What is the best alternative for Pages ’09?

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Level 1

4 points

What is the best alternative for Pages ’09?

When I say “best,” what I would want for me personally, is an office or productivity suite whose word processing app matches the features and versatility of Pages ’09; its other apps similarly compare well with the other iWork apps; it has a history of integrating well with OS X; and it is well documented with good support. Also, for me personally, cost is less of a concern since Microsoft Office is available at a reduced cost as I am part of a non-profit corporation. I don’t want to limit the question to these characteristics, however, because I am hoping to start a discussion which might be helpful to a broader range of people than just myself, and I am hoping that as broad a question as possible would be more likely to get Apple’s developers’ attention to say that if I am running out of patience, there are probably others who are doing so as well. Why can’t they simply continue to support Pages ‘09 until Pages 5 is significantly more versatile and feature rich, more closely resembling Pages ’09? I have downloaded and deleted Pages 5 twice out of frustration. I use an older iMac running OS X 10.11.4.

By the way, the “suites” with whose names I am at least familiar are Microsoft Office, Apache OpenOffice, and LibreOffice.

I had started a similar thread and somehow managed to check the wrong box and labeled it “Solved.” I am trying to start it again in a slightly different wording.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), null

Posted on Apr 8, 2016 10:48 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,176 points

Apr 8, 2016 11:45 AM in response to rokuzan

Apple leadership, and program/product/developer teams do not participate in or read these posts because they are busy people. Instead, we are non-Apple employees that volunteer their time to help others solve problems. You can communicate with the Pages team via the Pages '09 application menu : Provide Pages Feedback.

Your “best” office suite would be Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac as a replacement for iWork '09 applications, and their current Apple imposters. You would have to export your Pages documents to Word .doc, as no application on the planet can (faithfully) open Pages '09 documents but Pages '09.

With Office 2016 for Mac, you will be working in the native Microsoft document architectures as do those with Windows Office 2013/2016. No translations on import or export to worry about. Just pure document interchange. You can even open a PDF for edit in Word 2016 for Mac.

LibreOffice, though free, has a steep learning curve, is an MS Office Clone, and does not work in the native Microsoft document formats, though it can open and save in them. The default document format for LibreOffice is the Open Document Format, an international standard.

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Answer 2

Apr 8, 2016 11:51 AM in response to VikingOSX

I saw your quote "You can even open a PDF for edit in Word 2016 for Mac" I have an iMac 21.5 (late 2013) using OS X El Capitan 10.11.4, and I was told to download Adobe to work with my PDFs. Is that true that I could do editing for all my many PDFs in Word 2016 for Mac on my iMac? $89 is much cheaper than purchasing that option with a monthly subscription from Adobe. Have you used this option? Thanks for any information that you have. Best - RRR

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,176 points

Apr 8, 2016 12:17 PM in response to RebekkahRoseRyan

Apparently, Word in Office 2016 for Windows can open, edit, and convert PDF to MS document formats, but this feature is not in Office 2016 for Mac. Just read that in the Components paragraph of a PC Magazine review of Office 2016 for Mac. I have also spent several minutes attempting to corroborate this information elsewhere on the web, and at Microsoft — without success. I do not have Office 2016 for Mac installed to independently confirm/refute PDF support.

You do not have to purchase, or subscribe to Adobe Acrobat Pro, unless you want to convert PDF into MS Document formats on the Mac. Otherwise, you can avoid an Adobe subscription, and take a look at the trial PDFpenPro 7.3.4which is a PDF editor. It is also in the OS X App Store. Similar to Acrobat Pro, PDFpenPro can find/select text (e.g. SSN) to permanently redact.

Affinity Designer (OS X App Store) can open single or multipage PDF, where you can edit the document text. One can open a single/multi-page PDF in the free LibreOffice, and edit text and images. Neither of these can redact text or images though.

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Answer 4

rokuzan Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 12, 2016 7:11 AM in response to RebekkahRoseRyan

In case you are not aware, the Preview app on OS X can do a remarkable number of things with a PDF, especially if the PDF was originally created from a document.

Here is a quote from OS X El Capitan: The Missing Manual, by: David Pogue:

"Preview is a nearly full-blown equivalent of Adobe Reader, the free program used by millions to read PDF documents. It lets you search PDF documents, copy text out of them, add comments, fill in forms, click live hyperlinks, add highlighting, circle certain passages, type in notes—features that used to be available only in Adobe’s Acrobat Reader. You can even fill out PDF forms, typing into boxes on the electronic document."

I hope that this is helpful.

I am hoping that this thread doesn't become a Preview thread. I would really be grateful for more feedback on my original question.

Thanks

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Answer 5

Apr 12, 2016 1:43 PM in response to rokuzan

rokuzan wrote:

Why can’t they simply continue to support Pages ‘09 until Pages 5 is significantly more versatile and feature rich, more closely resembling Pages ’09?

Apple has not removed Pages '09 from your Mac nor stopped it working so keep on using it until something better comes along.

Noting has yet.

Peter

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Answer 6

rokuzan Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 12, 2016 3:07 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

I continue to use it and am grateful for it, but I was told by someone at Apple that it is no longer being supported. They suggested that continuing to use it would become more problematic as time passed. Perhaps I misunderstood?

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Answer 7

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,176 points

Apr 12, 2016 3:32 PM in response to rokuzan

Apple discontinued iWork '09 applications, and their updates prior to October 2013. It is only realistically supported by this community, and no further application updates will be forthcoming.

Since Apple suffers no compunction about future OS X updates having problematic, or terminal effects on iWork '09 applications, it is not a strategic application to continue using without simultaneously saving to Microsoft document formats. Certain features of Pages '09 have been lost, or partially available since El Capitan, and this trend will painfully continue, or the application will abruptly stop working at some point. The people that drive 80mph on a tiny space-saver spare tire are the same people that will be absolutely furious when the iWork '09 applications no longer work.

Because Pages v5.6.1 is such a hideous subset of Pages '09 features, it is not a practical migration path as unsupported '09 document features will be either dropped entirely (linked Text boxes), or badly mangled. Damaged documents and extra hours fixing them is no recommendation.

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Answer 8

Apr 13, 2016 9:50 AM in response to rokuzan

Apple appears to no longer be supporting its users, at least if they aspire to anything beyond the uninspiring.

So we must look elsewhere but continue to use what is usable until that something else arrives. I continue with Pages '09, Aperture and Snow Leopard simply because what has come after has been so second rate and retrogressive.

Sadly change for change's sake inevitably leads to fashion disasters. The I.T. equivalent of the deeper moments in Zoolander 2.

Peter

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Answer 9

rokuzan Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 13, 2016 10:00 AM in response to rokuzan

I originally began this discussion in the Apple Support Communities section with the question "Which 'office or productivity suite' works best with the Mac?" linked here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7525503?answerId=30046921022#30046921022&ac_cid=op123456. Since I mistakenly checked Solved in that thread and was concerned that it might no longer be active after that, I started a new thread here, but the original has some interesting answers. I am really hoping to keep this discussion going a bit longer to provide some perspective to people who may be concerned that Pages '09 may not be available for a lot longer since Apple is no longer supporting or updating it. Perhaps someone who knows what features might be available in Pages v5, and when they might be available, could provide some input, letting Pages '09 users know whether it might be good to continue to hang in there? I appreciate feedback. Also, I have repeatedly tried to check Helpful for VikingOSX, Apr 12, 2016 3:32 PM response, but it doesn't show up. I am not sure how to change that.

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Answer 10

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,176 points

Apr 13, 2016 10:26 AM in response to rokuzan

No one here knows Apple's future product plans, or the precise timing that a future OS X release will make Pages '09 untenable. The purpose of the Apple Support Communities is to solve tangible user problems, and not foment, or perpetuate surveys on behalf of other participants.

There has been sufficient contribution here that conveys suitable replacement Office suites over any Apple product. Over 2.5 years have passed since Pages v5 escaped from development. Apple has been notable in their dearth of competitive improvements to Pages v5. No Pages document should be considered a strategic document interchange candidate.

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