Iworks for iPad

[Rustiferch]

Can anyone point me to where I can get a copy of iwork for iPad? I can't find it on app store and it doesnt seem to be apart of the os.

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Can anyone point me to where I can get a copy of iwork for iPad? I can't find it on app store and it doesnt seem to be apart of the os.

The various components of iWorks are available separately, so you need to search for 'Pages', 'Numbers' or 'Keynote'. These apps work fine - I have them on my iPad but you need to be aware that they are 'stripped down' versions of the iWorks Mac software. If you want to check out the functionality, then a good place to start is the Help section on the Apple site

http://help.apple.com/iwork/1.3/mobile/interface/index.html#tan724868a9

You can import .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt and .pptx format documents and export in .doc, .xls, .ppt and .pdf format. If you're importing from MS Word (as I do) you'll find that documents, for example, with very complex formatting can cause, say, Pages to 'struggle' (a polite way of saying that the formatting is not always rendered correctly) but generally it's OK. Pages, for examples, handles styles, fonts, multi-column, tables, pictures etc fine.

There are some noticeable issues - for example, Pages can display superscripts and subscripts - but you cannot originate them from within Pages - similar problem with footnotes, an imported document with them in is displayed OK but there's no facility within Pages to create them. There are some not-so-elegant workarounds for this (sit down before I tell you - I keep an imported document with superscripts, subscripts etc embedded in it as a reference and then cut-and-paste from that document into the document that I'm working on if I need to use, say, a subscript.)

Strangely, Pages allows you to edit, say, superscripts - i.e. if you place the cursor in a superscript you can backspace to delete and then forward type the superscript text you want. In fact, even more bizarrely, once you're in 'superscript mode' there's no way to 'get out of it', so you need to paste the copied superscript text into the middle of some regularly formatted text so that you can move back to normal formatting.

Graphics handling in Pages is very good - much easier than in MS Word (OK - I accept, that's not saying much!). To bring my rambling post to an end, I've found that any document originating in Pages transfers 100% OK to MS Word and about 95% of documents originating in MS Word transfer OK to Pages.

Tim
Scotland

 

[zorah]

Yes. what Tim said. I don't have any of them. I have read many posts and reviews that they each have their quirks, like if it really elaborate formatting, and fonts, some of it may not carry over, etc. But in general it sounds like they do a decent job.

 

[Rustiferch]

Thanks guys. This answers my initial question. To add, I looked up these programs on app store and found they all cost money, where I thought I had read somewhere they were free. Is this not the case?

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

The Apple 'Office' iWorks products are not free, unfortunately. There are some third-party apps that are free and can handle Office-formatted documents, but most people with an iPad opt for a paid app - either the Apple suite or something like Docs2Go. The free apps are even more limited than the paid-for ones!!

Tim

 

[Wolfpuppies3]

Yes, amazingly enough, Apple software is not free

I use Pages on my iPad and it works fine. I have the entire iWorks suite on my MacBook but only use all three there, not on the iPad.

 

[tdmsu]

I use keynote and pages on my iPad for creating content that I use in my classroom. I use keynote to present new material, and pages mostly for writing lesson plans. I did not expect much from them, but they perform well if you don't need complicated formatting, as stated above.

I recommend them, at $10 bucks they are more than worth it.