Q: Pages 5 features checklist

Uh, yeah. Pages has been around for 8 years - and each new version was a step forward until now. I know Apple does not have a great history of feature or product continuity. I've been Apple-only since 1988 -- so I've been there and done that...

The reality remains that if you aren't into sending dollars to Redmond options are limited.

BTW, I have licenses to Mellel, Nisus Writer and Mariner Write.  I have LibreOffice installed.  I've never been a fan of KoolAid.  I liked AppleWorks better than Pages... but Pages 4.3 did many things very well.

How do you revert your pages files back to the previous version of Pages? This is just really incredible.

GONE from pages 5 (and VERY useful in Pages 4x)

1. Reorganize/Rearrange pages (as sections) in thumbnail window by dragging gone

2. Dragging a section in thumbnail view (holding Option) to duplicate/copy it into the same document — GONE

3. Selecting a section/page in thumbnail window to delete it — GONE so how do you delete a section now!?

4. Selecting non-contiguous text gone

5. Outline view appears gone

6. Customizable Toolbar is gone

7. Many templates appear gone

8. Captured pages gone

9. Duplicate pages gone

10. Drag a section in thumbnail view from one document into another — GONE

11. Add a section - GONE (in that it only adds it to end of the document—does not INSERT it, it adds it and then you cannot move it to another place).

12. Subscript/superscript buttons gone

13. Select all instances of a Style is gone

14. Retain zoom level of document gone

15. Facing pages gone

16.  Floating inspector panel - gone

17.  Pasting an image (as opposed to drag and drop) used to default to "Inline with text" - gone (another big one for me).

18.  Custom text autocorrect - gone.

19.  Vertical ruler - gone.

20. Add yours here

I updated the Pages app, but I am encountering some problems:

1. How do I turn on the auto-capitalization of the first letter of the sentence?

2. After I copied a text in the clipboard and I perform the right-click on the mouse, where is the „Paste and Match Style” option?

3. After I copied a text in the clipboard and I perform the right-click on the mouse, why does the cursor jump in the following row?

For the moment I am back to Pages 4.0.1!

Pages 4.3 was put in a folder called 'iWork '09' on my system - to my knowledge it is not removed from the system. I saved copies on my computer of everything I've done. You can recover them in Time Machine. Do not use Pages for iPad because it will convert them to 5.0 - I have no idea how to revert them there except perhaps with 5.0 (which I've now removed). Quit relying on iCloud because once you open on the iPad or the web beta the document is made incompatible.

GONE from pages 5 (and VERY useful in Pages 4x)

1. Reorganize/Rearrange pages (as sections) in thumbnail window by dragging gone

2. Dragging a section in thumbnail view (holding Option) to duplicate/copy it into the same document — GONE

3. Selecting a section/page in thumbnail window to delete it — GONE so how do you delete a section now!?

4. Selecting non-contiguous text gone

5. Outline view appears gone

6. Customizable Toolbar is gone

7. Many templates appear gone

8. Captured pages gone

9. Duplicate pages gone

10. Drag a section in thumbnail view from one document into another — GONE

11. Add a section - GONE (in that it only adds it to end of the document—does not INSERT it, it adds it and then you cannot move it to another place).

12. Subscript/superscript buttons gone

13. Select all instances of a Style is gone

14. Retain zoom level of document gone

15. Facing pages gone

16.  Floating inspector panel - gone

17.  Pasting an image (as opposed to drag and drop) used to default to "Inline with text" - gone (another big one for me).

18.  Custom text autocorrect - gone.

19.  Vertical ruler - gone.

20. It's not possible to have captions to pictures using textboxes (the conventional way for adding captions - you can't paste a picture into a textbox)

21. Two-up, side by side view - gone (very important for laying out a book).

Weirdly enough, the ability to insert layout breaks has gone but they are still mentioned in the Invisibles section of the Help Guide and will remain in an '09 document opened in Pages 5. You can copy and paste the break, but it's a ridiculous workaround.

I have a little theory that might explain why desktop iWork has suffered such a deep and drastic downgrade in features and capabilities.

Apple has thrown down two very public gauntlets: 1). Lifestyle and productivity software wants to be free. As of yesterday, it is. 2.) We are moving toward a connected and ubiquitous computing world where all of our data and all of our apps will be with us on all of our devices all of the time. That suggests common a UIX across platforms, from desktop, to laptop to mobil to wearable. That day is coming, and bits and pieces of it are already here. Witness iWork on iOS, OSX and iCloud.

Much work needs to be done, obviously, to fully acheive that second goal. It's clear that iWork OSX and iOS' UIs had drifted apart. What were seeing now is a top-to-bottom rewrite and reimagining of the idea, with iWork iCloud thrown in. This is just the beginning of iWork, Apple (I hope) is telegraphing. It's a new vision of iWork, not its end.

I believe the power we've all grown used to and had been expecting will return... in time, but simultaneously across all platforms. By leaving iWork '09 installed, Apple is essentially telling us that it knows power users won't be happy with the new offering, so keep with the old until the new vision of iWork matures.

At least, that's what I pray Apple is foreshadowing. If so, a little peak inside their roadmap would have calmed a lot of nerves.

Mac Users used to have:

(Pics of toolkits)

Like!

Regards,

Ian.

You make a lot of sense here. I only ever downloaded iWork (Pages only actually) from the App store. How do I get a disc with iWork '09 so I can get the old Pages?

Mike :-)

Hi Mike,

Look in your Applications folder. You may still have Pages'09 (maybe inside a new folder).

Regards,

Ian.

Eureka! You ar clever! It was there and it does work! The fully robust older Pages and all my old documents load in just fine! THANK YOU VERY MUCH IAN!!! Wonderful! I will spread the word!

Agree with celliott on this one Peter, the whole layout side of Pages has been removed.  Everything powerful about the program was striped down for a "beautiful word preocessor."  I'm not going to waste my time on the Pages 5 until they put the layout features back in.

Hi RBuday,

At least, that's what I pray Apple is foreshadowing. If so, a little peak inside their roadmap would have calmed a lot of nerves.

Well said. Apple plays it's cards close to the chest. If Apple has a grand plan, it would be good to hear it. However, speculation about Apple's roadmap is forbidden in these forums. A pity, because if you are correct, a roadmap would help adoption of the new software by reassuring the loyal users that this is a temporary move.

I fear that I have just broken the Terms of Use.

Regards,

Ian.

Apple should have named the stripped Pages something else and also kept the old Pages and corrected the problems is has.