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iWork Family Pack

one thing is holding it back

Written by MH from Victoria

23-Nov-2009

one thing is holding this software back and that is what's missing from Pages - you cannot sort in Pages, only in Numbers

iWork Family Pack

Worth it just for Keynote & Pages

Written by RE from Wilson

16-Sep-2009

iWorks is worth the price just for Keynote and Pages. Why?
Keynote vs. Powerpoint. Keynote is easier, faster to create shows, has more animation ability, is integrated with iPhoto & iMovie so placing pictures and video in a presentation is click & drag easy, is less expensive, has easy and powerful export tools.
Pages vs. Word. I use Pages to replace InDesign for brochures and book layout. My publisher wants a PDF so the ability to do layout with Pages in a simple and fast way is great. I save hours using Pages and don't have to look to Help files because it is so intuitive.
Numbers vs Excel. Excel wins. Numbers is easy to use but Excel is more powerful. If you want to do simple math and graphs and place them in a report, use Numbers and Pages.

41 of 42 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

I miss Appleworks

Written by MF from Van Wert

7-Sep-2009

After some quick (too quick perhaps) research, I decided to purchase iWorks. I had used Appleworks for years and also use MS Office programs. I recently took on the position of managing a database for a local organization. I have never been able to navigate Access but ALWAYS loved the Appleworks DB. I knew iWorks did not have a DB but thought between numbers and pages I would certainly be able to maintain data and print reports and mailing labels. I do like many of the ways Numbers allows you to organize and manipulate data....but if you want to merge data between Numbers and Pages....forget it. So I find myself moving data to MS Excel so I can merge into Word. I should have researched a little more.

I must say I am disappointed. I still have a personal database in Appleworks. I always loved what that database could do. Apple products were ahead of their time with merging data and printing reports and labels. Now I feel like I am in the dark ages with merging.

I also bought the family pack so I could load it on my kids Macs. Not sure it will assist my children any more than MS products. I guess I really expected something more from this product. I was not expecting a step back.

69 of 88 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

Bye Bye MS Office, Hello iWork !!

Written by WW from ERIE

17-Aug-2009

Been working with Numbers, Pages and Keynote quite a bit the last month and Wow!!!! So much better than Office.

51 of 67 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

Really frustrating

Written by MS from Salt Lake City

16-Aug-2009

I bought this software package because in general, I like Mac software. The program seems to work well with older Microsoft Office files (.doc or .xls). However, I would highly recommend that you do NOT buy this software unless you never have to work with Microsoft Office.

Here's why: Office 2007 (the new Microsoft Office software to which people are currently upgrading) is not compatible with iWork. Yes, you can open your docx or xlsx files in iWork. The problem is that your files look completely different in iWork - often you have to reformat your file by changing your margins, font size and/or columns. This takes so much time that you might as well retype the whole dang thing.

Don't buy this software unless you know that you will only be using iWork when at work and at home. Or wait to buy iWork until Apple has fixed compatibility issues with Office 2007.

90 of 100 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

No Flash Export in Keynote 09!

Written by GS from Marietta

12-May-2009

I cannot believe that Apple took the Flash Export feature out of Keynote. I use it all the time developing training for a company stuck on Windows. Converting to Flash means I can make the compelling content in Keynote and still get it to the screens where it needs to be.

I am sticking with '08. We need the Flash export back!

114 of 123 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

No Flash export In Keynote 09 was a dealbreaker

Written by AG from Chicago

23-Apr-2009

I use Keynote all the time, but I need to export in multiple formats to multiple people. Removing the Flash export was a deal breaker. I am sticking with '08 until Apple brings Flash export back.

101 of 111 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

Replaced my MS Office in Iraq & only gotten better

Written by EK from Arlington

3-Apr-2009

4 more licenses for twenty dollars? Of course that makes for a good deal.

This a new version made brought Pages and Numbers closer to the level of Keynote and added some features like iWork.com that liftedall of iWork over MS Office.

Pages (more templates, more solid, better conversions)
- export as PDF is invaluable for sending secure offer letters, statements, etc
- blank pages are great when you don't need any special format
- the templates allow for professional last-minute jobs
- the number word to pages conversion issue is fonts. Add the font and the issue is resolved.
Numbers
- The multiple spreadsheets on a page is excellent for data integrity and quickly drag/drop addition to an front page spreadsheet.
- is able to do all the math that i have been able to through at it from every aspect of capital accumulation with forecasted vs. actual comparisons
Keynote
- the templates are great and more is better
- this replaced powerpoint for me in Baghdad and got more attention for my embassy briefings ( i know since people asked me who I had preparing my presentations)

The '09 version
- iwork.com THIS IS WHY YOU NEED THE '09 version
- I use this for peer reviews of contact reports
- I use this to get feedback from mentors and SMEs on articles I am writing
- I use this for near real-time presentation and discussion in iChat video conferences

This product has enabled me to operate completely with out MS Office in the DoD/DoS sector. I recommend Bento2(over access) to round out a complete MS Office suite substitute.

56 of 64 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

Kiss MS Office good bye

Written by MN from Marina Del Rey

28-Jan-2009

I have had to endure using MS Office because it is what the rest of my PC coworkers use. iWork 09 mad such dramatic improvements in ease of use and the presentation of finished documents, I'll take the slight draw back of having to convert file back and forth. iWork 09 does a good job of reading and writing MS Office files, there are only minor issues that take less than 10 min to fix. As my IT guy said he wishes iWork was for windows then he would switch the whole company to iWork.

187 of 196 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

Missing Features? Flash from Keynote

Written by WC from Bristow

28-Jan-2009

I really depend upon Keynote's ability to export to QuickTime, MPEG-4 and Flash. I cannot find the Flash output. That is a non-starter for me. Must dig deeper but am very impressed by the updates overall in the software!

58 of 71 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

Awesome!

Written by DW from Sandy

25-Jan-2009

I have been using Microsoft Office for too long! When I saw the keynote remote in the app store on my iPhone, I just couldn't resist going to my local Apple store and buying this product. I haven't had much time to look at the features and such, but I am very impressed.
Good:
Headers and Footers fade into view if you move your mouse over them
Full screen
No auto-correct like office (i hate those little popups!)
Keynote remote!!!
Great transitions in keynote
Simplicity
Boots up quickly
Mac friendly
Bad:
Spell checker/grammar checker in Pages. It's disappointing that it doesn't know as many words as Word and you can't teach it words. (I probably just don't know how, I'm way to used to office)

73 of 79 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

A Significant Improvement Over Last Year's iWork

Written by GG from Hamilton

22-Jan-2009

I do a lot of work with spreadsheets, databases, and word processors in my work for a non-profit organization, and iWork '09 is simply perfect for me. My two major complaints with the previous version of iWork were the lack of ability to freeze header rows and columns in Numbers and to merge Numbers and Pages documents. Both appear in '09, and they simply work great. In the past I had to continue using Microsoft Office in order to do mail merges and to handle particular types of documents, but those days are almost past. With its increased functionality, I have almost no need for Office anymore. The only thing still missing from Pages (as far as I know) is the ability to create labels using pre-existing label templates that line up with a company such as Avery. (I could be wrong about this, but I haven't found a way to do this in Pages yet.) Once Apple adds this feature, Office will be history on my MacBook.

60 of 63 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

Numbers makes me vomit

Written by CW from Upland

21-Jan-2009

I downloaded the trial cause I needed to do some updates to a fairly normal spreadsheet in .csv format. Upon import, it told me that it doesn't open files with more than 255 columns, and 65,000 rows - And that it dropped the excess data.

I initially was looking for an alternative to Excel, cause I hate Microsoft and assumed apple would make a more ergonomic product. But if you can't even open a simple spreadsheet? Come on...

Then I tried going around it, and exported my database in XML format, seeing if this would help the situation; only to find out:
---Error---
“export_all_products.xml” could not be handled because Numbers cannot open files in the “Microsoft Excel XML spreadsheet” format.

Now I'm no wiz at spreadsheets, but I would assume the Mac equiv would recognize the need to open spreadsheets in excel format.

52 of 113 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

Seems Great!

Written by MG from Glastonbury

14-Jan-2009

I still haven't had much time to check it out, but it seems great. Finally multilingual spell check that works unlike in Word.

My recommendation, if you don't have it buy it. It's worth it!

P.S. Keynote Remote is great. I have an iPhone, love the app. iWork.com seems cool. Still got to try it out.

32 of 54 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

excellent upgrade

Written by AM from Brookline

12-Jan-2009

I've just installed iWork '09.
The EndNote and Mathtype compatibility in Pages are big deal for me. They both work great, and are great new features. The iPhone control of Keynote presentation is also a nice addition to a software that is already much more powerful than PPT! New transitions are nice.
In short, recommended.

129 of 148 people found this useful

iWork Family Pack

iWork works for me

Written by SJ from New York

12-Jan-2009

I find it simple and powerful. Invites you to be more creative and collaborative. Fully compatible with MS Office like never before (no longer need MS office). And the family pack price provides great value. Only comment is that I wish it provided the ability to spell check in more than one language. The world is now global and we need to communicate in more than 1 language.

83 of 95 people found this useful