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   Pages, Keynote, and Numbers Receive Minor Updates

   Adam C. Engst

   With the October 2103 release of [1]Pages 5, [2]Keynote 6, and
   [3]Numbers 3, Apple radically revised its iWork suite (see '[4]New Free
   iLife and iWork Apps Share across Devices and Platforms,' 22 October
   2013). But these major updates were not so much improvements as
   rewrites meant to bring the Mac apps into lockstep with their iOS
   versions and with the new iWork for iCloud beta.

   [5][tn_iWork-icons.jpg]

   Previously, although it had been possible to share documents between
   the Mac and iOS versions; various aspects of your documents could be
   lost in the transition. With these rewrites, Apple pivoted the problem.
   iWork documents can now round trip between Mac OS X, iOS, and iCloud
   without problem, because Apple changed the underlying file formats and
   removed the offending features from the Mac versions of the apps.

   Once this strategy became apparent, it was met with screams of outrage
   from users who relied on the missing features. (To its credit, Apple
   didn't replace the iWork '09 versions of the apps with these new ones,
   so people could continue relying on the more capable previous versions
   if necessary.) Several weeks later, Apple released [6]an
   uncharacteristic public acknowledgement of the feature losses and a
   promise to bring back some features.

   Let's not be too congratulatory here ' it's a support document, not a
   letter from Tim Cook. Plus, Apple was responding to public criticism,
   not proactively addressing concerns. And Apple's promise itself, while
   better than the previous silence, basically reiterates the status quo '
   all active software receives new features on an ongoing basis. That is
   what we're now seeing ' the first updates that start to bring back
   earlier features.

     In rewriting these applications, some features from iWork '09 were
     not available for the initial release. We plan to reintroduce some
     of these features in the next few releases and will continue to add
     brand new features on an ongoing basis.

   So what's new? The main change in Pages 5.0.1, Keynote 6.0.1, and
   Number 3.0.1 is the capability to customize the toolbar with the tools
   you use most often. (That was first on the list in the support
   document; I wonder if Apple will update it.) Pages 5.0.1 also now has
   center and edge guides turned on by default. Keynote 6.0.1 adds seven
   transitions and seven builds (some of which are returning from the
   grave; others appear to be entirely new). And Numbers 3.0.1 once again
   remembers window size and placement on save and lets you set the
   default zoom in the preferences, both of which are basic oversights
   that worked fine in Number 2.3.

   All the updates also promise 'Stability improvements and bug fixes,'
   and all three are available from Software Update. Here's hoping we see
   additional updates soon.

References

   1. http://tidbits.com/article/14217
   2. http://www.apple.com/mac/pages/
   3. http://www.apple.com/mac/keynote/
   4. http://www.apple.com/mac/numbers/
   5. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-11/iWork-icons.png
   6. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6049

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