. I use the Numbers app on my phone to keep a track of spending, fuel consumption of my car, my weight etc. Since the upgrade to the easier to use Numbers app for iOS it now Akers much longer to update a spreadsheet. Let's say I want to add a date then amount spent in the next cell and a comment as to what I've bought in the next cell. In the old iOS I double tapped the date cell which it knew was date so it put a date entry keyboard up on screen with a handy today option and a next cell right arrow. The next cell is formatted currency so I get a numeric keyboard to add the money spent and the same next cell right arrow to the standard keyboard to say what I've bought. In the new and improved app I double tap the date cell hit the arrow then the lightening bolt then scroll to the date option. I then have to double tap the currency cell then tap the keyboard icon then hit 123 for the numeric keyboard then double tap the next cell which is text so at last the keyboard is sensitive to the cell format. This is very poor programming from Apple. Give us the cell sensitive keyboards back PLEASE.

 

[ChrisConga]

I reverted to an old version via a back-up on iTunes. (remove the new version from your iPad. Then back-up from your iTunes back-up) This new version is infantile, not really for "numbers"-users. You do not remove the numpad from a numbers-app. You do not even consider to have it optional. Text is the second choice when entering a cell, not numbers. I'm very disappointed, can not believe this was tested.
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I mostly use numbers on an ipad. I hate this version. Everything in the user interface is changed. Most things requires more key presses than before. So the whole thing works much slower than before. Is there a way to revert to the previous version?

#63
I reverted to an old version via a back-up on iTunes. (remove the new version from your iPad. Then back-up from your iTunes back-up) This new version is infantile, not really for "numbers"-users. You do not remove the numpad from a numbers-app. You do not even consider to have it optional. Text is the second choice when entering a cell, not numbers. I'm very disappointed, can not believe this was tested.