Pages is a word processor and a page layout application developed by Apple
Inc. It is part of the iWork productivity suite and runs on the OS X
and iOS operating systems. The first version of Pages was announced on
January 11, 2005, and was released one month later. The most recent Macintosh
version, Pages 5, was released on October 22, 2013. The previous version,
version 4, was released on January 6, 2009, as a component of iWork '09. On
January 27, 2010, Apple announced a new version of Pages for iPad with a touch
interface. On May 31, 2011 Apple updated the iOS version of Pages to 1.4,
bringing universal binaries allowing the app to be run on iPad, iPhone and iPod
Touch devices. On October 12, 2011, Apple updated the iOS app to version
1.5, adding the iCloud "Documents in the Cloud" feature. iOS Pages was updated to
version 1.6 on March 7, 2012 and will run on iOS 5.1 or later only. Pages for
OS X was updated to version 4.3 on December 4, 2012, to support Pages 1.7
for iOS which was released on the same day. Pages for iOS 1.7.1 introduced
better compatibility with Word and Pages for Mac, and v1.7.2 merely adding
stability improvements and bugfixes was released on March 7, 2013. On October
23, 2013, Apple released a redesign with Pages 5.0, and made it free for anyone
with an iOS device. Pages is marketed by Apple as an
easy-to-use application that allows users to quickly create documents on
their devices. A number of Apple-designed templates comprising
different themes, are included with Pages. Many advanced features that were
available in version 4.3, including mail merge, bookmarks, text box linking,
advanced find/replace, alternating left-right margins, 2-up "page spread"
viewing, non-contiguous text selection, and robust Applescript support were not
included in version 5. Also, many of the templates available in version 4.3 have
been removed in version 5. Features
Pages is both a word processor and a page layout application. In its latest
incarnation, however, most advanced layout features have been removed. Over
140 Apple-designed templates were included in earlier versions. Only about
60 are included in the new, stripped down version 5. When Pages is first
opened, users are presented with a Template Chooser which allows them to
start with a blank document or with a predesigned template – including a
basic, report, letter, resume, envelope, business card, flyers & posters, cards,
miscellaneous, and a newsletter section – that contains placeholder text and
images which can be replaced by dragging and dropping photos from the Media
Browser. Each document window contains a toolbar,
which gives one-click access to commonly used functions such as inserting
objects, uploading the document to iWork.com, and adding additional pages.
In addition, the document window contains a contextual format bar that
allows one-click formatting of text and adjustments to images. When text is
selected, the format bar enables users to choose fonts, text size and color,
adjust line spacing and alignment. When an image is selected, the format bar
displays tools to adjust opacity, show and hide shadow and reflection effects,
and mask the image. A separate Inspector window provides almost all formatting
options available for any element in the open document.
Beginning in iWork '08, word processing and page layout are two distinct modes.
In word processing mode, Pages supports headers and footers, footnotes, and
outline and list creation. Users can collaborate with others on a document.
Pages tracks changes by different users by displaying each person's edits in
different colors. Users can also add comments alongside the document. In page
layout mode, users have complete control over the position of objects on the
page. Images and text can be placed anywhere on the canvas.
The Media Browser provides quick access to media of iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, and
Aperture. Users can drag and drop music, movies, and photos directly into Pages
documents from the Media Browser window. Pages used to feature a number of other
advanced writing tools. Many of these have been stripped out of the current
version. The "Full Screen" mode hides the menubar and toolbars, allowing users
to focus on a single document without being distracted by other windows on the
screen. Earlier versions featured mail merge, which automatically populated
custom fields with contact data from Address Book or from Numbers to create
personalized documents. For example, if a user wanted to send one letter to
three different people, mail merge allowed him to create a single document
with placeholder fields that were populated when printing. The Mail Merge
feature was completely removed in version 5. Tables and charts pasted from
Numbers are automatically updated if the original spreadsheet is changed.
Compatibility Pages can import some AppleWorks word
processing documents and Microsoft Word documents. Previous version could also
export documents to rich text, but that feature has also been removed. Pages 5
can still export to PDF, EPUB and Microsoft Word DOC formats.
Simple and complex mathematical equations can be written for a Pages
document with Mac OS X's Grapher, offering similar capabilities to
Microsoft Equation Editor. As of January 2015, Pages does not
support OpenDocument file format. The only known software other than Pages
which can open its files are the Google Docs Viewer, LibreOffice and Jumpshare.
Google Docs can view the files, and save them as PDF via the Print function, but
not edit them. Jumpshare can view the files.
While there is no program that can view or edit a .pages file using Windows or
Linux, some content can be retrieved from a document created in Pages '09,
because a .pages file is actually a bundle. A user can open a .pages file in
an unpackaging program, or by renaming files as .zip files in Windows, and will
find either a .jpg or .pdf preview in its entirety for viewing and printing,
though only possible if the creator of the .pages file elected to include a
preview. The user will also find a .xml file with unformatted text. This process
can also be used for users of the 2008 version of Pages to open documents saved
in the 2009 version of Pages, which are not backwards compatible.
Pages can also export documents into a number of formats; formatting is
generally retained during the export process.
Version history See also
List of word processors Comparison of word processors
Numbers References
External links iWork Community
Pages FAQ Unofficial FAQ based mostly on content from Apple's support forums.
iWorkTipsnTricks Unofficial iWork Tips and Tricks repository with links to many
useful resources.