dirkt68

Q: Pages 5.0 - No mail merge?!

I'm a bit shocked!

 

is there no longer any mail merge possible in Pages 5.0? There seems absolutely no way to link to Contacts or using a Numbers Document to add addresses for mail merge. searched the app up and down and searched in the help files.. but it seems AWOL.

 

Please. How can that be? A word processor without mail merge? Am I supposed to add and print hundreds of addresses now manually?

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 1:26 AM

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Q: Pages 5.0 - No mail merge?!

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  • by hope and help,

    hope and help hope and help Nov 6, 2013 1:50 PM in response to Cohiba4009
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Nov 6, 2013 1:50 PM in response to Cohiba4009

    and NO mention of bringing back Mail Merge, hopefully was just missed in the summary

     

    http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/11/06/apple-promises-iwork-toolbars-other-le gacy-features-will-return-within-6-months

  • by enteecee,

    enteecee enteecee Nov 6, 2013 3:14 PM in response to hope and help
    Level 2 (316 points)
    Nov 6, 2013 3:14 PM in response to hope and help

    Noooo... it means it's further down the list for them.  Most of what was listed should be pretty simple to engineer- Mail Merge seems like it might be abit harder, so even if they're working on it, it might take longer than 6 months.

     

    Still, I think it's pretty clear now that they do intend a rapid improvement schedule.

  • by Cohiba4009,

    Cohiba4009 Cohiba4009 Nov 7, 2013 5:22 AM in response to hope and help
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 7, 2013 5:22 AM in response to hope and help

    This is encouraging... at least they recognize the outcry and are making efforts to add back some features... fingers crossed mail merge is one of them!

  • by PeterBreis0807,

    PeterBreis0807 PeterBreis0807 Nov 7, 2013 5:37 AM in response to enteecee
    Level 8 (35,750 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 7, 2013 5:37 AM in response to enteecee

    How is Mail Merge hard?

     

    It exists. The code in Pages 5 exists. It exists in just about every single major Word Processor.

     

    Apple is by its own protestation, the company that plans and creates software with an eye to the future. How is it possible that it is so difficult to reinvent the wheel that it and every other software engineer out there has already invented?

     

    They took the wheels off. Without a plan to put them back on?

     

    Peter

  • by patdesign1,

    patdesign1 patdesign1 Nov 26, 2013 9:35 AM in response to userremoved
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 26, 2013 9:35 AM in response to userremoved

    Thanks for suggesting to use the old version to utilize mail merge. That really helped me!

  • by unlesssomeonelikeyou,

    unlesssomeonelikeyou unlesssomeonelikeyou Dec 1, 2013 7:51 PM in response to dirkt68
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 1, 2013 7:51 PM in response to dirkt68

    I help brides address their wedding invitations digitally, as well as families address their holiday cards.  I usually provide them with two file types, word & pages, but now that the mail merge functionality has been removed I'm going to have to stop recommending pages for mac.  : (

     

    It's not just small businesses that mail merge, it's moms, teachers, brides and best friends throwing a baby shower.  The mail merge available in the contacts app is not useful if you are trying to use any formatting or artwork - the one in pages was excellent.

     

    I'm so happy I read about this before upgrading my own personal version of Pages, I won't upgrade unless mail merge is brought back. 

  • by bactrian,

    bactrian bactrian Dec 9, 2013 7:39 AM in response to dirkt68
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 7:39 AM in response to dirkt68

    I cannot believe the moronic removal of Mail Merge from Pages.

     

    I upgraded to the new Pages and because the "old" Pages kept opening I deleted it.

     

     

    I want to address Christmas Cards . I now have to individually print each envelope.

     

    I had always thought that "Upgrade"  meant improvement.

     

     

    Why would you remove this facility?

  • by bactrian,

    bactrian bactrian Dec 9, 2013 8:04 AM in response to dirkt68
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 8:04 AM in response to dirkt68

    Pages provides "Templates"

     

    The idea of a template is that you re-use it.

    The "sine qua non " of a template is that it is re-usable.Multiple times. That you would Mail Merge your contacts.

     

     

    Is there internal sabotage in Cupertino. Has someone decided to alienate Apple/Mac users.

     

    This is not the first "removal of usefulness" inflicted by Apple on users.

     

    I will have moved  to another system within 6 months if this is not addressed immediately

  • by cmplk8d,

    cmplk8d cmplk8d Dec 9, 2013 9:47 AM in response to dirkt68
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 9:47 AM in response to dirkt68

    I have spent HOURS trying to figure out how to do a mail merge in Pages using a Numbers document for the data (and I darn well know how to do a mail merge!), and then finally, I wound up here. It's good to know I'm not alone, but that sure does not solve the problem, now does it? To not have mail merge functionality is positively ludicrous, Apple.

  • by PeterBreis0807,

    PeterBreis0807 PeterBreis0807 Dec 9, 2013 4:29 PM in response to cmplk8d
    Level 8 (35,750 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 9, 2013 4:29 PM in response to cmplk8d

    Use Pages '09 instead and trash/archive Pages 5 after giving it a review/rating in the App STore.

     

    Peter

  • by mcogman,

    mcogman mcogman Dec 11, 2013 3:55 PM in response to PeterBreis0807
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 11, 2013 3:55 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

    Absolutely right PeterBreis0807. If you don't like it, trash it and tell Apple what you believe is wrong.

     

    The assumption that Apple has just produced this software and is never going to develop it is utterly fallacious.

     

    I can't believe how many people, on this subject, either don't read or don't want to read what is patently obvious.

     

    All these guys have been told that Apple has stripped iWork back to basics so they can build a totally new version. What's difficult about that - especially when the original version is still on the hard disk ready for use.

     

    Perhaps this is where Apple is going wrong, they assume that everybody has common sense and, as my mother used to say, common sense is the most uncommon sense of all.

  • by PeterBreis0807,

    PeterBreis0807 PeterBreis0807 Dec 11, 2013 5:11 PM in response to mcogman
    Level 8 (35,750 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 11, 2013 5:11 PM in response to mcogman

    Apple assumes nothing.

     

    They certainly don't assume they should communicate anything to their users.

     

    They told them this was a major, must have update, pushed it on them and told them nothing else, no warnings of file damage, not the fact that the old software was still on users' hard drives, not how to get around the problems in Pages 5. Nothing.

     

    We are not concerned that Apple won't develop Pages 5, it is what they will develop it into, and what will remain permanently missing.

     

    The big, BIG problem is the non-convertability between the oodles of versions out there now. That is the real killer.

     

    That and the strong suspicion that Pages 5 will stay permanently dumbed down.

     

    Peter

  • by stilltortoise,

    stilltortoise stilltortoise Dec 13, 2013 6:15 AM in response to mcogman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 13, 2013 6:15 AM in response to mcogman

    If a new user buys a Mac they will not have the older versions of iWork to revert to for those tasks the new iWork cannot do.

     

    I am in the process of persuading my father to move to a Mac. He doesn't take these things lightly so I've put in a lot of effort to show him the advantages of moving away from Windows and I've nearly convinced him. It's disappointing to learn - only from this thread - that mail merging is not available in the new Pages. That could be the showstopper that keeps him on his creaking Windows XP laptop unless I can find another method of mail merging.

     

    Any suggestions? Apps from the App Store for example.

  • by bactrian,

    bactrian bactrian Dec 13, 2013 9:03 AM in response to stilltortoise
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 13, 2013 9:03 AM in response to stilltortoise

    Why should you have to buy an App just to supplement Pages.

     

    A very basic user requirement has been omitted/deleted from Pages 5 .

     

    Apple management have known about this problem for at least 6 months. They seem uninterested. They are not offering even a temporary solution. They do not seem to care.

     

    I am really angry.

     

    Maybe it is just because it is so long since I moved from Windows and all its problems, but , I am getting the feeling that I might be better moving back.

  • by stilltortoise,

    stilltortoise stilltortoise Dec 13, 2013 9:11 AM in response to bactrian
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 13, 2013 9:11 AM in response to bactrian

    bactrian wrote:

     

    Why should you have to buy an App just to supplement Pages.

     

     

    To do a job that needs doing. Despite the fiasco surrounding Apple's downgrading of the iWork suite, I can see where (I think) they're going with it. They may or may not add mail merge back into Pages, but Pages is still a nice little app for producing documents that works well with other OSX and iOS apps. It's also free.

     

    Remember this is for my father who I'm trying to persuade to move to a Mac so I need to make sure his needs are served. If I have to supplement the iWork suite with a separate mail merge program it's still preferable to going down the Office route.

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