Apple updated its iWork suite of productivity apps — Keynote, Pages and Numbers — with new features Tuesday that enable users to make presentations in new ways and help them work better with documents on the go.
iWork suite updates
New tools in Keynote make presentations more engaging. You now have the ability to show a live camera view of the presenter directly in slides. And multi-presenter control makes the app more collaborative.
Pages makes it easier than ever to view and edit documents on the go by automatically displaying text and images in a single-column flow optimized for iPhone.
And Numbers introduces pivot tables that bring powerful data analytics capabilities to iPhone, iPad and Mac.
“Whether they are in the office, at school, or working remotely, users around the world love Keynote, Pages and Numbers for their powerful features, ease of use, and seamless experience across iPhone, iPad and Mac,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.
“Today, we’re adding even more power and capability to these apps with new productivity and collaboration features that enable anyone to create more personal and compelling presentations, make working with documents on iPhone a breeze, and bring full-featured pivot tables to mobile for the first time.”
New ways to present in Keynote
Apple said its powerful new tools make Keynote presentations more personal, engaging and collaborative.
With the option to use the front-facing camera on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, users can now add live video directly to presentations. This allows a presenter to appear alongside the content in their slide. That works for lectures, how-to videos and remote presentations through video conferencing apps.
Video: Make presentations in Keynote more engaging by including live video directly on slides.
User can resize video objects and style them with masks, frames, drop shadows and reflections. They can connect multiple external cameras to enhance the live-video experience. They can even show the screen of a connected iPhone or iPad right on a slide for live, interactive demos.
A new multi-presenter option lets various people control a shared slideshow from their iPhone, iPad or Mac. Whether they are in the same room or presenting remotely, multiple users can take turns advancing slides in a group presentation.
Photo: Apple
A new Pages experience optimized for iPhone
Apple said people read Pages documents on iPhone more than any other device.
With the update, Screen View automatically displays text, images and more in a single-column, continuous flow optimized for the iPhone screen. Text is enlarged to improve readability, photos and drawings fit the display and tables can scroll horizontally.
Screen View is available for all word processing documents. It doesn’t require any additional setup. When enabled, users still have access to the complete set of editing tools in Pages. And Screen View can be switched off at any time so users can see the page layout for their document before printing or publishing.
Powerful, easy-to-use pivot tables with Numbers
Photo: Apple
With its intuitive interface and ability to showcase data with graphics and charts, Numbers lets users get a lot out of their data. Now, with pivot tables, users can quickly summarize, group and rearrange data to identify and analyze patterns and trends.
Creating a pivot table in Numbers is quick and intuitive. Users can easily select the data to include, choose how to group and summarize it, and access other display options from the sidebar. The resulting pivot table appears in a clear layout.
Users can visualize their pivot tables with insightful charts, share pivot data with others while keeping the source data private, and even import or export pivot tables to and from Microsoft Excel.
Bringing it all to mobile
Numbers is the first app to bring full-featured pivot tables to mobile, with the same set of features across iPhone, iPad and Mac. That gives users access to a powerful data analytics tool wherever they work.
Additionally, Radar charts are a new chart type that makes it easy to visually compare multiple variables with similarities shown as overlapping areas. That allows differences and outliers to stand out.
Photo: Apple
And new filter options let users find duplicate entries and unique values in their data. Or they can easily show or hide rows that match a specific value.
Supports new OS translation features
Keynote, Pages and Numbers support new translation features in iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey. Users can select text and see a translation, hear it read aloud and instantly replace the selection with translated text.
Availability
Keynote, Pages and Numbers are included free on every new iPhone, iPad and Mac. The new updates are available to download on the App Store.
