09-16-2010, 08:05 AM

Hi,

I switched recently, and I'm having troubles, primarily with Pages.

I posted a while back about converting between pages and .doc files. But I really am getting fed up with some basic compatibility issues.

For example, I convert a pages doc to word, I give it to my client and the italics magically disappear - this is not just one client but nearly all. I open the doc file on my computer and they're there.

Secondly, the autocorrect is just awful - I missed the final "t" in "important" and it changed it to "importune". Capitals seem to be all over the place (for example you type "THe" and it'll keep the H as a capital). The language I use is British English - but spellcheck doesn't seem to want to use BE.

Also, I've lost hours of work because I've saved a job, I then re-open it and the changes I made have disappeared. Is there a file somewhere that shows all saved documents in Pages? I'm saving after every time I work, but I'm just ending up with millions of documents and I struggle to find the latest version.

Would buying Office for Mac solve these issues?

If not then I'll seriously think about returning the Mac and getting a laptop. I realise that some of the above -i.e. the saving issue, could be something I've been doing as a new Mac owner. But the italics and autocorrect things are big issues for me - if it's going to cost me clients then I'll have to get rid of it, which is a shame as I love everything else about it.

Sorry about the whinge, but I use the computer for my job, and I can't afford to take too many risks.

Thanks in advance!

09-16-2010, 08:31 AM

If you're using the computer in a business and need 100% compatibility with MS Office, then yes, you need MS Office.

I would suggest you try Open Office since it's free and see if that solves the specific incompatibility issues you're facing until the new version of Office is released (Office for Mac 2011 is supposedly scheduled for an Oct 26th release date).

Or, MS has announced current purchasers of Office for Mac 2008 (between Aug 1 & Nov 30, 2010 at MS or an "authorized reseller") will be eligible for free upgrade to the 2011 version - see here.

09-16-2010, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by bobtomay

If you're using the computer in a business and need 100% compatibility with MS Office, then yes, you need MS Office.

I would suggest you try Open Office since it's free and see if that solves the specific incompatibility issues you're facing until the new version of Office is released (Office for Mac 2011 is supposedly scheduled for an Oct 26th release date).

Or, MS has announced current purchasers of Office for Mac 2008 (between Aug 1 & Nov 30, 2010 at MS or an "authorized reseller") will be eligible for free upgrade to the 2011 version - see here.

Hey, thanks for the answer. It's weird about the compatibility problems, I mean they're only italics! I knew about compatibility issues regarding tables etc. but italics? Very strange.

Do you have any idea where pages stores saved documents? Like I said I seem to be developing a collection of documents, and I then have to fight my way through them to find the latest version.

09-16-2010, 10:22 AM

It's going to save them wherever you've told it to. The default location is going to be "Documents".

If you're doing a "Save As" everytime, then you'll have multiples with varying dates of the same document. If you don't need prior revisions, I'd suggest you start using "Save" instead.

09-16-2010, 01:05 PM

Do you have any idea where pages stores saved documents? Like I said I seem to be developing a collection of documents, and I then have to fight my way through them to find the latest version.

The problem with Pages and the other apps from iWork is that by default they do not save as MS Office documents. You must use the "Save As" feature each time. However, you should be able to "Save As" and overwrite the previous "Save As" still keeping to one document. Make sure you're not creating a new document each time you save.

If you're in any kind of business, my advice is to purchase Office for the Mac. As bobtomay stated, MS will be releasing version 2011 late in October. That's the release date here in the US which may or may not be the same in the UK.

09-17-2010, 05:48 AM

Originally Posted by Jodypody

. It's weird about the compatibility problems, I mean they're only italics!

This is probably happening due to font translation. You may be using a font in your documents that doesn't exist on the recipients' PC, leading to font substitution.

Do you have any idea where pages stores saved documents?

Surely you should know this, since Pages is supposed to save documents ... where you tell it to!

I suppose if you're not telling it where to save documents, it will save them to your home folder's "documents" folder.

09-17-2010, 07:35 AM

This is very odd. I've used Pages for nearly two years and have to export as doc all the time. The only minor problem I've had is that Word does not handle images in the document well at all. Not sure, but there may be a difference between using the "save copy as word doc" in the save dialogue box and the "export" option under "file". If you are not using the latter, try that and see if it helps.

By the way, Word is the glitchy-est, most cumbersome word processor I've ever used. Pages isn't as refined as it could be, but at least I don't have to use (and therefore buy) a separate program just do create a brochure or mixed images/text document. Word was so bad at this I had to buy Publisher. Stick with Pages a little longer. Once you work out the bugs you'll find its worth it.

[Edit: oh, and I wouldn't hold my breath on Office for Mac. The last version had WORSE conversion problems from Mac to PC than Pages to Word. Plus it was bloated, slow and crashy].

09-17-2010, 02:32 PM

Thanks for your help everyone. I've decided to go ahead and buy office 08 - who knows, I could be on here in the near future cursing it too.

Anyway, in answer to Chas M - the font I was using was Verdana, which I thought was a Word staple. Basically, I use whatever font my client uses (I'm a translator - so they send me a text, and I use the pre-sets they do); so maybe there's a glitch in the conversion between Pages and Word for Verdana italics?

Right now I'm going to go away and learn how to pre-set the saved documents for Pages. They're not going to my documents folder, so God knows where they're going...

Anyway, thanks for all the advice. I'm sure I'll be back with some other really basic questions soon!

09-17-2010, 02:39 PM

Also look at NeoOffice. It's free, you can set the default save to .doc and it seems to me to be pretty compatible. Menu system is slightly different, but understandable.