iPad's versions of iWorks apps not fully roundtripping

Summary: iPad versions of iWorks apps are leaving behind some of your original doc's content

By Joel Evans for The Mobile Gadgeteer | April 6, 2010 -- 21:07 GMT (14:07 PDT)

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roundtrip2 If you're debating about buying the iPad versions of Keynote or Pages, make sure that you don't care about presenter notes, comments, 3D charts, and other assorted pieces of functionality.

According to a post by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, a fellow ZDNet contributor, Apple has released somewhat crippled iWorks apps for the iPad, and users are frustrated. Apparently, there's a laundry list of features that won't make the trip from standard OSX to iPad. However, to find that list you have to dig into the FAQs like this Keynote for iPad one, or wait until you perform the conversion and then receive a detailed list of what didn't make the cut.

I'm glad that I spotted this news today since I've been debating about getting the Keynote and Pages apps, along with the video dongle. Bad roundtripping is something I dealt with for far too long with Windows Mobile--Microsoft finally fixed it--and I have zero interest in repeating the experience, especially with something like Presenter Notes and Comments not making it to the iPad. How is a presenter expected to do a solid job presenting without her notes?

There are plenty of alternative presentation options, including saving your original Keynote or Powerpoint as a PDF and then showing the PDF from the iPad. And that alternative didn't cost an extra $10.

Topics: Mobile OS, Apple, Wi-Fi, Software, Operating Systems, Mobility, iPad, Hardware, Collaboration, Windows

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12 comments

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Its just rev 1.0 Apple will update it !

It will take them a bit of time, but the pages app will get updated as
more people start to use it. Rev 1.0 always have some shortcomings

MacNewton
6 April, 2010 23:44

Reply Vote
- pay up
  
  And apple as usual will charge for the update
  like they demand for the iPod touch and now
  ipad. Apple and the new Microsoft and with
  linux pads coming I think they will be better
  value in the long tun.
  
  slowe@...
  7 April, 2010 05:57
  
  Reply Vote
  - Re: Pay Up
    
    Well, i can't WAIT to get Windows 8 for free. Or perhaps, the next
    version of Office - that's going to be free too right?
    
    I can't wait to get my free updated copy of Expressions, Visio, Outlook...
    This whole new free-for-all business model for the Software
    industry is going to be SO amazing! Can you believe it? No more paying
    for ANY software ever again! slowe, this news is incredible!
    
    /A\V/
    7 April, 2010 10:58
    
    Reply Vote
- But surely...
  
  file compatibility with their own products is something they should get right out of the box?
  
  If this was something like converting ODF or MS Office documents, I could understand it, I'd be annoyed that I'd have to waste time reformatting, but I'd understand it.
  
  But this is Apple's Pages documents being opened by Pages and destroying formatting and automatically generated text! And something like a ToC field is fairly standard and found in nearly every document I write.
  
  I would accept Pages going "I don't understand/can't generate a ToC and leave a marker for it in the text, but to delete the ToC marker and replace it with plain text is inexcusable.
  
  wright_is
  7 April, 2010 23:30
  
  Reply Vote
RE: iPad's versions of iWorks apps not fully roundtripping

One thing I have not seen about the iPad is the ability to print to a wireless printer? Can it connect to one and print? Or does anything created on the iPad need to be sent to another machine to print?

fbeiderb
7 April, 2010 03:54

Reply Vote
RE: iPad's versions of iWorks apps not fully roundtripping

The iPad is NOT a substitute for a laptop, so I've got no problem with limitations on the word processor (edit text, paste edited paragraphs back into the original - not a big deal). But losing presenter notes? On a gadget that's otherwise the ideal presentation tool? THAT is definitely a boneheaded screwup on Apple's part, and a deal-breaker on v.1.0.

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