Customer Reviews and Ratings

The frustration trying to create documents with outline numbered lists was insurmountable. Even the "Genius" at Apple one-to-one couldn't help.
Transitioning between document types was challenging when sharing with non-Mac users - not the seamless experience I was expecting.
Save yourself work by avoiding iWork. Two thumbs down!

5 of 9 people found this useful

While the software is still useful as it was 3 years ago, the fact that there hasn't been a major update in 3 years makes me wonder about Apple's commitment to iWork. One would hope that this has nothing to do with Microsoft's commitment to the Mac platform, that letting iWork die a slow death was part of the deal.

Had there been an update, the software would easily be a 4 star package, maybe even 5, but that it's sat idle, is worrisome. If you want something other, and cheaper than Office, iWork is still the best alternative. Keynote trumps PowerPoint in almost all areas. With Pages, you can actually build tables without an hour in the Office manual. Numbers might be the weakest of the 3, but for basic spreadsheet work the ease of use is outstanding.

iWork is so much easier than Office will ever be, and the compatibility is still as valid as it was 3 years ago. I am at a point where I need to recommend an 'office' software package to several clients, but my trust in the long term viability of iWork is making the decision much harder than it should be.

81 of 92 people found this useful

Pages vs Word : Pages compares to word fairly well. When I first bought iWork, it was because it was cheaper. I have found out, however, that Pages is a great substitute to word. I am forced to use Pages and Word side by side, because my school does not have Macs. The Word/PDF/RTF exporting works well, although I was disappointed by the removal of the Save As feature. In terns of capability, I must say that Pages gets 4 starts whereas Word gets 5, mainly due to the lack of Clip Art and the need to insert a Layout Break to have a new layout.

Numbers vs Excel : While reading this, keep in mind that I am a school student. I do not need to use as many features as, say, a project manager. From what I do need to use, I find that Numbers has just as many features as Excel, if not more. Also, numbers is more intuitive. Numbers also comes with various useful templates built-in. The ability to have multiple spreadsheets on a single screen is also useful. Numbers gets 5 stars, where Excel gets 4.5 (due to the lack of intuitiveness)

Keynote vs PowerPoint: Keynote and powerpoint are essentally equal. They both have great animation effects, user-friendly interfaces, and slide formats. PowerPoint wins in the category of text-formatting, and Keynote wins in the area of slide formatting. The only Negative thing I have to say about Keynote is that when it is exported to .ppt , it loses some formatting. PowerPoint also does not support some animation effects (like flames). They both get 4.5 stars due to the lack of incompatibility.

88 of 90 people found this useful

I have been using MS Word for so long, that I cannot remember when I started. In 2000, I stated to us Word Perfect because of the legal pleading wizard. These two programs were my main staple.

I switched to all Mac a few years ago, and kept using MS Word. I did not like how clunky it felt, and there were no legal pleadings that functioned flawlessly. After some research, I found a legal pleading for Pages, and decided to give it a try. I downloaded the app on my Macbook, so the price was right ($19.99). So far it works well. The pleading is easy to align, and it looks good.

In regards to ease of use, I am not finding that Pages is any more difficult to use, and in fact it seems easier. I like to insert pictures in some of my documents, and then wrap the text around them. Doing it in MS Word felt like I was forcing it to work, or that it was fighting me. Not in pages. I can insert photos, easily find the adjustments, and keep going. It flows and works well.

What I cannot find is the ability to type on the left side of a document, and then simply type in the right side on the same line. I am sure this is a simply feat, but it seems to elude me. Also, I want to format the page numbers on the document differently, but it does not work. MS Word allowed you to do both very easily.

I am not doing large productions. I am simply doing some word processing, and this works well. Overall and good program. I think it will be better when I can find the little fixes I need.

11 of 12 people found this useful

Absolutely PERFECT but there is one thing that apple MUST fix is, in keynote, all the special effects you spend a long time making for you presentation suddenly dissapear when you present a keynote presentation from IWork.com The 5th star will be given when that is fixed.

26 of 28 people found this useful

So for work, I had to update some Word documents. I started working in Open Office, and realized after a couple days how angry and frustrated I was a at both OO and MS. I googled a bit for OS X word processors, and saw that the Pages demo was fully functional, so I said 'what the heck, let's give it a shot'.

WOW! What an excellent application! It is rock solid, and really, really intuitive (at least for me, your mileage may vary). Been using it for a week, and I am absolutely hooked, not looking back. I love the inspector, the way Styles are implemented, bookmarks, TOC, the super-clean PDF exporter... just everything I've needed to do so far has been smooth, intuitive, and solid. The couple of times I needed to look up something in the Help, i found the info topical and clear. A really well put together workhorse, this thing.

When the demo expires, i'm plunking down the cash for this excellent, professional word processor.

20 of 20 people found this useful

Apple has gone over the top with this product, it is a great, productive, innovative product. The setup is great, apple has done an outstanding job, and i recommend this to all peers. I just wish there was a way to have it auto correct after a sentence.. that is the only annoying part!!

11 of 16 people found this useful

Get this. Don't get the overpriced Microsoft bs. The end.

30 of 37 people found this useful

This is a great app. BUT if you want to write from right to left e.g. in Persian, Hebrew or Arabic you will have difficulty. The cursor DOES NOT move with letters, so you do not know where you are. Try to correct a word! better type 100% correct than to try to correct.

Please Please APPLE, do something.

46 of 67 people found this useful

I am a longtime user of iWork, and before iWork I used AppleWorks. I have recently switched to MS Office for one simple reason...Apple (for some reason that eludes me even though I have heard the official explanation) took away the "Save As" function in iWork, particularly Pages and Numbers. I used this function almost daily, and now it is gone, it's not even buried somewhere in an obscure Control-Click function.

Otherwise, iWorks is a nice alternative MS Office--if you don't need the "Save As" function.

171 of 187 people found this useful