Appleworks vs iWork

We recently switched from our pc to a MacBook and love it so far. My wife and I have a few projects to work on and I'm not sure what the best mac applications might be for the job. The projects include updating my resume and my wife needs to create some spreadsheets. It seems that Appleworks can do this but it doesn't look like this is the best long term solution. iWork looks like it can do the word processing piece but I didn't see anything about spreadsheets. Did I miss it? I'd appreciate some thoughts on which option is better? Office for mac is a little pricey... Thanks

There is some spreadsheet functionality in iWork '06, but it isn't really advanced. See http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/features/tables.html for details.
Which one is more recommendable... well, AppleWorks compared to iWork is still more professional, even it is years old and unfortunately seems no longer being updated by Apple.
However it requires significantly more time to get familiar with, it has many "hidden" features you aren't aware of the first time (at least this was my experience).
And iWork is more "colorful" and its user interface looks more friendly, while AppleWorks' layout remembers more to OS 9
Beside these two, there are also other products to consider: Microsoft Office (not at the latest release as far as I know and as you stated quite overpriced) and OpenOffice, see http://download.openoffice.org/2.1.0/index.html for details.
Note that OpenOffice requires X11 being installed on your computer. You can do so from your OS CD/DVD, it may be not installed by default however.
There also may be other office products as well when you search the "Made4Mac" catalogue on Apple's site.

Similar Messages

AppleWorks or iWorks

Hi,
I'm new to mac and am looking for an office programm. Is AppleWorks or iWorks a better solution for acting as an MS Office replacement. I don't seem to see the difference between the two.
Help very much appreciated. Thanks

Hi,
Welcome to the discussions and the AppleWorks forum.
Yours is a question that has been discussed many tmes here, and a search of the forum using "iwork" (there's no "s") or "pages" should bring up most of the posts.
Briefly:
iWork currently consists of two applications: Pages, a word processing and page layout application with limited spreadsheet functions, and Keynote, a presentation application. New versions of the package have generally been announced in January.
AppleWorks is a single integrated application with word processing, spreadsheet, database, drawing (vector graphics), paint (bitmap graphics) and presentation modules. The various modules (or environments) can be inserted into documents created in other environments using frames (eg, you can have a spreadsheet frame, with full AW spreadsheet functionality, in a word processing document). The last full version of the application was AppleWorks 6, introduced about 6 months before the public release of OS X 10.0. The last update was to AW 6.2.9 in January, 2004. Further updates appear unlikely at best.
Which is better for you depends on the capabilities you need. The threads that will be produced by your search will contain descriptions of other Office packages that may serve your needs better than either of these.
Regards,
Barry

AppleWorks vs. iWork 06

I am considering purchasing either AppleWorks or iWork 06 to create 3 fold brochures for my small business. I was planning to purchase iWork, but I heard much bemoaning on a Treo forum about how much better AppleWorks was. I got the impression it was not included in the Tiger package, and people did not want to switch over to iWork.
1. Is AppleWorks being phased out?
2. And if not, I would love some recommendations as to which program might be better for my needs...with some specifics.
I did try a sample version of iWork, and was frustrated with a lack of a drawing feature. Trying to create a simple line or box around some text took several hours ( I am a newbie to this type of program). I have never had an opportunity to work with AppleWorks.
I would appreciate any comments,
Thank you.

I am considering purchasing either AppleWorks or
iWork 06 to create 3 fold brochures for my small
business. I was planning to purchase iWork, but I
heard much bemoaning on a Treo forum about how much
better AppleWorks was. I got the impression it was
not included in the Tiger package, and people did not
want to switch over to iWork.
1. Is AppleWorks being phased out?
Yes. In January 2005 Apple released iWork and stated they were "building the successor to AppleWorks".
AppleWorks includes word processor, spreadsheet, database, paint program, draw program and presentation modules.
iWork '06 only has Pages and Keynote. Pages is a word processor and layout program with a table feature which acts like a simple spreadsheet. Keynote is a presentation program. Both Pages and Keynote are superb programs (not without minor flaws though) which take full advantage of Mac OS X's advanced features. AppleWorks ignores Mac OS X's features.
Many of us are using both. That is, using Pages and Keynote as replacements for AppleWorks' word processor and presentation modules, but using AppleWorks' spreadsheet, database, and paint modules.
2. And if not, I would love some recommendations as
to which program might be better for my needs...with
some specifics.
Pages will produce a much nicer 3 fold brochure than AppleWorks will. It uses Mac OS X's typography, opacity, and PDF based drawing features with 'simple to start' templates. These features combine to produce professional quality documents.
I did try a sample version of iWork, and was
frustrated with a lack of a drawing feature. Trying
to create a simple line or box around some text took
several hours.
Pages doesn't have drawing tools like a drawing program would. Instead you use shapes, borders, etc to produce these effects.

Appleworks to iWork

Hi
I recently purchased a new MacBook and am currently using the free trial of iWork. I have plenty of info backed up on a disc from my old computers. I have just recently tried to access my old documents but some of them open in text edit and are all garbled. My question is...what can I do to be able to use these documents? By the way the ones not opening correctly are made using the drawing part of Appleworks.
Thanks

If you select all in a Draw document and copy, and then paste into a Pages Layout document the contents of the original will come over grouped and can't be ungrouped.
It is possible to workaround this by the following process:
1. Open the Draw document. Go to the Format menu and select Document: note the margin settings.
2. Open a new Word Processing document. From the same menu item set the margins to be the same, having if necessary changed the orientation to Landscape in Page Setup.
3. Go to the Draw document. Select all (command-A) then command-G to group. Copy.
4. Go to the Word Processing document and click on the draw tool in the toolbar (the arrow): drag the mouse within the document to enter draw mode. Paste. You may need to drag the drawing to the correct position. Hit shift-command-G to ungroup. Save.
5. Save this document. Drag it onto the Pages icon in the dock. Your drawing will now be opened in Pages and can be saved in it. You will be able to select individual objects and edit them. However I have found that if when you saved the Word Processing document in step 4 there are still some grouped objects, they will be grouped in Pages but attempting to ungroup them will hang Pages: I don't know whether this is a consistent problem, but it's advisable to check for grouped objects and ungroup them in step 4.
This process works well on the whole, though extremely complex documents (such as the one on the right, which runs to four pages) may finish up with a few items out of place, meaning you will have to look closely at it and check that everything is where it should be.
For complicated documents Yvan has a script (which he mentioned above) which makes the copy automatically and then checks each individual object to make sure that it is in the correct place: he will doubtless tell you how to find it in due course.
AW Draw documents can by opened directly by a program called EazyDraw. If you are dealing with complex technical drawings it's probably the best choice: it's about the same cost as the whole of iWork (when downloaded, and rather more expensive on a CD), but cheaper than some other vector based programs, and seems to handle the whole process well - though it does operate somewhat differently from AppleWorks. (I've not been able to test it with very complex documents since the trial version limits the number of allowed objects.)
On the general subject of migrating from AppleWorks you may find this article helpful:
http://www.wilmut.org.uk/aw

Spreadsheet issue - Appleworks or iWork

I am contemplating buying a MBP.
However I'm confused and concerned about the spreadsheet issue - an apparent lacking in the bundled stuff that comes with the MBP.
I use a spreadsheet - not extensively but I do use the financial formulas etc. These are not in the software as I understand it.
Can I transfer my Appleworks application - which is as 10.3.9 to the Tiger MBP?
I sort of resent having to buy the iWork (after the trial period).
Any words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Gordon

Appleworks will work fine
Also there are free Office software bundles available, e.g. Open Office which are compatible with most spreadsheet formats including excel I think and Neo Office.
Also iwork - which is actually quite a nice program(s) comes with the ability to make tables with formulae in them - so if your spreadsheet needs may be met, but you don't need to buy those - but you do get a 30 day trial.
Best of luck.

Appleworks VS iWorks

I am presently using Appleworks (AW) in my OS10.2.8. I have read on another forum that AW is no longer on the newer OS's? When it comes time to upgrade to 10.4 + is there an easy way of converting AW documents to iWorks which I believe is the replacement program for word processing. Thanks for any info.

AppleWorks is not & never has been part of any version of the Mac OS. It was bundled with the pre-Intel "consumer" Macs - iMac, iBook, eMac & Mac mini. It is not included on any Intel Mac, consumer or professional. iWork ’05 (no "s") was announced as "building the successor to AppleWorks." It's not there yet as there is no spreadsheet, database, draw or paint abilities to the extent of AppleWorks.
Keynote can open AppleWorks 6 presentation documents & Pages can open AppleWorks 6 word processing documents. Neither can open any other AppleWorks documents. Pages cannot open AppleWorks 5 word processing documents. But AppleWorks continues to function well in OS X 10.4.x whether on a PPC or Intel Mac.

AppleWorks to iWorks cross-over guide

I wish there was a guide that would give those of use hard-core AppleWorks users a clue to comparable tasks in Pages and Numbers. Since so many of the commands and terminology is different, it is often difficult to figure out how to do something that was so easy in AppleWorks.
For instance, some shortcut commands are the same, like copy and paste, but Copy Format, Paste Format, and things like that are not.
Does anything like this kind of cross-over guide exist?
It would be so helpful for us to be able to cross-reference tasks that we were accustomed to in AW and find the corresponding way to do it in Pages, if it is even possible.

I am not aware of a cross over guide. My recommendation is
1) new program, new learning. Accept that there is a learning curve.
2) read the new programs manual/guide
3) practise doing things you did in the old program in the new one, eventually you'll find out how to do it in the new one.
4) read discussions here what interests you, especially those with a star (resolved).
Have a good cross-over

Appleworks to iworks .cwk extension

I have a text document in appleworks6 on disc I'm trying to import it to my macbook with pages. Pages says I don't have permissions to open the document or change it in the finder. How do I open this?

Welcome to Apple Discussions
Is the file on a CD/DVD or other "locked" media & you're trying to open it directly from that disk? If so, copy the file to you hard drive first. Pages will balk at opening a file if it wouldn't be able to save any changes back to that disk.

Appleworks 6 needs iwork serial number

Tried to start appleworks 6, which was installed on mac when bought 4 years ago and working fine, and a box comes up asking for iwork serial number to continue. iwork has never been installed, upgraded to or downloaded before this. Tried downloading iwork 09 to get access to cwk files, but can't use iwork 09 on this system unless OS upgraded. Current OS is 10.4.11 I have original install discs for 10.4.8. How do I get access to my appleworks without iworks popping up? Don't bother asking about file backup disc.

Start by going to an AW document, right click on it (or ctrl-click) and choose get info from the contextual menu.
In the info window, see what application is set to default to open it. If it's anything other than AW, change it by clicking in the drop-down. If AW isn't listed, click 'other' and navigate to AW in the Applications folder. when set, choose the 'always open with' checkbox and then click the 'change all' button in the info window.
Message was edited by: noondaywitch

Problems with AppleWorks drawing docs under Snow Leopard

Since I installed Snow Leopard, I've encountered two major problems:
(Problem 1) AppleWorks gets corrupted when dragging a picture file (.jpg or .png) from the desktop into a drawing document. Various dialogs (e.g. "Format : Document..." or "Format : Ruler : Settings ..." or "Options : Object Size ...") become uneditable. These dialogs will display blank boxes instead of the given object settings, and nothing can be entered into these boxes. AppleWorks must be shut down and restarted in order to continue work.
(Problem 2) When a formula (i.e. an equation) has been created in a MathType window, selected and copied, it takes ages to make AppleWorks the active application (spinning rainbow coloured ball appears and keeps spinning for a long while). Thereafter, it takes another century to get the formula appearing in the AppleWorks document when selecting the command "Edit : Paste".
Everything worked still fine under Leopard; under Snow Leopard it's a desaster.
p.s.
I've produced thousands of work sheets for my Maths teachings using the Drawing module of AppleWorks in combination with MathType (Design Science). Now I'm stuck since there is no decent successor of AppleWorks available:
* iWork doesn't feature a drawing module.
* EazyDraw doesn't collaborate with MathType (i.e. no OLE; inserted formulae cannot be edited by double-clicking).
* OpenOffice doesn't collaborate with MathType.
* Micro$oft Office doesn't feature a drawing module.

Welcome to Apple Discussions
I don't use AppleWorks as much as I used to & I've never had a need to use MathType, but I just tried dragging 3 images - a .png, a .tiff & a .jpg - to a new AppleWorks draw document. I had no problems resizing them using Format > Scale by percent & I had no problems using any of the other dialog boxes you mention.
Some basic troubleshooting you might try:
Whenever you do an update, it's a good idea to do two maintenance tasks, one for the system (Repair Permissions) and one for AppleWorks (delete preferences). (Thanks to Barry for this way to format this very common answer.)
To Repair permissions in 10.4.x, launch Disk Utility, found in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder, click on First Aid, then on Repair Permissions.
To delete AppleWorks’ preference files, go to HD > Users > Library > Preferences. Find and delete the file com.apple.appleworks.plist. Find and open the folder AppleWorks in this Preferences folder, then delete all of the enclosed files (with the exception of the Button Bar Preferences if you have customized the Button Bars). AppleWorks will recreate the preference files as it needs them. You should do this step anytime AppleWorks crashes or you force quit it.
The slowness is likely the "Recent Items bug" & it has been around since AppleWorks 6 was released in March, 2000. It can make it appear that AppleWorks has frozen or failed to launch. The user tip by Dale Gillard, AppleWorks slow? Spinning ball appears?, explains a lot.
Could you send me a copy of one of these worksheets? Perhaps I can see if I can easily duplicate one in Pages/Numbers/Keynote. Even though iWork doesn't have a draw app, all of the apps do have basic drawing capabilities.

HT3387 Default printer not used despite selecting it in Sys Pref Print & Fax. I have tried all of the suggestions including Inspector Window formatting. The docs were originally created in AppleWorks

I have scoured these pages and cannot find a solution (is there one?) to the problem I have in printing to the default printer that I selected in Print & Fax. The documents were originally created in Appleworks (preceded iWorks/Pages) and "converted" to Pages by simply dragging them to a blank Pages template. Of course, I can select the desired printer in the Print dialog window but this can get tedious when printing multiple items. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This bug has existed for as long as Pages has, since iWork '05, & still has not been fixed.
The best workaround I've heard of is to create a desktop printer & drag the files to it to print.
And, most important, leave feedback for Apple, making sure you classify it as a bug. You can find it under the Pages menu > Provide Pages Feedback.

AppleWorks for the modern day, a migration tip

Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software products that may be mentioned in the topic below. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at Apple Support. The following links are provided as is, with no guarantee of the effectiveness or reliability of the information. Apple does not guarantee that these links will be maintained or functional at any given time. Use the information below at your own discretion.
Some questions people have about AppleWorks moving to modern Macs are answered here:
1. Does AppleWorks work on Intel Macs? Yes.
2. Does AppleWorks work with 10.5.4? Yes.
3. Does AppleWorks come with Mac OS X retail? No.
4. How to install AppleWorks if you erase and install Mac OS X? Use the restore CDs that came with your Mac if it is a PowerPC Mac Mini (with 2 USB ports as opposed to 4 in the rear), PowerMac G5, G4, or G3 iMac, eMac, or iBook, following these directions, or using an AppleWorks 6.2.9 retail installer CD. Note the license agreement restrictions on the CD used.
Also, OS X support was added with AppleWorks 6.2 sometime in late 2001. Most install disks from then & later will install in OS X. For example, the separate AppleWorks installer included with a G3/600 Late 2001 iBook has an OS X-aware installer for AppleWorks 6.2 with an updater to 6.2.2.
5. If I have Appleworks 6.0 through 6.2.7, how do I make it work with Mac OS X? Run the 6.2.9 updater. For some versions of Mac OS X, the recent items folder in your Users -> Documents -> AppleWorks data needs to be emptied to avoid unexpected quits.
Note AppleWorks 6.2.4, 6.2.7 & 6.2.9 all work & are stable in OS X. Some recommend not using 6.2.7 as it was very buggy. But if you need to open any ClarisWorks 4 or earlier files, you need to use 6.2.4 or 6.2.7. AppleWorks 6.2.9 returns an I/O error with about half of those files.
6. Are there Intel Mac native software titles that I can substitute for AppleWorks?
iWork '08 - takes care of spreadsheet, presentation, and word processing functionality.
EazyDraw - is able to replace drawing functionaity without some table features found in Appleworks Draw. Ask Eazydraw's author if you think such an object may not be able to be read.
Color It, MacGimp, and GraphicConverter are all popular alternatives for Paint functionality.
A database exported as tab-delimited text can be imported to Filemaker Bento or numerous other database programs. You may also want to check out Filemaker Pro.
Do you want to provide feedback on this User Contributed Tip or contribute your own? If you have achieved Level 2 status, visit the User Tips Library Contributions forum for more information.

I would suggest pointing to the Thread ID instead: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=122016
Agreed.
6. I couldn't get to the MacGimp site, even doing a Google search for it and trying both http://www.macgimp.org/ and http://www.macgimp.com/.
It appears to have moved to:
http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/
Thanks for the suggestion about Bento. I just was hoping to skip a few steps to someplace that had helpful instructions about migrating between the two.

AppleWorks 6.0 Files Listed As Unix Executable Files. Unable To Open.

A client of mine backed up a number of AppleWorks 5 & 6 files last week on a PowerMac w/ OS X 10.3. I reformatted the HD, upgraded the OS to 10.4 and attempted to reinstall AppleWorks 6.0. It would not allow installation. So, I installed OS 9 Classic. Still would not allow me to install AppleWorks. Then, I installed iWork '08, having read that it would open AppleWorks files. iWork would only open a hand full of the files. The remaining 90% of the files are listed as "Unix Executable" files.
Have the files been corrupted in the move?
Any ideas on how to open/recover these files?
Thanks,
stc

If one device used during the process was not an HFS one, the AppleWorks documents may have lost their resourceFork.
Are you sure that the files are named with the name extension ".cwk" which is quite required under Mac OS X?
Then, I installed iWork '08, having read that it would open AppleWorks files.
This is right and wrong.
Iwork components are able to work this way:
Pages may open AppleWorks 6 WP document, not the AW5 ones
Numbers may open AppleWorks 6 SS document, not the AW5 ones
Keynote may open AppleWorks 6 Presentation document, not the AW5 ones
Nothing may open the DB, Paint and Draw AW documents.
There is no reason that you can't install AppleWorks on a machine running 10.4.
I installed AppleWorks 6.0.4 last week on a machine running 10.4.11.
So, at this time it seems that the main problem is to understand why you are unable to reinstall AppleWorks 6.
If you wish to know if the documents are in good health, you may attach one to a mail and send it to my mailbox.
Click my blueName to get my address.
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE lundi 25 août 2008 19:12:51)

Is AppleWorks UnOfficially dead?

So, it has been ages really since Apple even bothered to look at AppleWorks...
Is it a dead project now? Will they even consider updating it to be a Universal App?
I am I guess some of the few who still like Appleworks, and I was extremely disappointed when Apple released iWorks. I thought it would have a new Office like package solution for the Mac users.
When I saw that they didn't include a new version of AppleWorks in iWorks, I really felt cheated with Pages.
I like how AppleWorks is a light application that does not require so much yet delivers enough power to be more than useful under most circumstances.
So, what is the deal here?
Is it over and done with?
Will Apple make a new version of AppleWorks to be included in Pages 07? Or will they just let Microsoft dominate this market?
Just had to ask, cause it has really been a long time since they did anything with AppleWorks. Now that I bought yet another new Apple computer, it being an intel based machine, I was wondering when Apple will do us the courtesy of updating AppleWorks to be a Universal app...
Anyone know what the future of AppleWorks is?

The only thing I actually used the demo for was to print out an old Appleworks document that I couldn't open any other way, so I don't have much insight into how well it works for normal word processing tasks, but I can confirm that there is a template for just an ordinary blank document (which, of course, seems pretty odd in itself, that you'd NEED a template if you just want a blank document...), as well as formatted templates for a bunch of different kinds of normal text documents, like a school report, screenplay, or thesis.
The application certainly gives the impression that what it's really for is to create slick-looking colorful documents that really cry out to be printed on glossy paper, which is probably a mistake if it wants to be taken seriously as a competitor for Word (or an ancient version of ClarisWrite, for that matter), but it does seem capable of basic word processing as well.
I'm not sure it's likely to impress the type of people who actually use those thousands of obscure features of Word that seem really pointless until you need them, but if you just need to type a document and have it look reasonably professional, it's probably an ok solution.
Plus there's a 30-day free full trial version so it can't hurt to try it out.
Sadly, if you need a real spreadsheet or database solution, it's still far behind AW.

What software comes closest to performing tasks like I could do on the Appleworks drawing program ?

What software is available for MacOSX that comes closest to performing like the old Appleworks drawing program?

Maybe Apple's iWork, or more specifically Pages - part of a package of three apps (Pages/Numbers/Keynote).
I never used Appleworks but Pages has some drawing tools for lines/boxes/circles/stars, etc. as well as a tool for freehand shapes. It will also open Microsoft Word files and Pages files can be exported in Word format.
Numbers is akin to Microsoft's Excel and will open Excel files and also export as Excel.
Keynote is an excellent app for presentations - a competitor to PowerPoint. Again it'll open PowerPoint files and export them.
Finally - I'm not 100% on this so hopefully someone else will chime in - but I believe Pages will open AppleWorks files.
iWork is available from the Mac App Store. The apps can be bought individually if you don't need all of them.

Appleworks vs iWork

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