What's New in iWork

iWork Suite Updated, What’s New?

On October 19th, Apple released some great updates to the iWork Suite that you can update via the App Store on your Mac. Here are some of the highlights of what has been updated.

Pages 5.6 Updates

Word processing

  • Sidebar for comments and tracked changes
  • Filter comments and tracked changes by author
  • AppleScript support for Mail Merge
  • Improved EndNote support, including citations in footnotes
  • View character count with or without spaces
  • Copy-paste style improvements
  • Start a list automatically using new special characters
  • Arabic and Hebrew templates
  • Full bidirectional support for Arabic and Hebrew
  • Word count for Hebrew

Design tools

  • Enhanced support for OpenType font features like small caps, contextual fractions, alternate glyphs, and more
  • Force click images and get haptic feedback as you edit using Force Touch trackpad
  • View Collections, Moments, Favorites, and Shared Albums from Photos in the Media Browser
  • Add reference lines to charts
  • Create table, chart, and shape styles from an image
  • Insert inline images in tables, headers, and footers
  • Center and edge guides are on by default
  • Delete, duplicate, and reorder sections using the page navigator
  • Inline images and shapes in table cells are preserved on import
  • Show rulers as a percentage of document size
  • Improved Instant Alpha image editing
  • Create charts with date, time, and duration values
  • Create custom data formats
  • Control the z-order of bubble chart labels

Sharing

  • Shared Pages documents can now be previewed on iOS and Android browsers
  • Support for iCloud Drive
  • “View only” setting lets you share documents you want others to view but not edit
  • Share password-protected documents via iCloud link
  • Improved ePub export

Microsoft Word compatibility

  • Improved Word compatibility for charts, text overflows, and nonrectangular masks
  • Improved compatibility with Microsoft Word 2013 documents
  • Export password-protected documents to DOCX format
  • Custom number formats in charts are preserved on import of Pages ’09 and Microsoft Word documents

Usability and performance

  • Open Pages ’08 and Pages ’06 documents
  • Easily access recently used fonts in the Fonts menu
  • Multitask while editing using new Split View
  • Use Handoff to seamlessly switch between iPad, Mac, and iPhone
  • Updated file format makes it easier to send documents via services such as Gmail and Dropbox
  • Move tables easily with improved table selection
  • Inter-table alignment guides
  • Improved cell border styling
  • Usability improvements for resizing and positioning charts
  • Customize the toolbar with your most important tools
  • Better placement of inserted and pasted objects
  • Improved text box behavior
  • Improved AppleScript support

Accessibility

  • Add and review comments with VoiceOver
  • Track changes with VoiceOver
  • Edit chart data and chart elements with VoiceOver

Numbers 3.6 Updates

Editing

  • Instantly rearrange data in tables with new Transpose feature
  • Sort by multiple columns
  • Sort a subset of rows
  • Create custom data formats
  • Press the Option key to highlight rows and columns on mouseover
  • Drag and drop a CSV file right onto a sheet
  • Automatically update an existing table by dragging in a CSV file

Charting

  • Add reference lines to charts
  • Chart date and duration values
  • Control the z-order of bubble chart labels
  • Custom number formats in charts are preserved on import of Numbers ’09 and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets

Design tools

  • Enhanced support for OpenType font features like small caps, contextual fractions, alternate glyphs, and more
  • Force click images and get haptic feedback as you edit using Force Touch trackpad
  • View Collections, Moments, Favorites, and Shared Albums from Photos in the Media Browser
  • Create table, chart, and shape styles from an image
  • Improved cell border styling
  • Inter-table alignment guides
  • Customize the toolbar with your most important tools
  • Create custom table styles
  • Improved Instant Alpha image editing

Sharing

  • Shared Numbers spreadsheets can now be previewed on iOS and Android browsers
  • “View only” setting lets you share spreadsheets you want others to view but not edit
  • Share password-protected spreadsheets via iCloud link
  • Support for iCloud Drive

Printing

  • Set page margins
  • Create headers and footers
  • Page numbering options
  • Page ordering options
  • Change the zoom level during preview

Microsoft Excel compatibility

  • Improved Excel compatibility for charts, text overflows, and nonrectangular masks
  • Export password-protected spreadsheets to XLSX format
  • Improved compatibility with Microsoft Excel 2013 spreadsheets
  • Headers and footers in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets are preserved on import

Usability and performance

  • Open Numbers ’08 spreadsheets
  • Easily access recently used fonts in the Fonts menu
  • Multitask while editing using new Split View
  • Use Handoff to seamlessly switch between iPad, Mac, and iPhone
  • Updated file format makes it easier to send spreadsheets via services such as Gmail and Dropbox
  • Text autocompletes when editing cells
  • Improved text box behavior
  • Window size and placement preserved on Save
  • Set default zoom in Preferences
  • AppleScript support
  • Progress indicator for calculations
  • Cell-based import feedback
  • Print floating comments
  • Usability improvements for resizing and positioning charts
  • Improved bidirectional language support

Accessibility

  • Edit chart data and chart elements with VoiceOver
  • Add and review comments with VoiceOver

Keynote 6.6

Editing

  • Open Keynote ’08 and Keynote ’06 presentations
  • Easily access recently used fonts in the Fonts menu
  • Enhanced support for OpenType font features like small caps, contextual fractions, alternate glyphs, and more
  • View and restore changes made to a document over time
  • Easily edit presenter notes with VoiceOver
  • Improved Instant Alpha image editing
  • Show origin at center of rulers
  • Show rulers as a percentage of document size
  • Improved Media Browser
  • Improved text box behavior
  • Detailed presentation import feedback
  • Directly specify start and end points of movies
  • Improved bidirectional support: switch direction from menu for text, lists, and tables

Charting

  • Add reference lines to charts
  • Create custom data formats
  • Control the z-order of bubble chart labels

Design tools

  • Force click images and get haptic feedback as you edit using Force Touch trackpad
  • Create table, chart, and shape styles from an image
  • View Collections, Moments, Favorites, and Shared Albums from Photos in the Media Browser
  • New Apple-designed themes: Modern Type, Exhibition, Drafting
  • Improved cell border styling
  • Build animations including Line Draw, Blinds, Fly In, Fly Out, Orbital, Pivot, Scale Big, Swoosh, Droplet, Grid, Drift, Scale, Skid, and Trace
  • Transitions including Blinds, Color Planes, Confetti, Fall, Perspective, Pivot, Swoosh, and Object Revolve
  • Apply motion blur to animations
  • Improved Magic Move including text morphing
  • Allow objects on slide to layer with master
  • Support for animated GIFs

Sharing

  • Preview shared presentations on iOS and Android browsers
  • Additional AppleScript options for PDF and PowerPoint export
  • “View only” setting lets you share presentations you want others to view but not edit
  • Share password-protected presentations via iCloud link
  • Support for iCloud Drive

Microsoft PowerPoint compatibility

  • Improved PowerPoint compatibility for charts, text overflows, nonrectangular masks, animation mapping, and theme import and export
  • Improved PowerPoint export
  • Export to PPTX format

Usability and performance

  • Multitask while editing using new Split View in El Capitan
  • Force click images and get haptic feedback as you edit using Force Touch trackpad
  • Use Handoff to seamlessly switch between iPad, Mac, and iPhone
  • Move and resize items to fully customize your Presenter Display
  • Updated file format makes it easier to send presentations via services such as Gmail and Dropbox
  • Print floating comments
  • Usability improvements for resizing and positioning charts
  • Full bidirectional support for Arabic and Hebrew
  • Use multipeer connectivity to pair nearby iOS devices
  • Move tables easily with improved table selection
  • Customize the toolbar with your most important tools
  • Enhanced Presenter Display options and new layouts
  • Improved animation performance
  • Improvements to AppleScript functionality

Accessibility

  • VoiceOver can now read presenter notes during slideshows
  • Add and review comments with VoiceOver

You’ll also notice that the iWork Apps on iCloud are now officially out of Beta! This opens up that Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are now accessible to anyone, even Windows users! Well…as always we’ve got the templates for you. You can see the full list of what was updated in all iWork apps (including the iOS versions) by going here: http://www.apple.com/productivity-apps/whats-new/pages/

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