What is still missing in latest Pages 5.5

Is there a comprehensive list of missing features in the new Pages and Numbers? I want to upgrade to Yosemite but I use the original Pages 4.3 and Numbers 2.3 (iWork '09) virtually every day. Can anyone tell us if it's safe to upgrade?

I'm starting to think that I'll never be able to go with Pages 5.

Yes, a consensus to the effect is building.

I updated a few days ago and the only issue on Pages that I noticed - not thoroughly tested by any means! - is sharing via exporting directly to email did not work. Otherwise seems mostly intact other than cosmetic changes. Disappointing but small beans after last fall.

Yeah, I think I'm with the consensus that Apple isn't going to bring Pages 5 up to snuff. If you look at other software they've given similar treatment to (Aperture, iMovie), the new versions have not tended to regain the functionality of the old.

I'm starting to wonder if this isn't an explicit but unstated strategy on Apple's part to offer some super-basic software for free, and cede the field to 3rd party developers to develop more robust applications in order to create a stronger base of developers for Mac.

I really wish they'd be more transparent about their intentions in this field, though.

I have upgraded to Yosemite (clean install). I'm currently using Pages 4.0 — I still have the iWork 09 retail kit but, unfortunately, Apple does not provide a way to update (and not upgrade) to version 4.3. Pages 4.0 works fine on Yosemite; currently searching for a way to update it to v4.3 (copying the 4.3 app from my Time Machine archive over the 4.0 doesn't work...).

You can download the standalone updater from this page.

As much as Apple wants users to constantly upgrade to the latest versions of its software, they do keep older updaters available. Go to Apple's support page & click on the magnifying glass in the bar across the top & search for the updates you're looking for. It's best to be fairly specific when searching. A better way would be to use Google's advanced search, enter the update you're looking for in "this exact word or phrase:" & use support.apple.com/ as the site or domain.

Peggy, million thanks!

PS. Get this: I even called Apple Support and I was told Apple does not support older software... 🙂

Take a look at this page to see some of the very old software Apple still maintains.

OMG!!! That is great Peggy!! Hah!

Oh lovely. I dropped by to figure out how the heck to convert a block of text into a table in Pages 5.5.... it can't be done, can it?

I just might send a very pointed letter to Apple over this. Which as usual would be ignored..... 😉

EDIT: Well... found out by accident. Convert text to table: make a new table. Copy text. Right click, paste text into table. Boom! Darn, I was really looking forward to writing a nasty letter. Still it SHOULD be easy!! 😕

Hirschkorn wrote:

Peggy, million thanks!

PS. Get this: I even called Apple Support and I was told Apple does not support older software... 🙂

Next time ask them if anyone in Support uses either Apple hardware or software. Many of them are even reading their responses off PCs. I asked one once to check something on his Mac and he had to go to another machine.

Peter

Thankfully, getting text into a table is pretty straight forward.

What I seriously miss is the "table to text" feature.

I have a table of over 10,000 rows and I need to print it. If I could convert it to text, I could have two columns and halve the number of pages required.

The release of Pages v5.5.1 on Yosemite brought with it a means to enable backwards document compatibility with Pages v5.2.2 on Mavericks.

By default, Pages v5.5.1 saves a document as a compressed archive — not a folder. There is no preferences override for this. It is this archive format that is not backwards compatible to Mavericks. However, there is now a File > Advanced > Change File Type menu hierarchy. The two choices are Single File (default archive format), and Package (folder). The first is good for non-Apple filesystems (e.g. Dropbox), and the second, a package folder, is the format that can be opened by Pages v5.2.2 on Mavericks.

When creating a new document, you must first save it before the above menu is enabled. Choosing Package with an open, single file document, will convert it in-place to a package folder within Pages. Recommend you hit File > Save again for good measure.

I usually copy and paste tables into Numbers via Textedit. Textedit in plain text mode strips tables down to tab delimited text which is then easily manipulated in Numbers before copying back to Pages.

In reply to my earlier post -- I went ahead with the Yosemite upgrade and iWork '09 seems to be fine for me.

Styles drawer is gone.

Comments on multiple parts of the same sentence is gone (i.e. I can't highlight "the dog ran," make a comment, and then highlight just "dog." It goes straight back to my comment about "the dog ran.").

Changeable background color on full screen mode is gone 😟

Highlighting contiguous text is gone.

Oh, and my new favorite...KNOWING WHAT PAGE YOU ARE ON is gone. UGH. How 2005 is that, Apple??