mail merge
How do I do a mail merge in Pages 5.0???? So frustrated!
MacBook Pro
I just moved to Maverick OS update with the new Pages and Numbers. What was pretty straight forward and fairly easy to locate and use is now 'hidden.'
23 replies
There is no mail merge in Pages 5.0. They have removed it completely. Why? I wish I knew. You have to use the old pages for mail merge.
Can you describe where it is hidden?
It is not hidden. It no longer exists. If you need mail merge you'll have to use Pages 4 or some other program that can do it.
Sorry for the misleading comment. What I meant to infer was that it was so hidden I couldn't find it. In the meantime, two other folks have stated that it no longer exists in the 'new and improved' Pages. Incredible!!!
<Edited by Host>
Peggy, do you have any clue as to what justification there is for not including a merge capability with the new Pages?
Check out this thread for more information regarding mail merge and pages. I believe that mail merge was taken out to make the new Pages work seemlessly with iOS and online through the Pages beta version. What they intended to do with Pages 5.0, they did very well however it is sad that they took out a key component of the program.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5468930?start=30&tstart=0
Why would I have a clue? We are all just end-users like yourself here. Leave feedback for the Pages team using the link in the Pages menu.
I was able to export to a numbers 09 file then open with pages, 09 and do the mail merge. if you open the exported file with the new version of number you cannot use it with the old app.
Inversionair
No, unless their intention was to render Pages largely pointless, they did not do it very well.
There are even silly UI glitches in the released version that show nobody checks anything at Apple anymore. Nor talks with experienced users because they won't like what they might hear.
Most telling is that Apple is so out of touch they spruiked the new Pages as if it was a major update and never mentioned that it is almost unusable with any previous work.
Things like that happen because the Apple executives don't use their own software. They use Microsoft's instead, so are clueless. The generals are so far behind the front lines, sipping their champagne and gorging on their caviar, they can't even hear it, let alone see the users snared on the barbed wire they had strung across their path.
Peter
edy88, not quite true. You just shant save the document in Pages 5.0. You will get an option to not keep any chagnes in teh document and the document will be intact.
If you've upgraded to mavericks and export a pages document to pages 09, and then you try to use the merge feature in Pages 09 for some reason it doesn't work. It only allows you to sellect the first column from a numbers document - rendering it completely useless. I already showed it to tech support and his computer did the same thing.
This is only true if you are doign Mail Merge through the inspector.
If you click on Insert at the top of the window, you will see Merge field. All of the possible fields from your numbers document should show up there.
It takes a little longer then through the inspector but at least it works for the time being.
Dear Peter et al,
I have just discovered this amazing and most disappointing 'oversight'--and the comments from people such as yourselves on the discussions forum.
What were/are they thinking?
I have been an 'early adopter' of Apple's updates in the past and have had no real problems. In fact I have often been bemused at the complaints of others (for example, re. Duplicate which I reckon is marvellous and has come to my rescue on several occasions. I like to create new documents from old ones to keep the formatting, so often find that I have begun editing before saving it as a new name duplicate/revert to the rescue!)
That has all changed with Mavericks, iOS 7 and the new iiWork, which are all most disappointing: no ability to sync calendars/contacts/bookmarks offline, no mail merge in Pages 5, functions in Numbers more 'clunky', poor backwards compatibility to even just the previous versions of their own software, to name but a few!
The only minor 'saviour' is that the tabs in Finder work well, which was a key reason for me leaping in.
I guess the poor functionality is what we are paying for the 'free' upgrade. I'd rather pay for a better developed product!
Hopefully sense and reason will prevail,
James
Ars Technica has an interesting list of what is wrong in Mavericks, which is firming up my mind to skip it as I did Lion.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/11/five-complaints-ars-readers-have-about-os-x -mavericks/
Xtra Finder (free) does a better job of tabs in Finder along with a whole lot more features, such as Cut and Paste, split windows and folders at the top of lists. It is customisable, unlke Mavericks' Finder.
Also the Tags in Mavericks are just plain annoying and badly implemented. There is a very long thread in the OSX forum bemoaning Tags alone. Much along the lines of here of "What were they thinking!"
Maverick has become a minefield of glitchs, gotchas, and gunnas.
Stick with Mountain Lion and add Xtra Finder, Default Folder and Tags to have a truly productive OSX without the havoc.
Peter
mail merge