Q: Pages 5.0 and Endnote (Cite While You Write)

If you read my previous posts, you notice that I already told I moved to latex and bibtex and I suggest to abandon pages. After having used the beta version of pages on apple's server, I realized that pages will never be the serious word processor we all hoped for. They are just moving toward another sort of application. This is what an old fashion Mac user should do now instead of playing with old stuff such as "09.

It is the users choice.

I have looked around, on other OSes as well, and can find no serious substitute for Pages '09 yet. Latex is certainly not it

I hope something will step in to fill the gap, meanwhile Pages '09 still works.

I warned that this would happen for years… and I never relied on the proprietary file format for crucial documents.

Peter

kikoteixeira wrote:

 

While you are at it please fix MathType too!!!

Well the Apple folks aren't here, so telling them to fix something won't do anything. OTOH, the MathType folks are here (i.e., me). However, saying "please fix it" doesn't tell me what's not working for you. If you can give me more information, I'll try to help. If you're trying to use MathType with Pages 5 (or 5.0.1, or 5.1), you'll have to open MathType before you try to add or edit equations in Pages. That's the only way it'll work. There's nothing we can do about that; it's Apple's fault and they're the only ones that can fix it. If you'd like to tell them how much their blunder has affected you, the right way to do it is to complete their feedback form: http://www.apple.com/feedback/pages.html

Apple just updated Pages to Pages 5.1 which fixed the issue for me! Previously I wasn't able to add citations at all using Endnote X6 and Pages 5.0.1. Now it works much better.  I believe I installed the plug-in at some point, so I'm not sure if that's still necessary or not, but I imagine so.

The only lingering issue is that the Chicago style of citations don't work quite right - it appears to insert the superscript number, but it's not actually visible.  Still, this is a crucial update for me just in the nick of time.

Pages 5.1 still lacks full functionality with EndNote, at least the X7 version, in that Pages offers only a limited and arbitrary selection of bibliography styles, rather than allowing users to select amung their user-selected "favorite" styles defined in EndNote. Hopefully this problem will be corrected in the future.

Wow. This is a travesty! I too am working on my PhD dissertation and now must migrate the whole behemoth into another software

— Hello, Apple? In-text citations are fine for undergrads but what about us grown-ups? Is Pages a serious tool or not?

Had I known about these issues, I would never have updated to Pages 5. (Of course I don't happen to have Pages 4.3 lying around on my hard drive.) This is the third time this year an Apple upgrade has brought my productivity to a screeching halt without forewarning.

What a sad disappointment from a technology I had come to trust and rely on for so many years. I guess I am going to have to bite the bullet and switch to Word, but I agree with the others who have posted that Pages would be the superior software, if not for this type of thoughtless jettisoning of features important to many.

DawnOfTheDead2000 wrote:

 

(Of course I don't happen to have Pages 4.3 lying around on my hard drive.)

Why Not?

Are you sure and have you looked in your Applications/iWork folder?

Peter

I have identified another issue with Endnote X7 and Pages 5.1: numbered citations (because it still won't let me see Chicago style superscript in-text citations) are not being inserted correctly. For example, if I cite the same source a second time, it will insert it as the next number in the sequence instead of as the same number. What's interesting is that the Bibliography is correct, but that leads to the numbers not matching. I have been able to correct some of them by removing and re-inserting the citation, but it only works some of the time.

Any thoughts (other than abandoning Pages)?

Thanks.

Your best bet for the time being is to use Pages 4.3 ("Pages 09").  Apple will porbably send you a DVD if you ask them.  If you don't want to do that, use Word. Pages 5.1 is unusable for any serious work.

I head up a Doctoral program and am so dissapionted that Apple does not take seriously the needs of academics. No way I can promote Pages to students when it simply wont cooperate with EndNote.

Shameful!

Just raised this with one of the techies at Apple the day before yesterday, who refused to acknowledge:

1. The problems - somehow they don't matter because 'Apple is working on them'

2. The complaints - no matter how many and how detailed and specific, they are just a minority and 'Everyone else loves it' (no proof required).

3. The need - "everyone" is apparently "working" on either iPads or iPhones

4. Apple is being dismissive of its users and ignoring them - he dismissed this and ignored everything I showed him (not that he showed any real interest in the first place)

Apparently 'Apple makes mistakes, but it listens to its customers'.

I have heard this line word for word from so many different people at Apple I think they must have it on loop in an implanted earpiece.

After he 'clarified' all the above with absolute certainty, I pointed out that he had just made my point that Apple neither listens to nor cares about its users.

Peter

Peter, thanks for raising those issues with Apple. Their response is frustrating indeed, though I must say it's not at all surprising. That attitude is exactly why Apple doesn't have public betas. They know better than we do what we need and what's best for us, so why should they have public betas? Microsoft very definitely has its faults, but this is one area where, in my opinion, they really outshine Apple by a long shot. And from my experience with MS beta programs, they listen to their customers.

Bob

Bob,

You put it a little more succinctly than I did.

I see the exact parallels with the Catholic Catechism with which I was indoctrinated as a child and the Trotskist arguments I had to wrestle with in University.

Their arguments are internally cyclical. Their proof is the very supposition that you are calling into question. It is because it is, because it is.

If necessary they will quote someone else saying exactly the same thing, as "proof".

Peter

If you use in-text citations it seems to work (unless you use Chicago style). For those of us who work in Chicago style, footnotes are required (i.e. pages 5.01, or whatever it is now, is still completely unusable).

I had a similar interaction at the Apple Store a few weeks ago. Since I've upgrade my OS to Maverick nothing has worked smoothly and some of my programs kept freezing and lossing data. He couldn't find anything "wrong" and said it was because I use gmail and google drive. He literally blaimed everything on google (even though I used the exact same programs before the update).

I also mentioned the ridiculously backwards move with the "new" pages, and he just said something to the extent of "well we can't make everyone happy".

I don't know if public betas are the only answer, but maybe a survey to people who purchased and use pages as to functionality desires/drawbacks.

Really, have we not sent in enough feedback notes (in addition to ranting here in the community boards) for them to take action?