Q: Pages 5 features checklist

Did anyone figure out yet how to tell OS X to open Pages documents with the old Pages even if the new Pages is installed?

The usual way using the info panel doesn't work, it keeps switching back to the new Pages.

I tried deleting the new Pages, too, but it was reinstalled within the next auto-update cycle.

(No, I don't want to switch auto-update off, since it's my computer-wise inexperienced father's Mac which I want to be running current software all the time... except Pages that is)

This was driving me crazy too.

The solution I found was to compress the new copies of the Pages, Keynote and Numbers apps and make them zip files.  In that way, all my existing files will open automatically using the old (and far superior) versions of the apps.  However, the new apps are there ready (but inactive) to be unzipped and upgraded IF Apple decides to revive the all-important deleted features.

It is working perfectly for me now.

The last time I removed the new versions, they were reinstalled the next time the app store automatically updated all my applications.

And yes, I know that I can deactivate the auto-update and no, that is not a solution for me, since it's not my Mac.

You're right.

I just ran Software Update to see if this would happen, and sure enough, it wants to install the new versions again.

Fortunately, my settings for the App Store are such that I have to click the "update" button before any updating occurs.  I'll just be leaving these new apps hanging in the App Store updates window for the forseeable future.

This is really sad to read. Apple should have named the new iWork something like iCloud communication app. Then they should have enhanced iWork 09 with the request users have made through the last five years. Two quite different suites!

Am I the only person finding that quicklook of Pages 4.3 documents in Mavericks is now a bit unpredicatable. Is this a result of Mavericks or installing Pages 5?

Just to clarify, complex legacy documents are rendered a complete shambles in quicklook now. I opened one in Pages 5, saved it under a new name, and it now looks the same in quicklook as it did in Pages 5.

Is this just another thing we have to live with until Apple updates v4.3 or indefinitely?

You certainly can't drag objects out of the Pages window into other apps.

Experiments with copy/paste have left me confused. It seems you can copy a PNG file to the clipboard. Not sure if it is the same resolution though.

However, new wierd things: when you copy a bunch of objects in Pages 5 and paste into Pages 4.3, they seem to appear as a low res PNG file. Previously, I had ended up with a PDF file. Confused now.

Also, I discovered the Instant Alpha has a neat new target-zoom-view feature. Now if only I could drag that tool to the toolbar for quick access...

Anyway, my experiments are over and I hope this thread is useful. I'm off back to v4.3 and if anyone can get Quicklook for my legacy document working correctly in Mavericks again, that would be helpful.

Dear Peter,

     As far as splitting table cells is concerned... Unmerge (from Format->Tables->Unmerge Cells) only splits a cell if you have previously merged two cells.  So basically it is an undo function rather than creating new splits.

     It is sometimes useful to split a cell that has not been a result of previously merged cells.  True table cell splitting is possible both horizontally (Split Column) and vertically (Split Row) in Pages 4.3.  It is not possible (except to undo a previously merged set of cells) in Pages 5.0.

Peter, thank you for continuing to maintain and update this list. It is very useful.

I, too, am very disappointed with Apple's behavior with respect to this. I've been a loyal 'all things Apple' user and proponent since 1986.

The most troubling aspect of all of this is the lack of disclosure about the radical changes for Pages 5.

The keynote: not a hint that most of the page layout capability was stripped.

The App store: not a hint that many capabilities were removed.

This is negligent at best, disingenuous at worst.

I believe Apple owes its Pages 4.3 user base an apology, an explanation and, if such a thing exists, assurances that the missing features will be gradually restored or developed and improved under the banner of new app.

I, like many will, continue to use Pages 4.3. I, like many, feel that Apple, intentionally or not, misled us with Pages 5.

Indeed - I was attempting to be kind. This is why I believe an apology is in order - an apology, explanation and, hopefully, some assurances regarding development. Either that or just tell us to find what we need elsewhere.

Barry

mahongue wrote:

 

As far as splitting table cells is concerned... Unmerge (from Format->Tables->Unmerge Cells) only splits a cell if you have previously merged two cells.  So basically it is an undo function rather than creating new splits.

Correct; I suggested it earlier in that sense. In Pages 4.x, you could copy/cut an entire table, double-click inside another table's cell as if to enter text, then paste. This kind-of "imprints" a table inside a table, so the header row and column of the "imprinted" table would appear in the middle of the "outside" table, which in turn retained its header columns and rows. FWIW, this is certainly not possible in Pages 5.0. It seems that the object classes in the iOS Pages, and also in OSX Pages 5.0 are considerably simpler, which is what makes some of the Pages 4.x operations (such as inserting images as in-line objects into tables and textboxes) impossible in Pages 5.0.

Alas! this implies that such features are most likely never boing to come back. Having decided (by whatever corporate thought process) to adopt the iOS object classes of the program states the corporate-mandated direction clearly; to steer the entire programming division (OSX, iOS + web) 180° from this course just ain't gonna happen.

I'll kick it off with Pageling from:

changeling |ˈ ch ānjli ng |noun     a child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents' real child in infancy.

Given its birth from the wrong side of the blanket in iOS, the suite of "Productivity" Software could be called fauxWorks.

Any other bright ideas for Apple's Marketing Department?

Good Stuff!

How about Rages and iWeep

Barry

iUsedToWork