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iWork vs Office vs something else (merged)
- Thread starter Drew017
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If you have to inter-work with Office users, using anything other than very plain documents, then you're pretty much stuck with Office.
LibreOffice is worth a try - since its free. However, in my experience moving files between Office and something else almost works - but unfortunately "almost" isn't good enough if you're doing it daily.
While it will get the text and basic styles across, some of the layout, formatting or graphics usually gets messed up.
LibreOffice is worth a try - since its free. However, in my experience moving files between Office and something else almost works - but unfortunately "almost" isn't good enough if you're doing it daily.
While it will get the text and basic styles across, some of the layout, formatting or graphics usually gets messed up.
iWork or Office for Mac
Hello there guys. I'm a Windows user but I'm looking to buy the new MacBook Air for school because of the battery life and the value. I don't believe Windows laptops are as good all round.
Anyway, I use Word quite a bit on my Windows 7 desktop but I'll need either Office or iWork for notes and work. Would you get Office because it all works better or should I get iWork because it will be a better experience on Mac. Does iWork work well with Office on PC? In other words, if I create a Pages document, will the layout be the exact same on Office for Windows?
Thanks for the help, it's much appreciated.
Hello there guys. I'm a Windows user but I'm looking to buy the new MacBook Air for school because of the battery life and the value. I don't believe Windows laptops are as good all round.
Anyway, I use Word quite a bit on my Windows 7 desktop but I'll need either Office or iWork for notes and work. Would you get Office because it all works better or should I get iWork because it will be a better experience on Mac. Does iWork work well with Office on PC? In other words, if I create a Pages document, will the layout be the exact same on Office for Windows?
Thanks for the help, it's much appreciated.
If you use Office 2010, then get Office. The Office versions 2010 and 2011 (Mac version) are very similar. Compatibility between Pages and Word isn't 100%, but it's a lot better than compatibility between Keynote and PowerPoint. Not able to comment on Numbers' compatibility. Haven't used it enough.
If you're running Lion or Mountain Lion, be aware that Outlook for Mac can't import e-mails from Mail from either of these (or MBOX archives created in Lion or Mountain Lion).
MicroSlop has never fixed this issue.
MicroSlop has never fixed this issue.
I've been using Office for Mac 2008 for several years in college. I've never had an issue with someone being able to open a file from me on a PC. I grew up using PCs and Office 2003, and the switch was very easy.
My parents bought iWork for their MacBook Pro and ended up using one of my Office licenses.
Currently you can still buy Office for Mac 2011 or you can buy a 365 subscription which will download 2011 onto Macs. It's also possible there will be an Office for Mac 2014 next year.
I've never used iWork, so I can't really compare them.
If you use Outlook regularly, there are some issues I've heard. I personally use Mail and Google Calender synced to iCal. I could never get Entourage (2008's Outlook) to work properly with my school exchange account.
My parents bought iWork for their MacBook Pro and ended up using one of my Office licenses.
Currently you can still buy Office for Mac 2011 or you can buy a 365 subscription which will download 2011 onto Macs. It's also possible there will be an Office for Mac 2014 next year.
I've never used iWork, so I can't really compare them.
If you use Outlook regularly, there are some issues I've heard. I personally use Mail and Google Calender synced to iCal. I could never get Entourage (2008's Outlook) to work properly with my school exchange account.
As someone who uses iWork and Office 2011 on my Macs, and Office 2010 Windows at work, I can recommend Office to cover all your bases. I use Dropbox to sync files across systems and I have yet to encounter a compatibility problem with Office. Microsoft's SkyDrive service also works flawlessly. My one wish would be a Mac version of Access as that's the app I use most at work.
Pages and Numbers do not work with Office files. You have to import/export files, which works so long as the files are simple. The more complex (like tables, floating graphics, complex header/footer, or notes), the more problems you will find. iWork files are also 10x the size of the same Office .docx or .xlsx files.
I try to keep my projects separate. I use iWork if I want a highly stylized and graphical printed or PDF output. Numbers has one advantage over Excel in that you can put multiple tables and graphs on one page, more like a desktop publishing suite. Pages also handles imbedded graphics and pictures easier (I won't say better) than Word.
Pages and Numbers do not work with Office files. You have to import/export files, which works so long as the files are simple. The more complex (like tables, floating graphics, complex header/footer, or notes), the more problems you will find. iWork files are also 10x the size of the same Office .docx or .xlsx files.
I try to keep my projects separate. I use iWork if I want a highly stylized and graphical printed or PDF output. Numbers has one advantage over Excel in that you can put multiple tables and graphs on one page, more like a desktop publishing suite. Pages also handles imbedded graphics and pictures easier (I won't say better) than Word.
If you've built up "expertise/familiarity" in MS Word and you're headed to school, you should probably get Office 2011 for Mac and keep your productivity high.
Try out the new Pages/Keynote/Numbers when it arrives later this year, and by then you'll also be better equipped to figure out whether it meets your needs.
Jose
www.onekerato.com/ebooks.html
Try out the new Pages/Keynote/Numbers when it arrives later this year, and by then you'll also be better equipped to figure out whether it meets your needs.
Jose
www.onekerato.com/ebooks.html
True, however there are convertors that will take Windows Outlook mail - to OSX. O2M from Littlemachines is good and inexpensive.
As for Office vs iWorks; if you need pretty much flawless document interchange stick with Office. If you don't, iWorks or even NeoOffice/OpenOffice is a good free alternative.
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I went back to university last year and they explicitly wanted documents in word format.
Initially I used Pages and converted over to Word format- I had reports from the lecturers that some of the formatting was off, esp footnotes.
Ended up buying the student version of Office and all sorted.
I still prefer writing in Pages but ended up using Word for my final essays.
Initially I used Pages and converted over to Word format- I had reports from the lecturers that some of the formatting was off, esp footnotes.
Ended up buying the student version of Office and all sorted.
I still prefer writing in Pages but ended up using Word for my final essays.
In your article you mention
Outlook is NOT included in the H&S version. The H&B version that includes Outlook is $189.99 for a 1Pack (installs on one computer) or $225.98 for (1 User/2 Installs) These are Amazon prices.
No one has mentioned that Office 2008 still works with Mountain Lion. Office 2008 H&S is $129.95 includes Entourage and comes with 3 licenses. Each license entitles you to install on 1 "desktop" + 1 "portable" Mac.
You can Version & License Information here for both Office 2011 and Office 2008:
http://www.office.mvps.org/version/index.html
Diane,
The article is over a year old, and the pricing information is out of date. Thank you for your comments. I will update the article with the correct pricing and descriptions.
I personally would not recommend office 2008, as its performance and its document compatibility with the Windows version of Office is lacking compared with Office for Mac 2011.
James
If you can afford it, Id say MS office. I too came from windows recently, but have been with iOS for years now. I personally am not too fond of the iWork bundle (Ive only used it on iOS though) it lacked features I needed that I use in MS word (such as equation builder). Also when opening .docx files in Pages, the layout was different: spacing off, certain fonts arent compatible, templates I used are gone, etc. With MS word you keep everything you are used to, and its much better for crossover between mac and PCs.
If you want Outlook but don't want to pay the premium for the Office suite that has it, check with your email provider. Some plans include Outlook.
iWork vs Office for Mac
Hi! I'm going to switch to Mac this spring (YAY!
) but I'm little bit confused. is iWork %100 compatible with office for PC? I have to run some power point, word and excel files at the school. Will document that created with iWork work with office for PC? iWork looks much better than MS office for mac also I don't want to pay money for microsoft. Have you seen Surface vs iPad commercial? It got really angry beacuse of that commercial and microsoft fanboys (people never used Macs even at the Apple Store and thinks PCs are better beacuse of no reason ). So which one should I buy? (Sorry for my bad english)
Hi! I'm going to switch to Mac this spring (YAY!
) but I'm little bit confused. is iWork %100 compatible with office for PC? I have to run some power point, word and excel files at the school. Will document that created with iWork work with office for PC? iWork looks much better than MS office for mac also I don't want to pay money for microsoft. Have you seen Surface vs iPad commercial? It got really angry beacuse of that commercial and microsoft fanboys (people never used Macs even at the Apple Store and thinks PCs are better beacuse of no reason ). So which one should I buy? (Sorry for my bad english)
Basically iWork & MS Office is compatible. But in-depth use, some formatting styles, some fonts etc. didn't compatible each other.
In other terms, sometimes a document created in MS Office Mac with OS X fonts not %100 compatible with MS Office PC, because you can not embed fonts in Office Mac.
In other terms, sometimes a document created in MS Office Mac with OS X fonts not %100 compatible with MS Office PC, because you can not embed fonts in Office Mac.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
If you want near perfect file compatibility when passing Office files back & forth between people with Macs and people with PCs you need Office. iWork is pretty good about reading & writing Office files but you are going to lose various formatting, layouts, etc.
If you are only concerned about simple word-dominated documents, Pages can probably be your substitute for Word. However, as soon as you step it up to fancier documents, you're at increasing risk of file incompatibilities.
Office for Mac is not perfect either when transferring files back & forth to/from Windows version of Office but it does a much better job of maintaining designs of documents a couple of notches above simple Word docs, simple Power Point docs, etc.
In my own case, I needed complete compatibility with the Windows version so neither are good enough. I went with Parallels and the Windows version of Office running in Coherence mode (open windows right on my Mac desktop). Obviously, there are no file format issues this way since it is the Windows versions of Office.
Long story short: it depends on your own use. Simple documents can probably translate well to/from iWork. Complexity will be your enemy, especially if you have to deliver to Windows-using parties. The degree of complexity (or certain functionality not available in iWork) may drive the Office for Mac purchase. Perfect compatibility requires Windows (or Parallels or similar plus Windows plus Office for Windows).
If you are only concerned about simple word-dominated documents, Pages can probably be your substitute for Word. However, as soon as you step it up to fancier documents, you're at increasing risk of file incompatibilities.
Office for Mac is not perfect either when transferring files back & forth to/from Windows version of Office but it does a much better job of maintaining designs of documents a couple of notches above simple Word docs, simple Power Point docs, etc.
In my own case, I needed complete compatibility with the Windows version so neither are good enough. I went with Parallels and the Windows version of Office running in Coherence mode (open windows right on my Mac desktop). Obviously, there are no file format issues this way since it is the Windows versions of Office.
Long story short: it depends on your own use. Simple documents can probably translate well to/from iWork. Complexity will be your enemy, especially if you have to deliver to Windows-using parties. The degree of complexity (or certain functionality not available in iWork) may drive the Office for Mac purchase. Perfect compatibility requires Windows (or Parallels or similar plus Windows plus Office for Windows).
In my experience, simple documents and spreadsheets will move fairly seamlessly between iWork and Office.
Pages has been able to handle just about every Word docx document I've thrown at it. The more complex, the more little issues it has... tables and floating text boxes are your enemy. Pages has superior layout tools in my opinion... the alignment guides for aligning objects are pure genius. Word doesn't have that so you have to rely on the barely visible markers on the rulers to center floating objects. Using Pages, I've designed complex, multi-layered flyers with graphics, text boxes, angled and offset alignments, drop shadows, and semi-opaque backgrounds literally in minutes. The same project in Word can take hours and still not look as clean and professional.
Numbers will import most Excel xlsx files with ease. Some issues with custom formats but 95% of the time it's not a problem to fix real quick. Numbers doesn't support vertical alignment and floating graphics will move around on you. Print range, macros, and VBA are also not supported. The real problem is Numbers back to Excel... Excel doesn't support multiple tables on the same page so Numbers breaks them in to separate tabs. None of the cool looking Numbers templates will export as is to Excel.
I've never really used Keynote so I can't say anything either way about it.
Overall, iWork has a simpler and more elegant user experience. You can quickly format rather complex documents since everything is a clickable object and you don't have to dig through menus and submenus to do something. But Pages and Numbers are designed for printed or PDF output, not collaboration, which Office is still king of. The best point iWork has going for it is $60 for the whole suite, as opposed to $110 for Office Home/Student or $165 for Office Home/Business.
Of course there's always the free option of LibreOffice. If that doesn't work for you, all it's cost you is 400Mb of hard drive space.
Pages has been able to handle just about every Word docx document I've thrown at it. The more complex, the more little issues it has... tables and floating text boxes are your enemy. Pages has superior layout tools in my opinion... the alignment guides for aligning objects are pure genius. Word doesn't have that so you have to rely on the barely visible markers on the rulers to center floating objects. Using Pages, I've designed complex, multi-layered flyers with graphics, text boxes, angled and offset alignments, drop shadows, and semi-opaque backgrounds literally in minutes. The same project in Word can take hours and still not look as clean and professional.
Numbers will import most Excel xlsx files with ease. Some issues with custom formats but 95% of the time it's not a problem to fix real quick. Numbers doesn't support vertical alignment and floating graphics will move around on you. Print range, macros, and VBA are also not supported. The real problem is Numbers back to Excel... Excel doesn't support multiple tables on the same page so Numbers breaks them in to separate tabs. None of the cool looking Numbers templates will export as is to Excel.
I've never really used Keynote so I can't say anything either way about it.
Overall, iWork has a simpler and more elegant user experience. You can quickly format rather complex documents since everything is a clickable object and you don't have to dig through menus and submenus to do something. But Pages and Numbers are designed for printed or PDF output, not collaboration, which Office is still king of. The best point iWork has going for it is $60 for the whole suite, as opposed to $110 for Office Home/Student or $165 for Office Home/Business.
Of course there's always the free option of LibreOffice. If that doesn't work for you, all it's cost you is 400Mb of hard drive space.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
It's probably not just importing though... OP probably needs export too. That's where a lot of issues can pop and you can't really be sure if what you see in Pages is what the Professor will see when you export it to Word and send it to them.
OP asks for 100% compatibility. He won't get that with iWork
OP asks for 100% compatibility. He won't get that with iWork