Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Which word processor?
- Thread starter martinlird
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Pages
Word MS Office 2011
Open Office
Neo Office
Bean
Mariner Write
Nisus Writer
All have their advantages and disadvantages
Word MS Office 2011
Open Office
Neo Office
Bean
Mariner Write
Nisus Writer
All have their advantages and disadvantages
Depends on your needs and your budget. Pages is excellent Libre office is decent and free and of course there's also Microsoft office. Personally I prefer Pages.
Yeah I forgot about Bean. An excellent free alternative. Loads really fast and feels very light weight. Nice overall features just not as powerful as Pages. But like MacDawg said, depends on your needs.
I love Pages. I tampered with Open Office for a bit but ultimately decided to keep it Mac native. If I have to convert to .doc (damn professors and their Windows junk), Pages makes it easy. Or, if I feel like being a snob, I'll attach it as an exported PDF 
If I have to convert to .doc (damn professors and their Windows junk), Pages makes it easy. Or, if I feel like being a snob, I'll attach it as an exported PDF
I don't see how you can call .doc junk when Apple doesn't even try and make the Pages file format interoperable and open.
FYI, the first use of the .doc format was on Mac OS, not Windows.
Documents made in the latest version of Pages won't open at all in the previous version!
Oh and please don't use a PDF unless your document is absolutely final and will never need to be edited.
Bean is awesome. I use it a lot. I think it'll open .doc files too, but may screw with any fancy formatting. But it's what I'd use.
I hear a lot of very good things about scrivener too, but don't write enough really to pay for anything!
For pure text, pretty much nothing, anywhere, ever beats notational velocity(or nvALT) with a little help from simplenote
I hear a lot of very good things about scrivener too, but don't write enough really to pay for anything!
For pure text, pretty much nothing, anywhere, ever beats notational velocity(or nvALT) with a little help from simplenote
Either Microsoft Word 2011 or Pages 09. Depends if you'd be relying on iCloud documents backup a lot and features like auto save/versions. Word's lacking in those areas.
Some good alternatives to Office,
The main thing I'm after is compatibility, as works computers are all windows, so being able to quickly transfer to .doc is paramount.
I've heard pages is good at this, but the reason i am refraining from buying office for mac, is mainly the price! £70 for something I won't use too much but need.
How easy is it to transfer into .doc with pages?
cheers
The main thing I'm after is compatibility, as works computers are all windows, so being able to quickly transfer to .doc is paramount.
I've heard pages is good at this, but the reason i am refraining from buying office for mac, is mainly the price! £70 for something I won't use too much but need.
How easy is it to transfer into .doc with pages?
cheers
Another vote for Bean. Not as powerful as Pages, but I have yet to find any need I have it could not meet.
And it's FREE!
And it's FREE!
If you're looking for the best and the standard, well then that's MS Word. While Pages, Libre Office and the like are good, they do not offer the same level of features that Word offers.
I've used Open Office, Neo Office, Pages and various other word processors. They're not bad, but they cannot the grand-daddy that beats them is Word
In that case, go for Microsoft Office. This is the reason I use it. I have not used pages but I imagine it would be a hassle converting between .pages and .doc all the time.
Also, I imagine the conversion (opening/exporting in different formats) would not always work perfectly. Although this probably depends on the complexity of the documents you work on. If the formatting is very simple, I guess there wouldn't be any conversion issues. I also know someone who uses openoffice or libreoffice but sets the default file format to .doc instead of .odt (question - can the equivalent thing be done in pages?). They have not had any problems doing this but they don't work with long documents with complex formatting.
I don't know about your work situation, but in the long run it's easier to use Word if your office mates all use it. Microsoft also has a great home use program; you can buy Office for Mac for your own home use if you have certain kinds of licensed copies in the workplace, basically the cost of shipping the disks. So check to see if you're eligible.
Rob
Rob