Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Why use Pages over Word?
- Thread starter jwolf6589
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
According to its fans, Word is supposed to be wonderfully powerful (and for some things I'm sure it is), but I have never liked it. For one, I've noticed over the years how few users can make it do basic, useful things properly, such as create a style sheet. Wouldn't they be better off with something less complex? I think so.
I've always been a fan of simplicity in software in general and word processors in particular. The heavyweights are constantly getting in the way of the primary task, which for me is the writing. I revert to plain text documents in TextEdit for a lot of my writing. In addition to not getting in the way, plain text can be dropped into a properly formatted document without messing up the formatting.
I don't suppose we can have a Pages discussion without bemoaning the emasculation it suffered with version 5.0, from which it has never entirely recovered. I've been a Pages user since Day One and am now going through the highly awkward process of transitioning to the new, less functional version, not because it's better, but because the old one is on the verge of being obsoleted. In a way I envy the newcomers to Pages. They can appreciate the simplicity of the current app design without the agony of being suspended between the two versions.
I've always been a fan of simplicity in software in general and word processors in particular. The heavyweights are constantly getting in the way of the primary task, which for me is the writing. I revert to plain text documents in TextEdit for a lot of my writing. In addition to not getting in the way, plain text can be dropped into a properly formatted document without messing up the formatting.
I don't suppose we can have a Pages discussion without bemoaning the emasculation it suffered with version 5.0, from which it has never entirely recovered. I've been a Pages user since Day One and am now going through the highly awkward process of transitioning to the new, less functional version, not because it's better, but because the old one is on the verge of being obsoleted. In a way I envy the newcomers to Pages. They can appreciate the simplicity of the current app design without the agony of being suspended between the two versions.
No we can't...and shouldn't have a discussion about Pages without looking back at history.
I still use iWork '09 when I need the functions that the later version doesn't have. And as great as iWork '09 was, it was a pale imitation of the AppleWorks/ClarisWorks before it. I was a hardcore user of those on Windows and it was the reason why I switched to macOS.No we can't...and shouldn't have a discussion about Pages without looking back at history.
You are correct. It does seem like the old AppleWorks for Mac OS 9 was better and had more features than iWork’s. AppleWorks for OSX sucked however.
Up until recently I strictly used Pages but now I use Word 2016 almost exclusively. Whenever my wife and I have to share or collaborate with our respective companies or colleagues, even though we always exported to .docx we found Pages caused some pretty nasty formatting and compatibility issues. Our Pages-created documents always looked off on other peoples' systems using Word. Since we switched to Word 2016, that issue is gone.
Now if I had to pay full price for Office I don't think I'd use it, but rather a free alternative from those already mentioned in this thread. Luckily for us I get Office 2016 (and 365) for free through my work for up to 10 devices.
On a side note, it's interesting that quite a few people mentioned how slow Word is to load. On this old iMac Word 2016 takes 8 seconds to launch while Pages takes 6.5 seconds (I just timed it). So while Word indeed takes longer to load, the difference is not noticeable, on this machine at least.
Now if I had to pay full price for Office I don't think I'd use it, but rather a free alternative from those already mentioned in this thread. Luckily for us I get Office 2016 (and 365) for free through my work for up to 10 devices.
On a side note, it's interesting that quite a few people mentioned how slow Word is to load. On this old iMac Word 2016 takes 8 seconds to launch while Pages takes 6.5 seconds (I just timed it). So while Word indeed takes longer to load, the difference is not noticeable, on this machine at least.
Word is compatible with more devices and platforms. Not sure if pages opens on anything other than MacOS and iOS. Its something to keep in mind if you are sharing material.
That being said, for most people, even Word '98 will suffice so use anything. Depends on your project, but if you have something serious/project I would use Word to be on the safe side. You can go wrong.
That being said, for most people, even Word '98 will suffice so use anything. Depends on your project, but if you have something serious/project I would use Word to be on the safe side. You can go wrong.
I used Keynote a lot in my last job, and it got seriously hosed along with Pages when it was "iOS-ified". They very slowly brought back functionality to the point where it was usable in my workflow again -- specifically the ability to accept vector graphics directly from the clipboard. (You haven't truly lived as a Keynote designer until you've edited graphics in Illustrator, copied them to the clipboard and pasted them with 100% fidelity into Keynote). That ability was eventually restored, but that sidebar inspector is still massively inefficient compared to the palattes we used to be able to use.No we can't...and shouldn't have a discussion about Pages without looking back at history.
[doublepost=1527352241][/doublepost]
Pretty sure that could be customized, no?
Last edited:
I looked and didn't see a way - but will admit to not having put a lot of effort into it.
Compatibility is a tricky business. If you shift a Word document to a device on which it was not created, what happens if that device doesn't support the font(s) used in the original? Sure, it opens, but due to the font substitutions, the formatting will be just as wrecked as if it was exported from another word processor. To really be on the safe side, in addition to everyone using the same software, the formatting choices have to be downright primitive to survive the sharing process.
In terms of sharing material, the best way by far is PDF, assuming collaboration isn't the sharing purpose. If the document will be a collaboration then one of the collaborators should be responsible for final production (preferably someone who understands document formatting). If you don't have that, then all the compatibility in the world won't produce a respectable document. My own experience with this is you have to strip out the grotesque formatting you get from your collaborators because they are using their high-powered word processors with all the finesse of a chainsaw.
Anyway, that's my lecture on word processing. Compatibility and power aren't nearly as useful or as important as widely advertised. Those two facts have given me the permission to use what I prefer.
If I need to do a collaborative document, I always use Google Drive. When we're finished, I download and format in Pages, and then distribute as a PDF. Word is frequently not used in this process.
Sure that can work, but personally I've never been a fan of Google's online apps. They feel like a trip back to the 1990s. I've used Pages' collaborative feature successfully, so you might give it a try next time and save yourself a step. Also, if you're finicky about formatting, Pages collaboration also allows you to ride the document in real time and fix problems as they are introduced.
Use Pages when you want the document to look nice, especially when you graphics and tables. Pages has nice tools for choosing if objects are anchored to text or to the page. You also have many choices for how the text flows around the object. Collaboration with other Mac users is very nice. You can even collaborate with others via a browser.
Use Word when you are forced to. I had to submit a paper to a conference in Word format. It drove me nuts. I couldn’t get the images positioned as I wanted. Eventually, I exported it from Pages as individual png images. I put one image on each page of the Word document and submitted that.
Use Word when you are forced to. I had to submit a paper to a conference in Word format. It drove me nuts. I couldn’t get the images positioned as I wanted. Eventually, I exported it from Pages as individual png images. I put one image on each page of the Word document and submitted that.
You think the Mac version is bad wait till you are forced to use Word for Windows. No pull down menus and all the ribbon. What a pain.
I thought MS Office 2016 for Windows was supposed to be the same as the Mac version with some things that are left out of the Mac version? All the more reason for you to start using Pages John.
Hey... are you keeping your site up to date? It's one of my favorites. Nice job.
Hey... are you keeping your site up to date? It's one of my favorites. Nice job.
I was using word a lot, but on my MacBook Pro with Touch Bar Word is not recognizing the shortcuts I have set up in my iPhone and there is no suggested word preview as in pages. So I probably transform myself into a pages guy
"Libre" as in free = freedom, not "left."
I use both MacOS and Ubuntu Mate. I like that I can use Pages via iCloud with Linux. When I need more functionality, I use LibreOffice 6 on both OSes. I have also found if I just need to write very simple documents, FocusWriter is very good. It is also cross-platform.
My wife who writes and edits professionally uses Word for the track changes features for co-authors or editing anthologies. Pages does not the same level of the feature AND does not have cross-platform compatibility. Thus for her she is stuck with Word.
Pages tracks changes and reads and exports the tracked changes in Word docs. I can see why so many are stuck on Word, but it is mainly due to inertia rather than a plethora of exclusive features.
We ran tests and found that word gave her the best compatibility for tracking changes. We compared all the packages mentioned so far, at least the main ones, and at the end of the test it was word 2008.
If things have improved we wouldn’t know. We stick with what works because of the nature of her work.
If things have improved we wouldn’t know. We stick with what works because of the nature of her work.
Word 2008 was the last version compatible with PPC Macs and did not have macro capability. Nor does it utilize the services available in macOS. Whereas Word 2011 restored macros and does work with macOS services. Word 2016 is bloatware but Word 2011 is still a viable choice. Sadly though, it may not work right with the next version of macOS, so we have been told by Apple.
Valuable in what way? Office 2016 is at least 5X larger than Office 2011 yet it does no more or offer anything that the previous version did. I will concede that MS Office is the de facto standard for businesses, education, and legal. But MS has not made Office better with the 2016 version in my opinion.
Cost, hatred of Microsoft and their licensing model.
That's about it.
If pages is "good enough" to do what you need, use it.
If it's not, or you need better compatibility with other office users, you'll need to shell out for something else.
[doublepost=1527565281][/doublepost]
Office 2016 has cloud integration. If you have a 365 license, it works across Mac, iPhone, iPad and web browser relatively seamlessly.
It also integrates with other 365/cloud apps like Teams, Planner, Sharepoint, OneDrive, etc.
Sure, you may not use these features, but they are definitely there, and plenty of people in a corporate environment, with a corporate 365 license do.
Office 2011 does not do this.