The Apple logo is seen through raindrops on a window outside of the New York City flagship store, Jan. 18, 2011.Reuters
The three pillars of iWork (Pages, Keynote and Numbers) may not be as popular as their Microsoft counterparts (Word, PowerPoint and Excel), but on Tuesday evening, Apple made it easier for fans of either software bundle to work interchangeably on either platform.
Apple released updates for its entire iWork line on Tuesday, including significant updates to Pages, Numbers and Keynotes. Most iOS users will notice many changes to the platform, while Mac users will notice subtle tweaks and additions to make the Mac experience resemble the changes in iOS.
Here's what Apple has to say about each of its newly-updated products:
Pages 1.7:
In this release Pages for iOS is updated for improved compatibility with Microsoft Word and Pages for Mac.
• Use Change Tracking to track changes to body text in a document
• Accept and reject individual changes as you review a document
• Import Pages and Microsoft Word documents with change tracking and continue to track changes to body text
• Preserve tracked changes in documents exported in Microsoft Word or Pages format
• Preserve calculations in tables when importing from and exporting to Pages for Mac
• Add reflections to shapes
• Lock and unlock objects
--
Numbers 1.7:
In this release Numbers for iOS is updated for improved compatibility with Microsoft Excel and Numbers for Mac.
• Hide and unhide rows and columns
• Import and export Numbers for Mac spreadsheets with filters, and turn filters on and off
• Preserve rich text in tables when importing and exporting
• Add reflections to shapes
• Lock and unlock objects
--
Keynote 1.7:
In this release Keynote for iOS is updated for improved compatibility with Microsoft PowerPoint and Keynote for Mac.
• Import and export all Microsoft PowerPoint and Keynote for Mac slide sizes
• Import and export presentation themes, complete with master slides and preset styles
• Play back all Keynote action builds including Move, Rotate, Scale, and Opacity
• Add new slide transitions including Shimmer and Sparkle
• Preserve calculations in tables when importing from and exporting to Keynote for Mac
• Add reflections to shapes
• New print layouts include options to print with presenter notes, with builds, and without backgrounds
• Lock and unlock objects
For Mac users, iWork update 9.3 will add support for iWork for iOS 1.7 apps, and comes recommended for all users of iWork 9.0 and later.
Apple offers detailed information for these Mac and iOS updates, as well as the changes for each specific application, on this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5534.
For iWork users on either Mac or iOS, the updates will be found in either platform's respective App Store. For Mac users that purchased iWork in a box, the update will come in the form of a Software Update.
Each separate iWork application costs $19.99 via the Mac App Store, but physical bundles of all three products can be found online for around $30. On iOS, Pages, Keynote and Numbers all cost $9.99 to download.
