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Word or Pages?

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It's an option but you do tend to go with what you're used to.
I would say 90% of my work is Word docs and the PowerPoint and excel are only used for viewing what's been sent to me as opposed to creating on it. I bypassed Vista as it got hideous press and only really used XP and before that Win 98 if I remember correctly? Like many though you get swayed to Apple because everyone you ever talk to who is on a Mac and I mean everyone always told me I was mad not to go with it and here I am. And thank god forums like this exist with great people helping
 
Peter Franks said:
I would say 90% of my work is Word docs and the PowerPoint and excel are only used for viewing what's been sent to me as opposed to creating on it.
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Depending on the versions of word/ powerpoint etc, windows has issues opening and viewing files correctly, unless both ends are using exactly the same thing (never used to be an issue!).

If you just want to view, then I think all the suggestions made will do this. I was surprised how many different file formats OSX would at least open (usually in Preview) without any extra software.

However prices through the app store for some applications is really very good!
 
GGJstudios said:
Word does have that. You can drag and drop pics in a Word document, resize, align, etc. I can do all that in Word 2008.
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I could drag, but never drop in Word on PC. You had to import image first, never a drag thing...

Wheaty said:
Depending on the versions of word/ powerpoint etc, windows has issues opening and viewing files correctly, unless both ends are using exactly the same thing (never used to be an issue!).

If you just want to view, then I think all the suggestions made will do this. I was surprised how many different file formats OSX would at least open (usually in Preview) without any extra software.

However prices through the app store for some applications is really very good!
Click to expand...

Surprised you can get Pages on it's own in there too, Word was part of a combo, but that trial version brings so much stuff with the other programmes that are not even mentioned when you download, Surprise surprise from Microsoft
 
Pages is fantastic and at a great price

But it depends what you need it for

If you need to share anything with word users I find Pages a pain as for me it never outputs a word document correctly, it screws up some of the formatting

When I first started using the Mac I thought, great, abandon office and just use iWork apps, but it never fully worked like that

eg, I have my CV stored as a pages file, if I export as a word doc to send off it messes it up, I need to find a PC with word on to adjust it before I can send it off

If you do not need to share documents Pages is best
If you need to share with Word/PC users, Word is best option
 
Thanks Paul, my problem is that my external HD is full of Word docs that I've been using for years and still have to use now. Only difference is they are doc, and not docx as they are now, so as far as current 'trial' Word is concerned everything I use is slaughtered by their compatibility mode, but I'm just turning all to PDF and cutting out the middle man. Of course this new Word doesn't like the bottoms of my docs either as it's cutting half of it out, even with Word sliders in full page mode. But I'm guessing that's a Word/PDF thing as in their print preview mode it's not there either
 
Peter Franks said:
Thanks Paul, my problem is that my external HD is full of Word docs that I've been using for years and still have to use now. Only difference is they are doc, and not docx as they are now, so as far as current 'trial' Word is concerned everything I use is slaughtered by their compatibility mode, but I'm just turning all to PDF and cutting out the middle man. Of course this new Word doesn't like the bottoms of my docs either as it's cutting half of it out, even with Word sliders in full page mode. But I'm guessing that's a Word/PDF thing as in their print preview mode it's not there either
Click to expand...

just a thought if it cutting off the bottom of the docs, check the page size, I occasionally come across it set for US A4 instead of UK, which is wider and shorter than ours

not sure if you have looked at Pages to see what it can do and how it reads your docs
looks like a trial is still available
http://www.apple.com/iwork/download-trial/
 
paulsalter said:
eg, I have my CV stored as a pages file, if I export as a word doc to send off it messes it up, I need to find a PC with word on to adjust it before I can send it off
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For documents such as that, where you are effectively sending a read-only version, I tend to just generate a PDF and send that rather than converting to Word. The only time I don't use Pages now is if I need to share an editable version of a document with someone who doesn't have Pages.
 
I'd go with Word, even though Pages is a nicer and cheaper program, Word has the big boy features and the compatibility that Pages lacks.
 
Phil A. said:
For documents such as that, where you are effectively sending a read-only version, I tend to just generate a PDF and send that rather than converting to Word. The only time I don't use Pages now is if I need to share an editable version of a document with someone who doesn't have Pages.
Click to expand...

Never really thought of doing it as a PDF

Will give this a try, I do use Pages similar to you for most things, just if I sent it off (read only) I converted it to Word and needed to use Word to check formatting
 
I've used both, and I definitely prefer Word, Its just easier for me to create documents in word over pages.
 
Peter Franks said:
Only difference is they are doc, and not docx as they are now, so as far as current 'trial' Word is concerned everything I use is slaughtered by their compatibility mode, but I'm just turning all to PDF and cutting out the middle man.
Click to expand...

If its all .doc then OpenOffice / Libre Office will open edit and save without any issues unless there are any interesting formats or text boxes added. It can open docx, but there are some formatting issues occationally.

You can also Save straight to PDF as well Very handy!

Also check the page sizes, I cant work out why or where, but I find every now and then I end up in US Letter or something, instead of A4. in various applications.

Wheaty
 
No, just looked it's set to A4. When I converted these same files to PDF on my PC it got the whole page, and didn't cut anything off, but I was using an outside programme for PDF conversions, there was no inbuilt one on my old Word programme
 
Peter Franks said:
No, just looked it's set to A4.
Click to expand...

Ok I know this sounds a little dumb but this has caught me out before, usually when printing pictures.

I have found it possible to set the "Page Layout/ Format" etc to one size and the "Printer Paper Size" to another.
Just double check that your Printer is also set to A4 as well as the Page. Although I would have thought the page size should be correct if you are viewing the whole page on the screen correctly with no errors.

Also..
You may have a Save as PDF button, but if you go to print in the bottom left you can also Save as PDF, you can even do a print preview. if you've not already tried these. Its a bit different from the MS print preview as it spits the end result out to a pdf in "Preview", which again you can save.

Does that make sense, or have you tried all this already?
 
Wheaty said:
Ok I know this sounds a little dumb but this has caught me out before, usually when printing pictures.

I have found it possible to set the "Page Layout/ Format" etc to one size and the "Printer Paper Size" to another.
Just double check that your Printer is also set to A4 as well as the Page. Although I would have thought the page size should be correct if you are viewing the whole page on the screen correctly with no errors.

Also..
You may have a Save as PDF button, but if you go to print in the bottom left you can also Save as PDF, you can even do a print preview. if you've not already tried these. Its a bit different from the MS print preview as it spits the end result out to a pdf in "Preview", which again you can save.

Does that make sense, or have you tried all this already?
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, I did try that, that's how I did it when I first did it, in Preview I saw it cut it off, then did all other options thinking it would look OK when saved as, but it's still done it, and the slider is at the bottom of the A4 in Word, I do remember when I was physically printing out in Word years back that it was usually down to the Word prog when it was cutting off, but not so sure this time that it's not the PDF something or other...
 
I think Im out of suggestions for that then. Cant think of what else it may be..

I'll say download Libre Office then
http://www.libreoffice.org/download/. Its extremely similar to office 2006 (or what ever it was) so using it shouldn't be a problem.

I can only think its a setting some where thats been missed. Hopefully some one more familiar with Mac Office will have an idea.

one last thought..System Preferences - Print & Fax- Default Paper Size (at the bottom)

Wheaty
 
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just a thought

have you looked at language and text in system preferences, make sure this is set for UK
 
I just opened Word Perfect on my work machine, and Pages on my MBP. What a disgusting difference.

Pages is so pretty :)
 
Peter Franks said:
Thanks Paul, my problem is that my external HD is full of Word docs that I've been using for years and still have to use now. Only difference is they are doc, and not docx as they are now, so as far as current 'trial' Word is concerned everything I use is slaughtered by their compatibility mode, but I'm just turning all to PDF and cutting out the middle man. Of course this new Word doesn't like the bottoms of my docs either as it's cutting half of it out, even with Word sliders in full page mode. But I'm guessing that's a Word/PDF thing as in their print preview mode it's not there either
Click to expand...

Here's the deal. It's not a paper size issue, it's a print area issue. The PDF engine is preparing your document as though it is a printer.

In Pages, go to File > Page Setup. In the Paper Size dropdown, select "Manage Custom Sizes..."

Click the + sign to add a new Paper Size. Double Click on the "untitled" entry and you'll be able to rename it. I suggest "Edge-to-Edge A4" or "Edge-to-Edge US Letter" or whatever it actually is supposed to be.

With the new Edge-to-Edge option selected in the list, set the appropriate width and height. Then in the non-printable area section, select "User Defined" from the dropdown and enter 0's in all of the margin boxes.

If you use this paper size to "print" your PDFs, then you shouldn't have the edges cut off.

Edit: Just remembered you're doing it from Word. But I think the directions are exactly the same.
 
samh said:
Here's the deal. It's not a paper size issue, it's a print area issue. The PDF engine is preparing your document as though it is a printer.

In Pages, go to File > Page Setup. In the Paper Size dropdown, select "Manage Custom Sizes..."

Click the + sign to add a new Paper Size. Double Click on the "untitled" entry and you'll be able to rename it. I suggest "Edge-to-Edge A4" or "Edge-to-Edge US Letter" or whatever it actually is supposed to be.

With the new Edge-to-Edge option selected in the list, set the appropriate width and height. Then in the non-printable area section, select "User Defined" from the dropdown and enter 0's in all of the margin boxes.

If you use this paper size to "print" your PDFs, then you shouldn't have the edges cut off.

Edit: Just remembered you're doing it from Word. But I think the directions are exactly the same.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan, will check that out. Thanks for that
 
Is it possible to remove the surrounding frames also?

monokakata said:
It's not difficult to clean up the Word 2011 visual mess.

Turn off the Ribbon, customize your toolbars so that they include only the icons you regularly use, get rid of rulers and sliders (if you don't need them) and you're done.

You can get anything you don't commonly use from the menus.

I hate clutter myself, but my Word 2011 screen isn't cluttered at all.
Click to expand...

Take a look at the post of June 23 at 12.47 to see the figure/picture!


I hate to waste my precious real estate with such COMPLETELY USELESS FRAMES ALL AROUND THE AREA ALLOTTED TO WRITE ON. Is is possible to use the ENTIRE SCREEN for writing, such as one could easily do in "full screen view" with Word for Windows 2003 (but incredibly NOT in later editions)?
 
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iWork is great, though I have Office 2011 for compatibility reasons. I prefer iWork, but it just isn't anywhere near as prevalent as Office. If you can only get one, I think that Office is the standard. Though, since Pages is so cheap on the App Store, I'm sure you could afford to grab that, in addition to Office, and probably Keynote as well.
 
I'm a big fan of Nisus Writer Pro- dedicated, clean, and full featured word processor thats been native to Mac since forever. Somebody helpfully linked to this review on the forum recently that goes into what its about
http://tidbits.com/article/12220
and there's the free trial available here
http://www.nisus.com/pro/

I think its great- might be worth looking into it. Cheers!
 
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