Pages (word processor)

Pages

Pages 5 on OS X El Capitan
Developer(s) Apple Inc.
Stable release 5.6.1 (November 11, 2015 (2015-11-11)) [±]
Operating system OS X
Type Word processor
License Proprietary
Website apple.com/mac/pages
Pages for iOS

Pages for iOS 7.0
Developer(s) Apple Inc.
Stable release 2.6 / October 15, 2015 (2015-10-15)
Operating system iOS
Type Word processor
License Proprietary
Website apple.com/ios/pages

Pages is a word processor developed by Apple Inc. It is part of the iWork productivity suite and runs on the OS X and iOS operating systems.[1] The first version of Pages was announced on January 11, 2005, and was released one month later.[2] The most recent Macintosh version, Pages 5, was released on October 22, 2013. The previous version, version 4, was released on January 6, 2009, as a component of iWork '09.[3] On January 27, 2010, Apple announced a new version of Pages for iPad with a touch interface.[4] On May 31, 2011 Apple updated the iOS version of Pages to 1.4, bringing universal binaries allowing the app to be run on iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch devices.[5] On October 12, 2011, Apple updated the iOS app to version 1.5, adding the iCloud "Documents in the Cloud" feature. iOS Pages was updated to version 1.6 on March 7, 2012 and will run on iOS 5.1 or later only. Pages for OS X was updated to version 4.3 on December 4, 2012, to support Pages 1.7 for iOS which was released on the same day. Pages for iOS 1.7.1 introduced better compatibility with Word and Pages for Mac, and v1.7.2 merely adding stability improvements and bugfixes was released on March 7, 2013. On October 23, 2013, Apple released a redesign with Pages 5.0, and made it free for anyone with an iOS device.

Pages is marketed by Apple as an easy-to-use application that allows users to quickly create documents on their devices.[6] A number of Apple-designed templates comprising different themes (such as letters, résumés, posters, and outlines), are included with Pages.[2] Many advanced features that were available in version 4.3, including mail merge, bookmarks, text box linking, advanced find/replace, alternating left-right margins (along with alternating left-right headers and footers), 2-up "page spread" viewing, non-contiguous text selection, and robust Applescript support were not included in version 5. Also, many of the templates available in version 4.3 have been removed in version 5, but some templates can be found on other locations. For instance, there's a free screenplay template for Apple Pages which has been compiled according to Final Draft's Cole & Haag standard. See external link below.

Features

Pages is both a word processor and a page layout application. In its latest incarnation (version 5), however, most advanced layout features have been removed. Over 140 Apple-designed templates were included[7] in earlier versions. Only about 60 are included in the new, stripped down version 5. When Pages is first opened, users are presented with a Template Chooser which allows them to start with a blank document or with a predesigned template – including a basic, report, letter, resume, envelope, business card, flyers & posters, cards, miscellaneous, and a newsletter section of templates – that contains placeholder text and images which can be replaced by dragging and dropping photos from the Media Browser.

Each document window contains a toolbar, which gives one-click access to commonly used functions such as inserting objects (text boxes, shapes, tables, charts, and comments), uploading the document to iWork.com, and adding additional pages. In addition, the document window contains a contextual format bar that allows one-click formatting of text and adjustments to images. When text is selected, the format bar enables users to choose fonts, text size and color, adjust line spacing and alignment. When an image is selected, the format bar displays tools to adjust opacity, show and hide shadow and reflection effects, and mask the image.[7] A separate Inspector window provides almost all formatting options available for any element in the open document.

Beginning in iWork '08, word processing and page layout are two distinct modes. In word processing mode, Pages supports headers and footers, footnotes, and outline and list creation. Users can collaborate with others on a document. Pages tracks changes by different users by displaying each person's edits in different colors. Users can also add comments alongside the document. In page layout mode, users have complete control over the position of objects on the page. Images and text can be placed anywhere on the canvas.[7]

The Media Browser provides quick access to media of iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, and Aperture. Users can drag and drop music, movies, and photos directly into Pages documents from the Media Browser window.[2]

Pages used to feature a number of other advanced writing tools. Many of these have been stripped out of the current version. The "Full Screen" mode (introduced in OS X Lion) hides the menubar and toolbars, allowing users to focus on a single document without being distracted by other windows on the screen.[3] Earlier versions featured mail merge, which automatically populated custom fields with contact data from Address Book or from Numbers to create personalized documents. For example, if a user wanted to send one letter to three different people, mail merge allowed him to create a single document with placeholder fields that were populated when printing.[8] The Mail Merge feature was completely removed in version 5. Tables and charts pasted from Numbers are automatically updated if the original spreadsheet is changed.[3]

Compatibility

Pages can import some Microsoft Word documents (including Word 2007's Office Open XML format[9]). Pages 4 and earlier could also import AppleWorks word processing documents and export documents to rich text, but those features have been removed. Pages 5 can still export to PDF, EPUB and Microsoft Word DOC formats.[10]

Simple and complex mathematical equations can be written for a Pages document with Mac OS X's Grapher, offering similar capabilities to Microsoft Equation Editor (plus 2D and 3D rendering tools only Grapher can use).

As of January 2015, Pages does not support OpenDocument file format. The only known software other than Pages which can open its files are the Google Docs Viewer,[11] LibreOffice[12] and Jumpshare.[13] Google Docs can view the files, and save them as PDF via the Print function, but not edit them. Jumpshare can view the files.

While there is no program that can view or edit a .pages file using Windows or Linux, some content can be retrieved from a document created in Pages '09, because a .pages file is actually a bundle. A user can open a .pages file in an unpackaging program, or by renaming files as .zip files in Windows (XP and onwards), and will find either a .jpg or .pdf preview in its entirety for viewing and printing, though only possible if the creator of the .pages file elected to include a preview. The user will also find a .xml file with unformatted text.[14] This process can also be used for users of the 2008 version of Pages to open documents saved in the 2009 version of Pages, which are not backwards compatible.

Pages can also export documents into a number of formats; formatting is generally retained during the export process.

Version history

Version Number Release Date Changes
1.0 February 2005 Initial release.
1.0.1 March 17, 2005 Fixes isolated bugs and issues causing problems to some customers. It also allowed the deletion of template pages.
1.0.2 May 25, 2005 Addresses issues with page navigation and organization.
2.0 January 10, 2006 Released as part of iWork '06. Includes new templates, table calculations, photo masking with shapes and freestyle bezier curves.
2.0.1 April 26, 2006 Pages 2.0.1 addresses issues with charts and image adjust. It also addresses a number of other minor issues.
2.0.1v2 May 1, 2006 Pages 2.0.1 addresses issues with charts and image adjust. It also addresses a number of other minor issues.
2.0.2 September 28, 2006 Pages 2.0.2 addresses issues with Aperture compatibility.
3.0 August 7, 2007 Pages 3.0 released as part of iWork '08. Introduced compatibility with Office Open XML (Microsoft Office 2007) files. Introduced Change Tracking. Transparency tool for pictures. Pages 3.0 needs only a third (260 MB) of the hard disk space required for Pages 2.0 (760 MB) despite the added functionality.
3.0.1 September 27, 2007 Addresses issues with performance and change tracking.
3.0.2 January 29, 2008 This update addresses compatibility with Mac OS X.
3.0.3 February 2, 2008 Compatibility issues.
4.0 January 6, 2007 Released as a part of iWork '09. New features include the ability to edit in full screen view, better compatibility with Microsoft Office, an outline mode, the option to upload documents to the new iWork.com service, and expanded configurability for the "track changes" feature (including the option to turn off change balloons while keeping comment balloons visible).
4.0.1 March 26, 2009 Improves reliability when working with EndNote X2 or MathType 6, or deleting Pages files.
4.0.2 May 28, 2009 Improves reliability when saving documents.
4.0.3 September 28, 2009 Improves reliability with full-screen mode, applying transparency to images, and EndNote citations.
4.0.4 August 26, 2010 Adds support for exporting to the EPUB format (for use with iBooks) and fixes problems with tables.
4.0.5 January 5, 2011 Improves the readability of exported ePub documents.
4.1 July 20, 2011 Adds support for Mac OS X Lion, including: Full-Screen, Resume, Auto Save, Versions, Character picker. Improves Microsoft Office Compatibility.
4.2 July 25, 2012 Adds support for Mac OS X Mountain Lion and storing documents in iCloud.
4.3 December 4, 2012 Adds support for iWork for iOS 1.7 apps.
5.0 October 22, 2013 Adds online collaboration across Macs and iOS devices as well as over the web via iCloud.com. Removes many advanced features, including mail merge, text box linking, default zoom setting, page count, bookmarks, images in tables, and ability to read/export rtf files.
5.0.1 November 21, 2013 Customize the toolbar with your most important tools - Stability improvements and bug fixes.
5.1 January 24, 2014 Adds back vertical ruler and a few other features - Stability improvements and bug fixes
5.2 April 1, 2014 Adds "view only" option for sharing via iCloud. Improved support for bi-directional languages such as Hebrew and Arabic. Improved Instant Alpha, text boxes, ePub exporting, and AppleScript support.
5.2.2 August 21, 2014 Stability improvements and bug fixes.[15]
5.5.1 November 6, 2014 This update contains stability improvements and bug fixes.[15]
5.5.2 January 8, 2015 This update contains stability improvements and bug fixes.[15]
5.5.3 April 21, 2015 This update contains stability improvements and bug fixes.[15]
5.6 October 15, 2015 This update contains enhancements for OS X El Capitan, stability improvements, and bug fixes.[15]
5.6.1 November 11, 2015 This update contains stability improvements and bug fixes.[15]

See also

References

External links

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