Pages, docx, and NeoOffice

Question

Pages, docx, and NeoOffice

Hello,

I have written a document in Pages and exported it to .docx through Pages's native export function. When I opened the .docx document in NeoOffice, it was a mess: All text was rendered as strikethrough, each paragraph was on a separate page, and so on. Has anyone encountered this problem, and is it the fault of Pages or of NeoOffice? (I don't have Word so I don't know if Word would render it properly.)

I am aware that under Export/Word/Advanced menu there is the option to export to .doc rather than .docx, but this messed up my formatting as well. All italics were gone--and since this is a book review, there are a lot of italicized book titles!

I prefer to write in Pages, but the compatibility with Word formats (demanded by editors) is a serious problem. What's the best way of sending off something written in Pages to an editor demanding Word documents, without annoying them with messed-up formatting surprises?

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Apr 28, 2014 8:23 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Apr 28, 2014 8:52 PM in response to ScottWGregory

As an old warrior here, I look at your tag which says Mountain Lion 10.8.3.

But I'll put money that you are really using Mavericks 10.9 and are talking about Pages 5 but haven't told us.

If that is true, amongst the many delightful bugs and missing features in Pages 5, is not just bad Imports, but also bad Exports.

Have you tried the same thing with Pages '09, if so what was the result?

Peter

Reply

Answer 2

Apr 28, 2014 9:05 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Yes, you are correct, my tags are not updated. This is a Mavericks, Pages 5 issue.

My Pages 5 document could not be opened with Pages '09, so I had to export it to that first, then open it in Pages '09, then export again to .doc (.docx is not available in '09), and sure enough, NeoOffice opened it just fine. Italics and all. So, it's been through an extra round of exporting and the end product was .doc rather than .docx, so it is not quite the same, but it worked.

If it's an issue with Pages, it's a pretty shocking one. Not sure how something like that could make it to release.

Reply

Answer 3

Apr 28, 2014 9:15 PM in response to ScottWGregory

Pages 5 and its over 100 missing features and long string of bugs and failures is now 6 months old.

http://www.freeforum101.com/iworktipsntrick/viewforum.php?f=22&sid=03fb1ee66b5c7 3929d54efb08998f40e&mforum=iworktipsntrick

You may have only just noticed but the debate has been raging here all along.

Rate/Review Pages 5 in the App Store and I highly recommend you use Pages '09 or LibreOffice [free] instead.

Peter

Reply

Answer 4

Apr 29, 2014 12:06 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

I'm aware of the Pages debate, thanks, and I still prefer to write in Pages. NeoOffice is my second choice. It's not often that I have to share documents in this way, but now that I do, I have encountered this issue. I was hoping to hear from others whether they have had this particular issue with Pages and/or NeoOffice.

Reply

Answer 5

Apr 29, 2014 12:52 AM in response to ScottWGregory

Yes, a number of people have reported the loss of formatting or bizarre bolding of all text in .doc/x files exported from Pages 5.

Normally in the interests of accuracy, something which seems not to bother most posters, I test everything, but in this case I haven't taken the time and am simply passing on others' experience.

I haven't put any time into it because it would involve closely checking PC users' often dubious installations and procedures and currently I haven't a full personal installation of my own. It is also a moving target. Pages 5 is constantly being changed and is such a PITA that it is not going to be a long term answer, whatever I come up with.

My practical response is to stick in flags in this area to mark it as a minefield and as such to be avoided.

As you are particularly concerned by this problem, by all means do systematic tests comparing output and results from various versions and post those results here and if you like in the iWorknTipsTricks forum as well.

Peter

Reply

Answer 6

fruhulda

Level 6

15,167 points

Apr 29, 2014 3:19 AM in response to ScottWGregory

Why not just use Pages 09 and ditch Pages 5. Pages 5 have a lot of problems, functional, missings and changed ones.

Reply

Answer 7

Jul 8, 2014 7:31 PM in response to ScottWGregory

For anyone interested in this topic, I got ahold of a Windows machine with Word and tried opening a .docx created by Pages 5. It opened fine; the problem is definitely with NeoOffice. I've encountered several other problems with NeoOffice as well--Pages 5 is looking better and better to me, despite its problems.

Reply

Answer 8

Jul 8, 2014 11:47 PM in response to ScottWGregory

Why is anyone using NeoOffice?

We keep recommending LibreOffice [free].

Peter

Reply

Answer 9

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,458 points

Jul 9, 2014 5:44 AM in response to ScottWGregory

I just exported a multi-page document from Pages v5.2 as a .docx. The latest LibreOffice (4.2.5.2) opened it just fine without any aberration.

Reply

Answer 10

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,458 points

Jul 9, 2014 6:42 AM in response to ScottWGregory

Scott,

LibreOffice keeps on top of Microsoft Document change and offers vintage MS documents through MS Word 2013 compatibility. If you were to launch LibreOffice, and click Open File and hold the File type: selector down, you would be surprised at the lengthy document support.

Reply