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Pages 08 - Don't purchase it if you email files using web email accounts!!

Hawkeye411

Hawkeye411

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 6, 2007
1,833
12
Canada EH!!!
If you collaborate with others and use web-based email, do yourself a favor and don't purchase iWork 08. Before you can email a Pages document to someone, you need to zip the file. Then if you are using certain web based email programs, you will need to change the file extension from .zip to something else. Then the person who receives the file will need to correct the file extension. Then they will need to unzip the file before they can open it.

You don't have this problem if you use MS Word in Office. (Personally I would rather not purchase ANY MS software but MS Office is better in this situation).

Cheers.
 
Why do you need to zip the file? What is actually forcing you to do that?

Some web-based email providers are wary of .zip files because of potential virus threats - that's not Pages's fault.

SL
 
Because you can't attach the Pages file unless you zip it!!

You can't simply attach the pages file that iWork creates!!!
 
Yeah it's true that you can't email a Pages document without some kind of compression because a file is actually a package of files. I personally haven't encountered problems emailing zip files but it doesn't surprise me. Maybe you could just compress it using a different format?
 
Ah, so a Pages file is really a 'package', like .app files and GarageBand files. Most other operating systems (and web mail clients) will simply view this as a folder of files, not as a file.

That explains it. Sounds like a pain in the butt. :(

SL
 
It's not a file, it's folder. Keynote works the same way. The problem really isn't with Pages, it's with the way web mail accounts handle all folders -- which is not at all, usually.
 
superleccy said:
Ah, so a Pages file is really a 'package', like .app files and GarageBand files. Most other operating systems will simply view this as a folder of files, not as a file.
Click to expand...

I don't quite understand the issue. Why are you e-mailing Pages files to non-Windows operating systems? You can't edit .Pages files without Pages. There is no third-party solution on Windows that I'm aware of that opens and edits Pages files.

Why not export your Pages file as a .DOC?
 
IJ Reilly said:
It's not a file, it's folder. Keynote works the same way. The problem really isn't with Pages, it's with the way web mail accounts handle all folders -- which is not at all, usually.
Click to expand...

Isn't this the way the Word 2007 (.docx) files are built: as a "package" containing XML styling files, etc. I can't verify this, but I remember trying to access .docx documents from early adopters of Office 2007, to import into InDesign. One rough trick was to unzip the .docx file, which then allowed you to view it as a package from which you can access the unformatted (and mostly unusable) raw text stream.
 
jaw04005 said:
I don't quite understand the issue. Why are you e-mailing Pages files to non-Windows operating systems? You can't edit .Pages files without Pages. There is no third-party solution on Windows that I'm aware of that opens and edits Pages files.

Why not export your Pages' file as a .DOC?
Click to expand...

LOL ... I am not emailing the file to another operating system. I don't think you understand the issue. When you view an iWork file on OS X it appears as a single file when it fact it's a "link" to a folder.

I discovered this problem while in the lab yesterday. Read the link that I provided earlier in this thread for a description of the problem.

Anyway ... regardless of the reason, you can't send Pages files using web based email so, if you need to use web based email, iWork is not the best solution for you.
 
That's strange...

I can email pages documents using the Mail.App. Or maybe that's because I use a .Mac account.

But I always export my documents to .pdf when I send them. Always. I don't trust exporting to .doc since things might be lost in the process.
 
or you know, instead of saving it as a pages file, save it in Rich Text Format so any word processor can open it, and should cause zero problems sending
 
You're having two, very different issues. Instead of leaping to defend yourself and assume what you think you know is a forgone conclusion, take a deep breath, step back and consider it in two pieces...

First, it seems that Pages documents are saved as a "package" of many files instead of flat, one-piece file like you might be used to. You are saying that your web-based email provider doesn't play well with these files so you have to enclose them in a zip container, correct?

That's a problem with your email service provider I'd say, not with Apple or Pages. In fact, more specifically it looks like a browser support issue (meaning whatever browser you're trying to access your mail with).

It looks like someone has given you a workaround which is to zip it, but whomever you're sending the file to (or again, your service provider maybe) isn't allowing zip attachments. This is common, especially on small office networks. My company is the same way. Our firewall strips out ALL zip files in incoming mail as part of our anti-virus plan.

We give the exact same workaround to our employees and their contacts. Renaming the extension from whatever.zip to whatever.zap sidesteps the firewall. Again, it's not Apple to blame for this.

What web-based email are you using anyway? And what browser? Do you HAVE to send the actual .pages file? Is it feasible for you to export the file to RTF or Doc or anything else to send around? Sending your working .pages files feels to me like the president & vice-president flying on the same plane together. If it goes down you're... well, in trouble. Keeping a master to yourself is good practice, I'd suggest.
 
RumMunkey said:
Sending your working .pages files feels to me like the president & vice-president flying on the same plane together. If it goes down you're... well, in trouble. Keeping a master to yourself is good practice, I'd suggest.
Click to expand...
Erm... perhaps the OP wants another Mac/Pages user to be able to edit the document in its original form? Agreed, so in some cases it may not be best practice for document control... but it is a perfectly reasonable need.

Also, how the hell is the average computer user, particularly one coming from a Windows background, supposed to know that some files in OS X aren't really files, but folders disguised as files? Or that .zip isn't the only option for compressing files?

Sure, web-based email clients need to sort themselves out and support sending OS X Packages as attachments. But equally, the designers of Pages should have forseen that a Pages document might, at some point during its lifecycle, have to travel through Mac-unfriendly systems.

Whatever. The issue is sorted anyway.
SL
 
superleccy said:
Erm... perhaps the OP wants another Mac/Pages user to be able to edit the document in its original form? Agreed, so in some cases it may not be best practice for document control... but it is a perfectly reasonable need.
Click to expand...

Ok sure. No problem. Work however you like. If he's sending to another Mac/Pages user it shoudl even be simpler.. even with webmail. How about running Gmail through Mail.app? I dunno, there's gotta be a simple way (hell, I wasn;t even adverse to the .zip workaround).

superleccy said:
Also, how the hell is the average computer user, particularly one coming from a Windows background, supposed to know that some files in OS X aren't really files, but folders disguised as files? Or that .zip isn't the only option for compressing files?
Click to expand...

I dunno? what's that got to do with anything? Maybe he'll learn by asking on a forum and nice users like you and I will try and help out. That's probably how I learned about container files.

superleccy said:
Sure, web-based email clients need to sort themselves out and support sending OS X Packages as attachments. But equally, the designers of Pages should have forseen that a Pages document might, at some point during its lifecycle, have to travel through Mac-unfriendly systems.
Click to expand...

Sure. Agreed. But in the meantime, I'm just trying to help a guy out with other suggestions. Did I come off as angry or something?
 
RumMunkey said:
Ok sure. No problem. Work however you like. If he's sending to another Mac/Pages user it shoudl even be simpler.. even with webmail. How about running Gmail through Mail.app? I dunno, there's gotta be a simple way (hell, I wasn;t even adverse to the .zip workaround).



I dunno? what's that got to do with anything? Maybe he'll learn by asking on a forum and nice users like you and I will try and help out. That's probably how I learned about container files.



Sure. Agreed. But in the meantime, I'm just trying to help a guy out with other suggestions. Did I come off as angry or something?
Click to expand...

Don't get upset. I love my Macs ( I own 2 iMac G3, 1 iBook G4, 1 Macbook, 1 PowerMac G5 and 3 new Aluminum iMacs 24". I have never had a problem with any Mac software until now. I just wanted warn people that under the specific circumstances, listed earlier, that MS Office is probably an easier and better solution.

I'm using the latest version of OS X and I am using the latest version of Safari. I'm using the latest version of everything as a matter of fact.

No need to get upset. I'm guessing that iWork works great for you. However .... as I have already said .... it doesn't work well if you are using many web based email services ... sure you can compress the file using many different methods or zip the files and change the extension. However .... the fact remains that .. in this case ... the easiest solution is to purchase and use MS Office. You simply add the .doc file to the email.

I didn't know that there was a potential problem when I purchased iWork and I just wanted to let other users know that the problem exists. I didn't want to know that you do not personally have a problem with iWork. I'm happy for you that it works for you. If you are using the Mail program that comes with your Mac you won't have a problem and it appears that certain web based email services don't have this issue. However, many web based email services do.

I wasn't looking for a solution. In fact, in my case, if I REALLY want to use iWork, my solution is to compress the files before sending them (as I already stated). However, the easiest solution is to purchase MS Office and use Word and simply type my document, send it to my collaborator, let him/her make and track changes, then send it back to me, then I can review the suggested changes etc. etc. etc. ALL without compressing, changing file extension etc. etc. etc.

To clarify!!!! Don't purchase Pages 08 if you need to email the Pages files using a web based email service if you want the other user to EASILY open and edit and return your file with changes.

Enough said!!

Cheers.
:):apple:
.
No Offense.
 
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