With an outdated processor and only a single gig of memory, my old MacBook was straining. So I bought a new MacBook Pro this weekend. I'm completely happy with my sleek silver laptop, but I'm also shocked and dismayed that the operating system (Lion) doesn't run my old Microsoft Word software! This means I either have to buy Microsoft's Office Mac 2011 or iWork, which comes with the computer for a 30-day trial.
Are any of you using iWork Pages or Office Mac 2011 Word? What do you think of them? (I've read some reviews that claim Word on Office Mac crashes a lot. Has this happened to you?)
Thinking about software has also got me considering Scrivener. I've heard great things about it. If you're using it, do you like it? Do you still need a word processing program if you use Scrivener?
Thanks for your suggestions. And if you don't have suggestions, your empathy is appreciated. (Computer issues make me nervous! I never feel like I have enough information.)
19 comments:
I heard a lot of good things about Scrivener too, but I don't know becasue I don't use it. I stick to MS Word, but that doesn't make it the best choice. Sorry I couldn't help more!
Sorry, ignorant as squash in this department. Haven't even heard of Scrivener!
We have word 2011 on the macs at work and I haven't had any problems with it crashing. Haven't heard anyone else at work mention it crashing either. I would probably hear about it since I work in the library/media center.
I use Scrivener and love it! I can make it what I need to organize each of my novels separately on there. I like the flexibility and the built-in organizational options.
Having said that, I do also have Microsoft Word on there. I write in Scrivener then export the file as a Word file so I can send it to my laptop (not Mac) and out to people who don't have Macs to critique. I don't really use Word on the Mac other than for importing and exporting files, so I couldn't say if it crashes.
Congrats on your new Mac! Yay! I use Word. Scrivener is cool, but I think ultimately you export to a word processor anyway. I'm not an expert though. You can do a pretty decent trial of Scrivener too for free though, so play with it.
J.A.--That's okay! I appreciate that you stopped by.
Bish--I don't know a whole lot about Scrivener, other than it helps you organize your writing; users rave about it.
Rebecca--That's good to hear you haven't experienced any problems with Word 2011. Thanks for sharing!
Shannon--Great information. Thanks. (I wasn't aware Scrivener can export as Word files, so that's good to know.)
Lisa--I didn't know Scrivener has a free trial! I'm going to check it out.
I can't really comment but I have heard tons of people say they love Scrivener!
I'm no help with computer stuff, but congrats on the new MacBook Pro! Computer issues make me nervous too, because they make me realize how little I know. (And how much I'd have to shell out to a pro if my husband ever gets tired of helping me when things go amiss.)Hope you get your word processing issues straightened out soon!
You have my empathy as I have no suggestions. :)
Sorry I can't be of help, as I don't know much about any of those. But I do wish you a very oogie boogie day.
Christina, Ruth, Kelly, and Spooky--Thanks for the empathy!
I also use Scrivener for drafting, but then I export it to MS Word for Mac for revising and publishing. I'd recommend both. I've never had issues with crashing for my Microsoft Word for Mac
Karen--Thanks for your advice; I'm really glad to hear you don't have problems with Word for Mac. I've been using Page all day and it's a little hard getting used to.
I'm an absolute Scrivener convert, and they've dropped the price to a fraction of what it was. You can test it for 30 days of free use. This is a fantastic program. It takes a bit of time to learn, and I'm still not using it at full capacity. But I HIGHLY recommend you download the free trial and give it a whirl. It's only $45 if you decide you like it.
Oh, also: I have Word for Mac and it's never once crashed. I used it exclusively for my first novel.
I have all three and use all three. I draft in Scrivener and export to word for submitting. Since I did make some changes to the word file and want to go back to Scrivener for revising, I'll try importing and see how that works.
I like Pages more than Word, but don't use it as much since no one else does. It is very similar to Word, but like all things Mac, just better.
My husband uses Open Office - downloaded for free -- that gives you some version of Word. I'm not sure about the particulars, but you can save Word documents.
Congratulations!!! I LOVE my MacBook Pro. I went for the Microsoft Word software and I love it, but I've always used Word, so I may be biased. I have Pages on my new iPad and I don't like it as much as Word, for whatever that is worth (it may have a lot to do with having the program on an iPad versus a Mac, too).
I keep playing around with the idea of trying out Scrivner, but I'm not sure I need it given all that I can do with my Mac and Word.
Once you work out all the details, I bet you'll be really happy with your new toy! Have fun!
Gail--Thank you for the tip about trying Scrivener for free! I'm going to give it a go. $45 doesn't seem too bad if it's that worthwhile. And I'm glad to hear Word hasn't crashed on you.
Judy--Great information! Thank you. It's good to get a comparison of all three programs. I downloaded Open Office on my old computer and never used it much, but ya gotta love free software.
Cynthia--Yay! So glad to hear you like your MacBook Pro and that Word hasn't been a problem for you. I've been using Pages for a few days now and it seems fine, but there are some Word features that I really miss. Don't know if you saw Gail's comments, but giving Scrivener a test run might be worth it.
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