Pages 5.0 - No mail merge?!

Yes, they crippled iWork to match iOS, the dumb little brother.

I tried to set up a merge using the previous versions on Pages & Numbers, but no luck. I think the Mavericks system has interfeared with it. So bummed!

I agree with just about every post I have read. I have Pages on my MBP and I use it for business. Mail merge between a Numbers spreadsheet and Pages document to create mailing lists, form letters, etc., is something I used on a day to day basis. With all the features that have been stripped from Pages 5.0 it is useless to me.

I have no idea if anyone in Cuppertino reads these types of things or not, but if you do here's my 2 cents worth.

First, I love my Mac.

In my world the functionality of a program is the key. I need it work and serve my purpose in a business environment so I can get things done. Cross functionality between OSX and iOS products, while nice, is not as important to me as being able to accomplish my work on my MBP. Apple had a rather robust iWork '09 suite. It met my needs as a business person. What I liked most about iWork is that it was intuitive. It worked like Apple software should work.

It appears the the Apple design team saw that there was not complete cross functionality across all the OSX and iOS platforms, made this THE problem to address, and then went about trying to solve that problem. The challenge appears to have been to make Pages, for example, look and behave exactly the same across all the platforms. I understand this is way to much simplification, but the basic question appears to have been to "beef up" the iOS version or "dumb down" the OSX version. To the end user, like myself, it appears that the OSX version of the software was "dumbed down" so it would look and act exactly like it's iOS counterpart. Personally, I think that was a bad decision.

I don't need to be able to create a perfect Pages document on my iPhone or even on my iPad. I expect limitations because of memory. However, when I get to my MBP I need for the software to be feature rich. If it does not function the way I need it does me no good as a business person. If I can't use the iWork suite in my business then I am left with no alternative but to install (and I shudder to even think this thought) Office for Mac. Speaking honestly, if I am going to have to bend and conform to doing things the way Office (even Office for Mac) makes me do them then what is the point in paying the premium for Apple hardware?

Like I said, I love my MBP. I just need it, and my software, to work. From what I've seen so far this "upgrade" to 5.0 doesn't; at least not for me.

This trend toward dumbing down Mac software in order to achieve feature parity with iOS is what I refer to as Lowest Common Denominator Syndrome. You see it in the way Adobe compromises the UIs of its Mac software in order to make it the same across platforms, and it's going to come back to haunt us more and more as Apple focuses more on iOS at the expense of the Mac. It's sad to see Apple doing this to its own platform, but it's been clear for a few years that iOS is Apple's priority now. Since I don't own any iOS products, or even a cell phone of any kind, I'm being phased out as an Apple customer.

C'est la vie.

I 'am disappointed. I have to keep Pages (iWork 09) and waiting for Apple to give us back a really new "Pages"

FYI - Remember you can just leave the new Pages and Numbers closed or delete them and use the 09 version of Pages and numbers the way your were before the update. This is the probably the best thing Apple did with the programs by allowing you to continue using the older version so you don't have to go through a complete uninstall and reinstall like softy does. Most Software deletes or renders it unusable once you install the new software.

True, but that's at best a short term solution. Some users have reported that under Mavericks, the old versions of iWork are already broken in various ways. The only viable course forward is to switch to different software.

I can only encourage everyone to send feedback to Apple:

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

I'm well aware that it won't change anything within the next few days, weeks or maybe even months... but if they recieve hundreds and thousands of negative feedback reports they might actually know that they should bring back some features.

It's worth a try. I don't think it'll change Apple's strategy with iWorks — as much as I hate what they've done here, I suspect it was the right move — but maybe they'll consider developing something along the lines of an iWorks Pro.

Just returned from the Apple Store, where I made an appointment to have them install a duel operating system in my iMac. This way, I can still use Snow Leopard along with the previous versions of Pages and Numbers, (where mail merge works) while having the option to use Mavericks and the new apps.

FYI - I have been using 09 without any problems. If you keep the new pages n numbers closed and keep 09 open the templates or files u r using will work and as long as you created them in 09, just don't update the doc to the new pages or numbers and you should be ok.

Thanks Jim, but unfortunately, when I opened a Numbers doc (not knowing of the mail merge issue) I let it open with the new version. Now, all my Numbers docs open in that version. Such a mess. I did however, back up everything externally before updating. I'm afraid to open it in the x-hard drive at this point, as I don't know which Numbers it will use. Taking the x-HD in as well and let the genius figure it out. They did tell me they would have to wipe my computer so they will need my x-HD backup anyway. What a mess!

I looked in Applications/iWork '09, clicked on Numbers "show package contents" and saw no old documents. That would be fantastic if I could find them. What did I do wrong?

The inspector was my problem for sure. Using the Insert Menu did the trick!