Compatibility concerns
Need to work with non-iWork users? No problem!
Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are free for most Apple users, and the iCloud versions are free for all to use, but many people use Microsoft Office and Google Docs. Here are tips to ensure your docs work for others.
1 Line management
When you convert an iWork doc to Office format, text reflow is inevitable. Stick to common fonts to mitigate this and, as Pages and Word see lines and paragraphs differently, you’ll get better results if you set line and paragraph spacing in fixed-point sizes rather than relative measures.
2 Translation issues
Apple’s apps work well with Office docs — comments and tracked changes transfer seamlessly — but there are gaps. Macros are unsupported, linked text boxes and watermarks don’t transfer from Word, and Excel’s pivot tables are missing. Check what might be lost in translation at bit.ly/pgscmpt.
3 Use PDFs
If the person you’re sending a doc to won’t edit it, consider exporting as a PDF. Formatting is retained and PDFs can be opened almost anywhere. Keynote transitions and builds will be lost; if that’s a problem, an alternative is to export a QuickTime movie.
4 Open on a PC
If you’re using a PC and receive a doc in one of the iWork formats, sign in to iCloud. com, upload the file to iCloud Drive, and open the doc in the relevant web-based iWork app. You can then export it to an Office-compatible XML file (.docx, .xlsx or .pptx).
5 Open GoogleD ocs
To open a Google-created doc in an iWork app, download it from Google Drive. Files are automatically converted to Microsoft Office formats during download, which the iWork apps can open.
6 Convert to Google
To open Pages, Numbers, and Keynote files in Google apps, upload the iWork file to your Google Drive. Ctrl-click it and choose Open With > Cloud Convert. This converts iWork files to common Microsoft formats and saves the resulting file back to Google Drive. Ctrl-click the converted doc and choose Open With > Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.
7 Large iWork docs
If the Pages, Numbers, or Keynote doc you’re working on grows to larger than 500MB, the app will ask if you want to save the file as a package. If you’ve run into the spinning beachball or slowdowns while working on this doc, choosing “Use Package” can improve the app’s performance. This collects all of the assets in one place.
However, if you’ll share it with someone using a service other than iCloud, choose Keep Single File. If you mistakenly choose that, or need to revert to a single file later on, go to File > Advanced > Change File Type.