iWork '09: The Missing Manual

Introduction

The words “productivity software” don’t exactly make your skin tingle. Most of us use a word processor or spreadsheet program because we have to. It’s how we get our day-to-day work done, pushing through the words and numbers that office, school, or household demands impose. What’s to get excited about? Until recently, not much. For decades, word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation software have presented blandly efficient tools that solemnly transferred your work to page and screen. Bland gets the job done, it’s true, but bland doesn’t inspire. You and your ideas deserve an environment that’s more stirring than that. Dreary work tools don’t cut it.

An inspiring spreadsheet program? A rousing word processor? The concepts seem improbable—but as usual, Apple beats the odds. When the company unveiled its iWork collection of programs, Apple proved that doing serious work doesn’t have to feel serious. The package includes Pages, Keynote, and Numbers: iWork’s word processor, presentation software, and spreadsheet program, respectively. While familiar, all three are remarkably different than what came before.

All iWork programs put an unprecedented emphasis on the design and polish of your final documents, making it easy to create results that look not only professional, but actually stunning. It’s like you’ve got an entire art department on the payroll—and in fact, that’s not far from the truth. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers all come stacked high with prebuilt templates ...