Mail merge in PAGES and NUMBERS has GONE!

A while ago I painstakingly moved data and documents from Microsoft Excel 2008 for Mac to Numbers and from Word to Pages. I have been using Numbers for data lists and Pages for Mailmerge documents successfully since 2011.
With the latest "update" to Pages and Numbers, I thought I would see improved software and performance. What I got was a downgrade in functionality.
* Pages no longer supports mail merge
** Pages documents with mail merge fields are corrupted on opening them with the new version - SAVE THE ORIGINAL FIRST !
* Numbers documents can no longer be used with the previous version of Pages to perform a mail merge - the headers are not being recognised!
WORK AROUND
Don't use the new Pages or Numbers.
Keep your old Pages and Numbers documents in a safe folder.
Use the prior versions of Pages and Numbers for mail merging (HOPEFULLY APPLE READS THIS AND PUTS MAIL MERGE BACK IN THE NEXT FIX)
It is possible to maintain Numbers documents using the new version. This however necessitates saving your modified Numbers document in the old format (Save As...) before using it with the prior Pages version.
@APPLE: PLEASE RECOGNISE THIS MAJOR PLANNING ERROR ON YOUR PART AND GIVE US THE FUNCTIONALITY BACK ASAP !!!

I agree with Peter. This is NOT a forum for filing complaints directed at Apple. They do make that clear.
Paul, I suggest you channel your frustration toward Apple at their Product Feedback page: http://www.apple.com/feedback/
Mac

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How to get pages ver 5 mail merge to work using numbers as a data source

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Apple has removed over 90 features from Pages 5.
http://www.freeforum101.com/iworktipsntrick/viewforum.php?f=22&sid=3527487677f0c 6fa05b6297cd00f8eb9&mforum=iworktipsntrick
Pages '09 should still be in your Applications/iWork folder.
Archive/trash Pages 5 and rate/review it in the App Store, then get back to work.
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On Pages 09 I have a document that draws variable data from a spreadsheet created in Numbers.
With the new Pages and Numbers program update, my links are lost and I am unable to see how to correct this.

Thanks Peter,
very disappointing.
My Pages 09 keeps opening in the new one.
I dont think they want me to be a loyal customer anymore.
They changed Final Cut Pro, so now I use Premier Pro
Aperture 3 has been left behind so now I moved to Lightroom 4.
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Sad day
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I never had any trouble doing this with Word and Exell!
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Denney,
Mail Merge from Numbers works just as you are trying to use it.
You create a Numbers document with the proper layout for merging.
Enter the data in teh numbers document and Save it.
You create a Pages Document to merge into and create the links to the Numbers document.
You Edit > Mail Merge in Pages.
To merge again from the Numbers document, make the necessary edits, Save the Numbers document and do the mail merge again in the Pages document that you created for that purpose. The only problem that normally arises is that we forget to Save the Numbers document after editing.
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Nope, without any backup they're probably gone for good. If you want you can purchase some data recovery software such as Data Rescue. I hope this may be a lesson why it's critical to backup your system, Time Machine is a good place to start.
BTW when posting please use proper grammar, it's difficult to read a post when no caps are used.
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What WordStar 3.01 can do in Mail Merge that Pages '09 can't.

I have a Bento database. I want to print contra dances from it on 3x5 index cards. I can save the database as a Numbers worksheet with all the data I want on it. I SHOULD be able to use the fields from that Numbers file to create a Pages document that merges, using that data, to print on the index cards.
Meanwhile, Apple apparently thinks that addresses are the only kind of data anybody could ever want to merge in a document. This is a stupid limit. Your programmers are unnecessarily standing between me and a reasonable expectation of what your software ought to do.
I could do this in WordStar in the mid 1980s on a Commodore 128 running CP/M. I could do it in WordPerfect under DOS. I can do it in Word in Windows, and I HATE Windows.
Why can't I do it in Pages on my Mac?

Sarris2 wrote:
I hacked my way to the answer before reading your good advice. I see three problems here:
1. As you say, the tutorial materials are vague and fail to explain how the feature works or how to get to the feature.
Agreed
2. The "Edit:Merge" menu option is greyed out until you add a Merge Field, so you can't connect to a Numbers data source until AFTER you have chosen your first Merge field, which presumes you are using the address book, so the first field has to be an Address Book field even if the eventual document doesn't have any Address Book fields in it.
No.
Have you tried my instructions?
All you need is a Numbers spreadsheet with the appropriate headers in it. Link to that and then you can merge to those revealed headers.
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Again, why are you insisting on barking up the wrong tree, and arguing with the koalas that they aren't pandas?
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Haven't a clue what this is supposed to mean, and why you are still futzing about in Address Book.
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Why?
It seems that in Pages, I have to tweak the data itself, wrestling with Numbers to replace all "1"s in that column with "Becket" and replace all the "0"s with empty cells. It's a lot more of a tedious process in Numbers than it would be if I just had a conditional Merge field.
Can't follow what this has to do with a simple merge which is where you started.
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I have a problem.
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