Apple Updates iWork Suite for Mountain Lion
To complement the release of its latest big cat into the wild, Apple has updated its iWork suite of productivity apps to version 9.2, as well as individual apps purchased through the Mac App Store (Keynote 5.2, Numbers 2.2, and Pages 4.2). The updates are focused on bringing support for Mountain Lion’s Documents in the Cloud feature, which enables you to store files in iCloud and automatically keep them synced across any Mac or iOS device that is linked to your iCloud account (and has the appropriate app installed).
Accordingly, the iOS versions of Keynote, Numbers, and Pages have also been updated to version 1.6.1.
The shift to Documents in the Cloud also puts the final nail in the coffin of iWork.com (see “Apple Finally Puts iWork.com Out of Its Misery,” 12 March 2012), which is scheduled for closure on 31 July, 2012. If you have any documents saved at iWork.com, Apple recommends that you sign into the site and download all files to your computer.
In addition to iCloud compatibility, the iWork updates can now use Mountain Lion’s Dictation feature, and they’ve been enhanced to take advantage of the MacBook Pro with Retina Display. All updates are free and require at least Mac OS X 10.7.4, though you’ll need to be running Mountain Lion in order to use the Documents in the Cloud and Dictation features. The iWork update weighs in at 317.7 MB via Software Update, or 302 MB via direct download from Apple’s Support Web site. If you purchased the apps individually, you can download the updates from the Mac App Store.
Just to say it, though it should be obvious to most TidBITS readers... Access to iCloud is not available to those on Lion or earlier.
However, document compatibility seems to be not an issue, at least on my testing. The latest version of OSX Keynote successfully transferred via email a file to the iOS latest version, no warnings or missing features.
It took a long time for the new App Store updater to show that no new updates were available. Get Info on the iWork apps showed previous versions. So I went to support.apple.com/downloads and downloaded the update suite and installed from there. The updater reported that my Keynote couldn't be found, though it was in my iWork folder in my Applications folder. Because of a hint in the updater dialog, I changed the name of the iWork folder to iWork '09 restarted the updater and all went well.
The most crucial update they could do to the iWork Suite would be to add the ability to lock cells in Numbers. Without that capability, I am forced to use Microsoft Office Excel. Ugh !!
Have suggested this and the iWork forums show I am not the only one requesting this.