Save a pages document as a word document

You have either misread or mischaracterised what I said. What I actually said was "Apple has removed the option to choose a file type when saving documents". My comment refers to the interface when using the 'Save' option in the file menu. I appreciate that we can still 'Export' but this is less convenient and is not what the OP was asking.

As to the second point, seeing as Pages does not offer MS document extensions when saving as required by the OP, I primarily recommended Libre Office, which is a free and very stable office suite. For serious productivity, such as in an academic or enterprise environment, MS Office is (unfortunately) the only choice for those that need standards compatibility.

It is a shame that Apple has taken the decision to degrade the functionality of Pages to try to push the .pages file extension, which is not a widely adopted format. We can only hope that the .odf standards are eventually adopted more widely and productivity software will finally truly compete on function, rather than being used as a pawn in the wider competition for operating system or hardware sales.

easy, I'm on your side bra.

Forthright is as candid as it gets...

I have not misread this forum one byte.

The rest of your argument is just plain false, even you explain the export function does what it does, as if it did not exist as a save as function, which is what it is, secondarily...

and yes, back to the beginning, forthrighteously I would like the .pages to be secondary to an 'init'...

Dear Apple, I consider saving in your own format a document opened in a different format, a diversion of the customer's will, especially when it is not stated clearly. Hijacking documents to your own place with no warning.

I have been bit by this the first time, and the result was people calling on the phone to ask what happened to my updated version of a document. It was in the folder, with a different extension and format, as I found out.

In other words (pun not intended), I think that documents created in Pages should be saved as pages, documents created in a different format should be saved in the same format in which they were opened, as Joe Customer expects.

For now, I think that my workflow will be keeping documents shared with my colleagues in the shared folders in which they come, saving my working copy in Pages and iCloud, so that I can share everything with my iPad, and exporting on the original when I am finished. It is not optimal, but it should work, considering that there is not much concurrence in my workflow: I own the document until when I am finished.

Still, I am asking that a document opened in a different format should be saved in the same place and format, saved as in the format you choose, with Pages own format as default, and exported as usual.

Pages own format is the default.

I said that .pages should be the format when saving a document you created, but if you open a .doc or .docx file, Save should save the document in the original place, rather than create a copy in a different format. This is what I consider what the user expects. It it clear now?

Thats not how it works unfortunately, you'll need to export to doc format, or use any other word processor but Pages

We are all just end-users like yourself here. To have Apple "hear" you you need to leave feedback for the Pages team using the link in the Pages menu and review & rate the new versions in the Mac App Store.