iWork for iCloud Updated With Interactive Charts, Improved Collaborative Capabilities

[springsup]

Is everybody that uses iCloud working on perfectly manageable one file projects? I’m not. My projects have drafts, excel sheets, images, videos, PDF’s, Word documents, etc. I need to keep those files together, as they are the project.

With iCloud I simply cannot do that. I have to distribute my project files over every single app I need to use to manipulate my project. As a trade-off, if I want to use iWork in the Cloud, I need to duplicate my files, edit/sync them, and then afterwards regroup them in a folder on my Mac. It’s madness.

The biggest issue is that Apple forces its ‘hidden-file’ idea on you without giving a choice. Offer it as a solution for newbies, for cooking recipes and party invitations, but for serious work, give us a file system. It’s been around for 30+ years, there’s nothing wrong with it.

Yup, iCloud doesn't work that way.

You want to keep different types of files together based on their content.

Apple believes this system is too difficult for beginners. People like you or I can work with it just fine, but lots of people don't really get to grips with the filesystem. Lots of studies have pointed to understanding the filesystem as the point where people who "can use" a computer become people who are really comfortable with a computer.

Personally, I agree that Apple is looking at the right problem, but I think they're trying to solve it in the wrong way. "Every App is an island" can work for some types of read-only data (like music), but for data which you edit it becomes too restrictive. Apple already had to build an exception to that rule for Photos, but they seemed to have glossed over thinking philosophically about why they had to build that exception and what it means for their theory that the App should manage all of its documents.

 

[attila]

With more white text om yellow....

 

[kds1]

If you don't mind me asking ... why?

There's nothing iCloud does that's special and a lot of things it doesn't do.

I love iCloud. I use most everything. Email. Notes. Calendar. Contacts. Reminders. Find my iPhone. Photostream. Back up my phone. I have a couple of apps on my phone that use iCloud. Everything syncing between my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. I have one document stored in there with Pages, and will have more over time. I think it's great. The only thing I miss from the .Mac/MobileMe days is is iDisk. Nobody else has anything that worked like iDisk (as in mounting in the Finder as a network drive). I used to share out files using iDisk all the time.

P.S. I use Office too, and OneDrive for Office documents, though, if the MBU at MS built iCloud as an option in the Mac version of Office, I'd probably use it. The one advantage of OneDrive for Office docs though is the ability to use the web version of Office to do edits, if I ever needed to.

 

[IJ Reilly]

until you are in the middle of a presentation in class trying to open your "powerpoint" document which you worked on with keynote previously and all the formatting has been messed up, the font hasnt been supported by apple standards and my teacher is freaking out ... thats some real awesome experience i had using iWork in the past

Since this can easily happen when opening a PowerPoint presentation on someone else's PC, I don't sympathize with your complaint. Anyone who gets caught this way has nobody to blame but themselves.

 

[brendu]

Yup, iCloud doesn't work that way.

You want to keep different types of files together based on their content.

Apple believes this system is too difficult for beginners. People like you or I can work with it just fine, but lots of people don't really get to grips with the filesystem. Lots of studies have pointed to understanding the filesystem as the point where people who "can use" a computer become people who are really comfortable with a computer.

Personally, I agree that Apple is looking at the right problem, but I think they're trying to solve it in the wrong way. "Every App is an island" can work for some types of read-only data (like music), but for data which you edit it becomes too restrictive. Apple already had to build an exception to that rule for Photos, but they seemed to have glossed over thinking philosophically about why they had to build that exception and what it means for their theory that the App should manage all of its documents.

Agreed, apple needs to make a finder in icloud that works just like the Dropbox app.

 

[macs4nw]

It is a lost race. iWork for iCloud and for iOS are not only slowing but greatly limiting the capabilities of iWork for the Mac. It is sad.

https://medium.com/creative-business/ba2c9173f666

After reading that linked article, it seems that perhaps smart phones and tablets need to get smarter and more capable, before the bar will be raised simultaneously on all three versions of iWork.

Regrettable, and a shame really for all of us who are using iWork on their Macs running OSX.

 

[Michael Goff]

Photo stream
iWork/Documents/Storage
Address Book
Calendar
Safari
Reminders
Notes
Find My Phone
Keychain

What if you ever wanted to leave a pure Apple ecosystem?

I love iCloud. I use most everything. Email. Notes. Calendar. Contacts. Reminders. Find my iPhone. Photostream. Back up my phone. I have a couple of apps on my phone that use iCloud. Everything syncing between my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. I have one document stored in there with Pages, and will have more over time. I think it's great. The only thing I miss from the .Mac/MobileMe days is is iDisk. Nobody else has anything that worked like iDisk (as in mounting in the Finder as a network drive). I used to share out files using iDisk all the time.

P.S. I use Office too, and OneDrive for Office documents, though, if the MBU at MS built iCloud as an option in the Mac version of Office, I'd probably use it. The one advantage of OneDrive for Office docs though is the ability to use the web version of Office to do edits, if I ever needed to.

So it's pretty much the best thing for an Apple-focused person, it seems.

 

[itguy06]

If you don't mind me asking ... why?

There's nothing iCloud does that's special and a lot of things it doesn't do.

Oh, I dono.....


1. I can start a document on the iMac, save it to iCloud. Edit it on the road on the iPad. Or on the Macbook downstairs. Or anywhere I happen to be via the web. Changes are synced near immediately.

2. I can send someone a link to the document and they can look at it, make changes, etc.

3. It keeps things synced (notes, calendars, checklists) amongst my iDevices.

4. It integrates near flawlessly with my Macs. Moving files to/from it is as simple as clicking the file name in the title bar and picking my computer vs iCloud.

5. It is gorgeous on the web vs Google's FUGLY interface.

6. It's free vs MS's Office subscription.

Those are the things I think of off the top of my head. I won't even go into the photo sharing stuff which is light years ahead of the mess that is on Android. And I speak from almost a month with a Galaxy S5. Love the phone, Android still is a mess.

----------

indeed, the closed ecosystem without seeing any order or file system is a mess to me. so i want to open a keynote file from the cloud which means i have to open keynote first then find the file among 100th of files just thrown together in a list and if i want to open the pages document which belongs to the keynote file i have to open pages first and look through yet another list of files with no real order either.

You can create folders. On the iPad, just pop 2 files on top of each other (just like home screen icons) and it will make a folder. It's not intuitive and took me a while to figure out but works.

On the Mac do the same thing from the dialog box. Again not intuitive but it works.

 

[Michael Goff]

Oh, I dono.....


1. I can start a document on the iMac, save it to iCloud. Edit it on the road on the iPad. Or on the Macbook downstairs. Or anywhere I happen to be via the web. Changes are synced near immediately.

2. I can send someone a link to the document and they can look at it, make changes, etc.

3. It keeps things synced (notes, calendars, checklists) amongst my iDevices.

4. It integrates near flawlessly with my Macs. Moving files to/from it is as simple as clicking the file name in the title bar and picking my computer vs iCloud.

5. It is gorgeous on the web vs Google's FUGLY interface.

6. It's free vs MS's Office subscription.

Those are the things I think of off the top of my head. I won't even go into the photo sharing stuff which is light years ahead of the mess that is on Android. And I speak from almost a month with a Galaxy S5. Love the phone, Android still is a mess.

----------



You can create folders. On the iPad, just pop 2 files on top of each other (just like home screen icons) and it will make a folder. It's not intuitive and took me a while to figure out but works.

On the Mac do the same thing from the dialog box. Again not intuitive but it works.

You don't have to pay subscriptions for Office Online. >_>;

 

[n403xv]

I would only wish it actually DID this. Photos on my iphone rarely get stored seamlessly. Now on my Nexus, well, no need to worry. Fix it, Apple.

Works perfectly for me between my families 2 Iphones, 2 Ipads, MAC, and 3 Ipods.

Everything syncs and gets stored seamlessly

 

[kds1]

What if you ever wanted to leave a pure Apple ecosystem?

So it's pretty much the best thing for an Apple-focused person, it seems.

Yes, indeed it is. I am a 100% Apple person and have no desire to ever leave the Apple ecosystem.

 

[itguy06]

You don't have to pay subscriptions for Office Online. >_>;

I tend to avoid Microsoft like the cancer they are on society...

I've hated Microsoft since before it was cool to hate them.

And yes, I work in Corporate America and get along just fine without Microsoft. Open Office, though ugly is decent enough. Linux, while not a novice OS works fine on the desktop.



----------

Yes, indeed it is. I am a 100% Apple person and have no desire to ever leave the Apple ecosystem.

I agree and you could say the same about any ecosystem. They all make it easy to get in and hard to get out. That being said, the Apple ecosystem, while closed seems to be the best.

 

[henzpwnapple]

More often than you'd think, it's an amazing service.

More to add, be particular, iWorks is just using part - relatively big - of the iCloud service.

Doubting how many people using iCloud? I would say, if not all, most of the people using iDevices to play games are sync-ing via iCloud service.

----------

I tend to avoid Microsoft like the cancer they are on society...

I've hated Microsoft since before it was cool to hate them.

And yes, I work in Corporate America and get along just fine without Microsoft. Open Office, though ugly is decent enough. Linux, while not a novice OS works fine on the desktop.



----------



I agree and you could say the same about any ecosystem. They all make it easy to get in and hard to get out. That being said, the Apple ecosystem, while closed seems to be the best.

I entered the PC ecosystem when I was 12 with Win 3.1. And I have to say, it is easy to get out of (of cuz, Apple helped me haha) LOL

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Works perfectly for me between my families 2 Iphones, 2 Ipads, MAC, and 3 Ipods.

Everything syncs and gets stored seamlessly

I have to agree this. Except.. sometimes my Notes just having hard time showing up. But those are just for work. As long as the game data sync, I am happy with it.

LOL

 

[Worf]

I still don't understand why I'd want to use a web version of iWork over a native version for the Mac or iOS.

The on-the-go live updating and collaboration is definitely handy when you're studying for a test.

 

[vista980622]

Wow! They finally added a lot of asian fonts. Really useful for someone who speaks Chinese.

 

[Dekema2]

I really want to use iCloud for all my documents, badly. But the problems come in when I'm typing a paper for class and need to insert page numbers, special formatting and things you can get from the desktop version. Unfortunately at the request of one of my professors, I had to use Google Docs as an online solution.

I recognize that this is still in the Beta phase, but if Apple wants to bring this software to the masses can't they implement all features instead of many? And once again, I try to use iWork for everything but it's incidents like that one that prevent me from working efficiently.

 

[ChrisA]

Wait.

People use iCloud?

Yes. I have two Macs but when I'm at school editing a paper I just use any random iMac in the library and my work is there. I save it and go home and continue where I left off.

This is ideal, no need move data around or have files stuck on a computer that is not with you.

No, don't say the files will disappear someday. Everyone still needs backups.

 

[BvizioN]

Yes. Where have you been?

He have been living under the rock last few years

 

[DamoTheBrave]

Wait.

People use iCloud?

I absolutely do - especially the iWork feature. I agree that the Mac version needs more features but it's obviously being rapidly developed and is getting better all the time. I no longer use Word or PPT because iWork is so much more convenient and yes - accessing anywhere via the browser is fantastic. Numbers still needs work though.

 

[DamoTheBrave]

The "apps-are-document-containers" paradigm causing files to be hidden in iOS is the biggest mistake of Apple in recent years. And iCloud is the glue that links this failure to MacOSX.

As a result, it’s a confusing mess on both sides. As long as user files are not directly accessible like in Dropbox, iCloud will remain a weird cloud service that no-one fully understands. Let alone pay for it.

Still, the solution is simple: introduce a central Documents app on iOS that all apps can access (docs, music, video, …) with support for sharing, syncing, airdrop, … No more iTunes file sharing crap, no more duplicate files in each app, no more hidden iCloud stuff.

Tend to agree with you on this. I think the ios user base is really ready for it.

 

[Chundles]

I still don't understand why I'd want to use a web version of iWork over a native version for the Mac or iOS.

Windows users - they all now have an almost exact replica of iWork for the Mac on their Windows machine, it just happens to run in the browser.

Being able to login on any machine and fix a document is great.

 

[silvetti]

I still don't understand why I'd want to use a web version of iWork over a native version for the Mac or iOS.

Because at work I don't have a Mac and it's much easier to use iCloud on a 24 inch screen than on an iPad or iPhone.

 

[Jambalaya]

How about some more total storage space for iCloud? I pay $40/yr for 20GB just so I can backup my iPad and iPhone. For the free tier, you should at least get 5GB per device so you don't have to have different iCloud accounts for each device.

Why not backup to your computer for free ?

 

[HenryDJP]

I still don't understand why I'd want to use a web version of iWork over a native version for the Mac or iOS.

You really don't understand that? I'll give you just one reason out of a few. You may need to finish up a document for a work project and you don't have your Mac with you or better still you don't own a portable Mac, but rather your work is done on an iMac.

Well you can simply jump on any computer nearby, log into iCloud and finish your project. Simple as that.

 

[yjchua95]

Will this work on surface pro 3

It will, through IE, Chrome, Firefox or any other web browser.

Just go to iCloud.com and login with an Apple ID. Then you've access to iWork on iCloud.