Word for Mac.... What to get ?????

[motulist]

You can Export to Word, but I just tried it and opened the resulting file in NeoOffice and the formatting is all over the place.

Unless someone needs to edit the document you're better off hitting print and 'Save as pdf'

Depending on how extensive your formatting is, you could save as an RTF file which is usually pretty perfectly reproduced on all software. I've never tried this with a Pages to Word move, just basing it on previous experience. The way the rtf file looks when you save and reopen it in Pages should be exactly how it looks in Word.

 

[TygerMac]

Thanks j26 and motulist! I wanted to stay away from M$ as much as possible! If you catch my drift. Having used Linux for years, I do like the way that OpenOffice can integrate with M$ Office if it must. Though I could save my Pages file as a .pdf or a .rtf, it's just easier to save it as a .doc file. Thanks for the responses though.

 

[ozzy6900]

I need Word for my iMac but i don not need the whole package like MS Office 08'

$149.00 for something that i only need 1 or the 5 products in it is a waste... I searched and cant find just word. It does not even need to be the newest version etc...

confused and need some direction

THANKS !!!

I tried iWork on my son's iMac. I imported a Word 2003 document with a lot of custom work in it. I made some changes through iWork then saved back on the PC (through the home network) as an MS Word Document (.doc). I then went to the PC and opened it in Office 2003 and there was no problem. The changes took and you can't tell they were done in iWork.

Just my 2¢

 

[a456]

I own 2004 Word for Mac complete but ...

I can't stand it. Too invasive.

Believe it or not, I use the earliest 2001 Word for Mac OSX.

Pick it up cheap off Craigslist.

Be careful with Word v.X it has limitations - e.g. it doesn't allow you to use quite a large number of special characters, and it doesn't allow long filenames. In addition, Entourage was unusable when I had it installed because of its total instability. Word 2004 is the best version in my opinion and you get VB support not present in 2008.

 

[rhett7660]

Has anybody tried opening an iWorks doc in MS word? Not one of the alternatives? If so was it any different?

I have been looking but I am also using using word on my VM partition. But I want to stop having to go to windows for the most part. However I guess if all you are doing is mailing it off then pdf would be just fine.

 

[savanahrose]

I use iwork and I love it. The salesperson at the Apple store sold me on it. It does what office does but a heck of alot cheaper. I tried Neo office but couldnt quite get it to work properly on my mac. Operator error I guess.

 

[iPoodOverZune]

I would suggest Mellel
http://www.redlers.com/
Mellel plus Bookends is a great combination for work requiring a lot of citations
http://www.sonnysoftware.com/

and Pages (part of iWork)
Pages is great for it's layout functions.

Mellel has one major problem or drawback i.e., lack of wrap text around figures. That is just a deal-breaker for me when writing thesis or academic papers such as for journals. The inline text insertion mode for figures is only useful if you insert your figures at the end of writing or you don't format/edit your documents that much.

 

[skaertus]

I am looking for a word processor for my computer. I have read some pretty bad reviews of Microsoft Office and do not wish to gum up my computer with their whole suite of products (or waste the money for all of them) either.

What is a good all around word processor for Mac that will be able to handle the needs of a university student writing essays and research papers, etc?

Mellel is the most suitable word processor for academic use. It focus on styles and has great features for writing research papers (such as well-designed cross-references and good integration with Bookends and Sente, bibliographic software). Some features, especially layout-driven ones, are missing. You have to get accostumed to it before you get the best out of it. An academic license of Mellel will cost you US$ 35. You should try the demo.

Word, however, is the standard also on the Mac. Word 2008 does not resemble Word 2007 (for Windows) at all, although it was supposed to be its Mac counterpart. Word 2007 is an elegant and streamlined word processor and has an optimized memory usage. Word 2008 is a memory hog, and it is buggy. However, it is still Microsoft Word - the industry's standard - and, if you really need it, it's available for the Mac. It has lots of features and tries to be everything for everybody - not always in the best way - and it is driven towards corporate environments.

Pages is more consumer-oriented, but it's too layout-driven. You could easily create a newsletter and lots of cool and colored stuff. And its compatibility with Word is good. But it's not the best option for austere research papers. It lacks cross-references, which is a must-have for researchers.

Nisus Writer Pro is a good option. It is a full-featured word processor and it is great for general use. It would be my second option for writing research papers (right behind Mellel, which is simply genious for that matter). It is, however, considerably more expensive than Mellel.

If you want a free option, you may try OpenOffice.org. A slow, sluggish memory hog, with a bad interface, but it has a lot of features and it is a serious rival to Word. Bean is also free, but its lack of features should be a deal-breaker to most researchers.

 

[Cap41]

Does it have to be Word for Mac or can we use a copy of the actual MS one? I am lost on how that works.
I can get about any MS program I need as I am an educator, but they don't have anything for Macs.

Yes it does have to be for MAc, OR, If you have a program called Crossover, you can install the PC version.

Crossover is a program that allows you to run windows applications on a mac.

 

[gotenks05]

Yes it does have to be for MAc, OR, If you have a program called Crossover, you can install the PC version.

Crossover is a program that allows you to run windows applications on a mac.

If you're going that route, you can just get WINE itself. The crossover site should give you the link there. It was fairly easy to install, for me at least. There is also Darwine, but good luck on trying to find the intel version. Both Darwine and WINE are free, unlike Crossover.

 

[skaertus]

If you're going that route, you can just get WINE itself. The crossover site should give you the link there. It was fairly easy to install, for me at least. There is also Darwine, but good luck on trying to find the intel version. Both Darwine and WINE are free, unlike Crossover.

If you're going that route, you should probably stick with Windows...

 

[automan98]

I need Word for my iMac but i don not need the whole package like MS Office 08'

$149.00 for something that i only need 1 or the 5 products in it is a waste... I searched and cant find just word. It does not even need to be the newest version etc...

confused and need some direction

THANKS !!!

I'm sure you'll find you really don't need Word. Pages or something like OpenOffice should more than meet your needs for a fraction of the price.

 

[skaertus]

I'm sure you'll find you really don't need Word. Pages or something like OpenOffice should more than meet your needs for a fraction of the price.

Then, again, it would depend on your needs. If you have a specific feature (or a specific set of features) that only Microsoft Word has, then you're gonna need Word. Truth be told, it is still the industry standard and it has lots of features which OpenOffice.org Writer and Pages lack.

 

[MatLane]

Microsoft Word 2008 is quite nice, like using it.


iWorks might be a good option for you dude.


Apples office pack


I think its a lot better than Microsoft's package and very affordable.

If you don't want to buy anything then Open Office is a good way to go

 

[skaertus]

Microsoft Word 2008 is quite nice, like using it.

I wouldn't say "nice". It hogs memory and does not integrate well with Spaces. Bad piece of software, not comparable to the great Word 2007 for Windows. But it does the job well.

iWorks might be a good option for you dude.

It might be, depending on what you want.

I think its a lot better than Microsoft's package and very affordable.

It's a better piece of software, but it may lack features that are important to you.

If you don't want to buy anything then Open Office is a good way to go

Well, in fact it's practically the only way to go if you want an office suite for Mac for free...