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PeterBreis0807 Author

Level 8

41,196 points

Pages 5 features checklist

As you go through the new Pages 5 can you please add an added, missing or altered features here please.

I will start with some culled from the general discussions and if you could correct any errors add them:

Added

1. Right to Left text ie Arabic, Farsi & Hebrew. Uncertain about Pashtu

2. Single model templates. You turn off document text to get rid of the default. Not sure if this then can be mixed and matched with Word Processing templates

3. Able to share outside iCloud

Missing

1. Selecting non-contiguous text gone

2. Outline view appears gone

3. Customizable Toolbar is gone

4. Many templates appear gone

5. Captured pages gone

6. Reorganize pages by dragging gone

7. Duplicate pages gone

8. Subscript/superscript buttons gone

9. Select all instances of a Style is gone

10. Retain zoom level of document gone

11. Facing pages gone

12. Endnotes gone

13. Media Inspector can't find iPhoto library on external drive

14. Update is missing for older installations, Apple is reportedly working on a solution via a redeemable code or update on the ir Support Download site

Altered

1. Language set under Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammar now document wide

2. Subscript/superscript text is now a convoluted route Gear > Advanced options > Baseline > Subscript/Superscript

3. Header appears to be multi-column

4. New file format (but still .pages?) not backwardly compatible

5. Page numbering method changed

6. T.O.C. appears buggy

7. Template file storage location moved - to where?

8. Imported older .pages files are not translating properly

9. Text language is detected automatically now

Letting you know I can't test or verify any of these as I haven't got Mavericks yet.

Peter

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Oct 22, 2013 7:57 PM

1,554 replies

Oct 23, 2013 1:12 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

It is all online now http://help.apple.com/pages/mac/5.0/ opens up when you choose help. It says nothing.

PeterBreis0807 Author

Level 8

41,196 points

Oct 23, 2013 1:15 AM in response to Austin Sloat

What is the new Pages called (its full name in Finder) in OSX Maverick so I can hunt for more information?

Peter

Ta-Chien

Level 1

0 points

Oct 23, 2013 1:30 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

Images within Tables is surly gone

I don't know how to make my image perfectly

and also I can't customize my tool bar.

PeterBreis0807 Author

Level 8

41,196 points

Oct 23, 2013 1:30 AM in response to Austin Sloat

Austin Sloat wrote:

It is all online now http://help.apple.com/pages/mac/5.0/ opens up when you choose help. It says nothing.

Actually I think that it says so little speaks volumes.

It seems the more I read through this and the feedback I am receiving the more it looks like it is just the iOS version with a few remnant features from Pages '09.

Looks like they took Pages '09 chopped off its head and arms and said "Voila! The Venus de Milo of Office Suites".

Peter

Oct 23, 2013 2:50 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

Missing: Manage Pages...

The absence of Capture Pages... and Manage Pages... (both relate to Templates) removes the ability to have multiple defined sections in Templates completely. A major issue for us (we use the feature alot).

Separately you might want to add "file format changes" to your list - I found today that if you 'roundtrip' a Pages 09 document through the new Pages and export back to the '09 format you lose all the template information along the way.

PeterBreis0807 Author

Level 8

41,196 points

Oct 23, 2013 3:17 AM in response to Gavin Lawrie

Done. Soon as I get a few more features/features I'll repost the list in a cleaned up form.

This time tomorrow I should have got a full hands on and be able to better comment based on my own experience.

Peter

dwb

Level 7

33,100 points

Oct 23, 2013 3:29 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

In a very real sense this is Pages in name only. Apple didn't upgrade it, they re-imagined it and its easy to understand why. The huge disconnect between the iPad and the Mac version (not to mention the new browser version) was a headache. It reminded me of the early days of notebook computers with WordPerfect and WordPerfect Lite (or whatever it was called). I'd open a document on the iPad and there were so many limits to what I could do with it. That may no longer be a problem but whether it is a good solution or not only time will tell.

I've been gone from this forum for quite a while so many of you don't know me or my dislike of bloated software. I despise Office and use it only when forced to. What I like(d) about iWork is that it gave me nearly all the tools I needed without the bloat and assumptions that Microsoft knew what I needed better than I did. Pages certainly has less bloat than ever - but does it still have the tools I need? I dunno yet.

Positives:

I was never a huge fan of the Inspector and all the buried 'treasures' it contained. The new interface unhides the features.

The web version and Mac version look very similar. That'll be a plus for those of us who use a Mac at home and are forced into Windows at work.

Minuses:

Quite a list has already been compiled.

Robson

Level 1

24 points

Oct 23, 2013 3:32 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

Thanks, Peter. I'll be watching this space, I have yet to make up my mind whether I'll update from Pages 08.

dwb, thanks for sharing your opinion. It's good to read a more optimistic perspective.

Oct 23, 2013 3:34 AM in response to gideon_p

This is the part that is amazing to me. You cannot even delete a page out of a document, you cannot duplicate a page in a document, and you cannot move pages around in a document. This renders it 100% ridiculous never mind unusable.

Amazed that this actually got to the point of release without someone saying "hey, wait a minute, you can't even delete a page in a document

cfbooks

Level 1

0 points

Oct 23, 2013 3:40 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

No more tracking bubbles or reading comments in the sidebar. Apparently they decided to take all the complaints the iOS version was getting about track changes and address the problem by making the desktop version equally bad. Maybe they thought we'd stop complaining about the iOS version if the desktop version didn't have the features either?!?! Like we'd forget they ever existed???

Oct 23, 2013 3:49 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

Another hard to believe ommission: image wrapping choices have been severly dumbed down. I've been editing a 40,000-word newsletter since October 2011 in Pages, and this (and many many other ommissions) will make be fetch my Time Machine tonight and go back to Pages 09.

A true shame.

PeterBreis0807 Author

Level 8

41,196 points

Oct 23, 2013 3:50 AM in response to dwb

dwb

You may have been gone but not forgotten. 🙂

I have been repeatedly told by Apple Staff that Apple listens. To Whom?

Nobody here seems to have asked for less and worse.

The point nearly everyone has been making is that we have all been hanging out for Apple to make the impossible possible in Pages, and the difficult less so.

All my feedback seems to have fallen on deaf ears. I offered many methods where something could be done more easily, in a more obvious way with less steps. This is not that.

iOS Pages is a failure, not a role model. What it does is tokenistic. It is the Circus Dog walking on its hind legs. We are not impressed by how well it walks, we are just impressed that it does it all.

The only positive thing to possibly come out of this is that Apple has been merely hinting at where it is heading up until now. This removes all doubt and will make a clean break all that much easier.

Just make sure you get all crucial documents out of Pages.

Peter

dwb

Level 7

33,100 points

Oct 23, 2013 4:08 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

I'm not blind - iWork '09 is in a folder and ready to swing into action if need be.

We know that Apple listens (sometimes) and we know Apple has a vision that often differs from ours. Believe me, I've just ended a period of extreme frustration with Apple in regard to the vision difference thing. But given Apple's track record vs my vision I'm more willing to give Apple the benefit of the doubt. Me: a phone from Apple is stupid! Me: a tablet built on iOS is dead in the water. Me: A computer that cannot be upgraded and only has 256GB of storage max is a non-starter. Apple: 3 Me: 0

For me personally the question is whether Pages has had enough features removed to have a large negative impact on my work. My initial answer is no with reservations. I also recognize that my workflow is different from many others. I prefer using several small agile tools rather than one multi-purpose tool. Others prefer a larger feature set.

Obviously I'll be using the feedback button a lot. On the web version I've logged quite a large number already.

PeterBreis0807 Author

Level 8

41,196 points

Oct 23, 2013 4:46 AM in response to dwb

How does this look now?

New Pages 5 added, removed or altered features:

Added

+ Right to Left text

+ Single model templates. No More Word Processing/Layout templates

+ Share outside iCloud

+ Phonetic Guide for Chinese & Japanese

+ Template names can be changed inside the Template Chooser

+ Text language is detected automatically

Removed

Select non-contiguous text

Outline view

Customizable Toolbar

135 templates

Capture pages/sections

Drag reorganize pages

Duplicate pages

Delete page

Manage Pages

Subscript/superscript buttons

Select all instances of a Style

Retain zoom level of document

Facing pages

Endnotes

Media Inspector links to iPhoto library on external drive

Alignment Guides

Styles Drawer

Merge Fields

Default Start Up page

Vertical Ruler

Style Function key shortcuts

Bookmarks and Links

Images within Tables

Import Styles

Clean Import of older .pages formatting

User Guide

Search Sidebar

Open Type features

Textbox linking

Word export to iCloud

Multiple Comments view

T.O.C. clean numbering

Altered

↪ Pages '09 files previewed on iPad via iCloud are irrevocably converted

↪ Update is missing for older installations, Apple is reportedly working on a solution via a redeemable code or update on their Support Download site

↪ Wrap methods have been cut back severely

↪ Documents reconverted back to Pages '09 lose all template information

↪ Language set under Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammar now document wide

↪ Subscript/superscript text is now a convoluted route Gear > Advanced options > Baseline > Subscript/Superscript

↪ Header appears to be multi-column

↪ New file format (but still .pages?) not backwardly compatible

↪ Page numbering method changed

↪ Template file storage location moved …somewhere?

Oct 23, 2013 4:51 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

Love it. I wrote a review in the app store just politely (not dramatic, not crude etc) mentioning some of the feature changes that have happened with this release, and that if those specific functions are important to you, be careful with the upgrade. Apple deleted my review

Pages 5 features checklist