A couple of years ago I found something that Numbers did that Excel did not. I wanted to clean out my extensive Address Book (many listing had Palm Pilot references). Exporting as vCard, Excel couldn't handle properly - wouldn't sort each field into a cell. It just worked with Numbers. That was 2 years ago, so a more recent release may have addressed this.
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It's done - I ditched Apple iWork and switched to Office
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Yes. A very good one. Not easy to learn, but once you learn, you will love it (unless you, like me, need web version for document sharing with clients etc.).
There's no doubt that for compatibility in the business world, education, legal, government, and many others that MS Office is the de facto standard. I occasionally open documents that were made with Windows Office 95 and other WP programs just do not render them properly.
Putting all that aside, Pages is a nice WP program and in fact does layout fairly well. Can't beat its price either.
Someone asked about Mellel which is a specialized WP program. What it does best is its ability to process in other languages especially those that use a RTL format. Here is what Wikipedia says about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellel
Putting all that aside, Pages is a nice WP program and in fact does layout fairly well. Can't beat its price either.
Someone asked about Mellel which is a specialized WP program. What it does best is its ability to process in other languages especially those that use a RTL format. Here is what Wikipedia says about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellel
One other option is Libre Office. I have used it and found it works very well with MS docs. In fact, when I first got Office 16, Word 16 couldn't properly print envelopes produced by the previous mac version of Word/office which was Office for Mac 2011, Libre Office COUld properly print them. I keep it on my computer "in case" but updates to Office for Mac 2016 fixed that issue. Also, Thunderbird (email) can share mac contacts whereas Outlook can't or wont but I found a workaround for Outlook that worked okay.
I only use Word and Excel if I have to due to compatibility with other people.
Powerpoint is another thing as even if I tried to embrace Keynote, it just doesn't do what I want in too many cases (might be that I'm too used to Powerpoint and not enough to Keynote)
For stability and performance when editing huge documents: Pages rocks to socks off of Word.
Other stuff I've used over the years: Ventura, Frame, InDesign, ... I still miss Ventura and above all Frame
I'd love to get to a point where I'm ready to tell MSFT where to stick their yearly fee.
Powerpoint is another thing as even if I tried to embrace Keynote, it just doesn't do what I want in too many cases (might be that I'm too used to Powerpoint and not enough to Keynote)
For stability and performance when editing huge documents: Pages rocks to socks off of Word.
Other stuff I've used over the years: Ventura, Frame, InDesign, ... I still miss Ventura and above all Frame
I'd love to get to a point where I'm ready to tell MSFT where to stick their yearly fee.
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Lotus 1-2-3 ... Bravo!
Man that was a sweet application like WordPerfect was.
PSST ... create a free account at Outlook.com and you'll have some access to Word, Excel and PowerPoint via the browser - create and edit files (even via the Office app on iOS). However you'll loose any PowerPivots and/or Plug-ins you may have been used to
I mean, for serious writing, the right tool is Scrivener.
I absolutely agree. Actually, that's what I'm using now.
LOL, you're telling your age. I still have my disks for Wordperfect 5.1. And hey, let's not forget Lotus Notes.
Libre Office is a nice substitute if you don’t need assurance files can be opened by Office users. I’ve found it isn’t always 100% the same so it’s a no go, for me, for cases where I need to send files. That said, if you want a nice free office suite it’s worth a look; although chances are if you don’t need Office compatibility then apple’s suite will do the job as well and has iOS versions as well.
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LOL, you're telling your age. I still have my disks for Wordperfect 5.1. And hey, let's not forget Lotus Notes.
Visicalc
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I mean, for serious writing, the right tool is Scrivener.
Scrivner is really good if you are trying to write a story. Scapple is a nice product as well. Now if they just release iPad versions.
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Yes, it is. Mellel is a very good and capable word processor, although it has a somewhat steep learning curve. It has lots of features that were very well implemented. The problem with Mellel, as I see it, is that it uses a proprietary file format and that it is developed and sold by a small company called RedleX.
If the company runs out of business for some reason, you will be stuck with your Mellel files with poor compatibility with Microsoft Office. You can convert a Mellel file to Word, but the conversion is poor and you will lose much of the formatting.
Plus, Mellel is only available for Mac (and iPad), which means you are pretty much confined to Apple's ecosystem. Sure, you may love Apple and the Mac environment. However, if one day you want or need to switch to Windows, then you must drop Mellel, and you will have to deal with all the compatibility issues with other filetypes.
I stick with Microsoft Word. It is a fantastic word processor with tons of features and keeps getting improved. Plus, it is the most used word processor in the world, which means I will never be trapped in incompatibilities.
Agreed. While I find fascination in other word processors, my personal data and everything I do (work) is 100% Word.
Stability and compatibility with time is worth far more to me.