Pages 09 full screen in Lion - Versions losing hours of work

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Level 1

4 points

Pages 09 full screen in Lion - Versions losing hours of work

I write to highlight an issue you all should be aware of when using pages in full screen mode. This oversignt on Apple's part has cost me HOURS of work at a time-sensitive period.

Please be aware that if you use tables in your work like I do, Ie;

Question 1

Answer 1

Yada yadda yadda. Insightful and researched answer 1.

In conclusion. Answer 1.

Then versions doesn't appear to save any of the work you do INSIDE the box until you click out of the box. But you don't know that until you've had it lose your work like I have.

What compounds the issue further is the way that Pages treats these boxes. If you make a change to the contents of the box by, for example, writing or editing a 250 word brilliantly reasoned response, you have to click OUTSIDE the cell for pages to recognise the changes. Now, if you work in full screen mode, as I have been doing, the "handy" shortcut for exiting from full screen mode is "ESC" - which also happens to be the button which pages uses to DISCARD THE CONTENTS OF THE CELL YOU HAVE JUST WRITTEN IN, thinking that you wish to abort having made these changes.

So the workflow goes something like this:

1) Make a table

2) Enter fullscreen mode

3) Edit the contents of a cell

4) Attempt to exit the full screen mode by pressing "ESC"

5) wonder why nothing has happened

6) Press "ESC" again

7) Watch as the screen transitions out of full screen mode.

Now: At this stage if you realise that it has discarded your contents you can "undo set sell" which will restore the contents as they were, however if you haven't and you close the window your changes are LOST. Versions does not come to the rescue because versions does not save the changes inside the box until they are "set."

I argue that this paradigm is critically flawed, and I have already heard from one other user (via twitter) who has experienced similar issues.

So firstly please be advised of this issue so you do not befall my fate.

Secondly, the question is - any suggestions for recovery of this work? Moreover; can I force versions to save whilst working inside the cell?

Posted on Jul 29, 2011 3:53 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 29, 2011 4:06 AM in response to brookieboy

Thanks for the heads up on this issue but seeing as how this is a user to user forum and your issue pertains more to the design of version implementation in Pages, I would suggest that using the feedback to Apple site might be more appropriate methog to report this to Apple for repair.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/pages.html

Allan

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Answer 2

IanB

Level 4

1,374 points

Jul 29, 2011 4:06 AM in response to brookieboy

Hi brookieboy,

Sorry to hear you lost a load of work.

I don't think you have identified a problem with versions though.

I think this is always how tables have worked i.e. if you edit a cell and hit escape half way through it is like an undo my edit rather like a spreadsheet works. The change to the table cell is only committed if you click off it.

Does not ⌘-Z come to your rescue to undo your typing of ESC and restore your lovingly crafted response?

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Answer 3

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Jul 29, 2011 4:09 AM in response to brookieboy

I can reproduce the "esc" thing here. Looks like a bug, I'll report it to Apple on the Apple BugReporter. If you don't have access to that, I recommend you let Apple know via the Apple feedback page. Since data loss is involved, I'm sure it will be taken very seriously.

As to the failing to save while editing a cell, I haven't tested that at this point, so can't comment.

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Answer 4

brookieboy Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 29, 2011 4:25 AM in response to IanB

I understand your response, and thank you for your input. However, I would respectfully disagree. Two things I believe contradict your stance:

1) I don't think this is the behaviour most people expect of a word processing application. Perhaps of a spreadsheet (wherein the very nature of the program will see data being overwritten frequently) but not of a word processing application. The more prominent use of the ESC key as to adapt the interface from fullscreen to normal screen format also increases the risk of data loss through this counter-intiutive method.

2) Versions is supposed to let me make changes free from fear of data loss, so even if your point that ESC is an accepted standard to "undo my edit" is accepted, this shouldnt preclude versions from performing its job and allowing me to to revert to various stages of that pre-discarded edit. If I am typing a lengthy piece of work, and making various amendments involving the discarding or deletion of sections, versions should (and does) save these edits. Why should it behave differently whether said piece of work is written as body text or in a box or cell?

It doesn't help that there appear to be no user-customisable settings/ options for versions. A sad side effect of the fact that we are expected to just "trust" that father Mac knows best is that it keeps the user from knowing exactly what is and what isn't being saved until they are faced with an issue such as this one.

I have given feedback, and thank you Thomas A Reed also for the bug report.

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Answer 5

IanB

Level 4

1,374 points

Jul 29, 2011 4:56 AM in response to brookieboy

Hi brookieboy,

I understand, am sympathetic to your plight and appreciative of the warning. I'm not saying you are wrong to want Pages to work differently.

I was simply trying to point out that this is how it has always worked. I instinctively use it to undo a change to a table cell all the time because that's the way a table works in a spreadsheet. I like it that it works that way.

Your point about the mental precedence of the full-screen function of the escape key with full screen mode is well made. However, I'm not sure that versions is intended to let you go back through every edit you ever made in a document in the way you suggest it should. It only saves the state of a document every hour doesn't it?

To answer your question from the original post. ⌘S whilst in the middle of an edit to a cell commits the change to the cell and saves a version of the document with that change.

I haven't tried it yet but if you leave a document with a table cell being edited for over an hour, what happens then? I suspect you will find the cell edit committed and a version saved. I've got one ticking now to see.

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Answer 6

brookieboy Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 29, 2011 4:53 AM in response to IanB

Thanks for the info re saving IanB.

Please do keep it ticking. I'll be interested to see whether it does save. I was working on a repsonse last night from about 1AM until about 3AM, and there is no saved version of that edit after 1.03AM, so if it works for you perhaps there has been some other kind of bug in the works in my machine.

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Answer 7

IanB

Level 4

1,374 points

Jul 29, 2011 5:43 AM in response to IanB

Well that's pants. There is definitely a bug but it is with both autosave and versions!! I hadn't appreciated the difference until your post prompted me to research it. This article explains: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4753.

If you have a table with a cell being edited, Pages doesn't appear to autosave after 5 minutes and doesn't save a version after one hour like it is supposed to do according to that support article.

I've found that you also need to be careful with new documents if like me you don't like your apps to restart with all the documents you had open when you closed it by typing ⌘⌥Q. If you start a new one so that it is Untitled, type some stuff in and exit using ⌘⌥Q it doesn't prompt you to save the unsaved document!! If you do normal ⌘Q then it does resume the untitled doc.

Thanks for the original post brookieboy and for helping me to understand how autosave and versions is supposed to work. I guess I'll be doing ⌘S regulalry for a while!!

I'm submitting my feedback too.

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