Bookends and Apple Pages '09

[Edwin Sanchez]

Well, I really should try to keep up with local news. Did not know that BE worked with Page '08 without the RTF trick.

And yes, I had "show extension" unchecked. Twice the dummy!

Eddie

[frvs]

Okay, I'm happy to report that--after solving a technical snag with the help of Jon's usual speedy efficiency--I'm being able to scan Pages 09 docs, too. Jon, thanks for the fantastic work!

[Dixiedog]

Hmm. I've had more trouble. I was able to scan after (1) setting Bookends to use Pages as the word processing program in preferences, (2) saying to save as package in preferences, AND (3) saying NOT to worry about ambiguous references (in the same preference pane). Until doing (3), Bookends would be asking about lots of "ambiguous references" for no good reason that I can see. The test file was a simple sentence with on e reference, but Bookends scanner was seeing citations from odd symbols that did not appear visibly.

Item (1) may or may not have been necessary; I didn't test it.

I agree with an earlier commenter that the new Pages could be a real competitor (even though I have enjoyed Mellel).

[Jon]

If anyone has problems scanning a Pages '09 document, please contact me directly for support (support@sonnysoftare.com). I'll probably ask you to send me the file and your database (both zipped). But contact me first.

This applies to any post on the forum that deals with something that doesn't seem to work properly, BTW:

http://www.sonnysoftware.com/phpBB3/vie ... f=2&t=2038

Thank you,

Jon
Sonny Software

[frvs]

Hmm. I've had more trouble. I was able to scan after (1) setting Bookends to use Pages as the word processing program in preferences, (2) saying to save as package in preferences, AND (3) saying NOT to worry about ambiguous references (in the same preference pane). Until doing (3), Bookends would be asking about lots of "ambiguous references" for no good reason that I can see. The test file was a simple sentence with on e reference, but Bookends scanner was seeing citations from odd symbols that did not appear visibly.

I had the same trouble at one time. The problem, I think, had to do with the fact that although I had chosen to save new docs as packages in preferences, the doc I was working with was not a new doc. (It had been created before I changed preferences to save as package.) So I went ahead and copy/pasted the contents of that doc into a new one, created from scratch, which I saved (and was therefore saved as a package). Then the problem of the extraneous ambiguous references vanished. I hope this helps.

[Jon]

This won't be a problem with the next Bookends update, BTW. It will read Pages '09 "flat" files, too.

Jon
Sonny Software

[frvs]

I agree with an earlier commenter that the new Pages could be a real competitor (even though I have enjoyed Mellel).

I think Pages has the same solid feeling as Mellel, and it also has a well-conceived system of character and paragraph styles, and it allows to attribute hot keys to styles. So guess what I did: keyed f2 to italics character style, f3 to bold, etc., exactly like I do it in Mellel. The bottom line is that Pages allows me to work consistently with styles in exactly the same way I work in Mellel. I would go on, but I'm aware this is going off topic. Just wanted to state why I think it is very important the BE keep abreast with Pages, which is turning into a very real alternative to Word. Sorry for the ramble.

[frvs]

This won't be a problem with the next Bookends update, BTW. It will read Pages '09 "flat" files, too.

Jon
Sonny Software

I sure look forward to that nexr BE update,

[Jon]

We're doing everything we can to support Pages. The recent interactive link between Pages '09 and EndNote is "hard wired", AFAICT. If you want to see something like that in the future with Bookends, I'll quote ozean from earlier in this thread:

"I have also submitted feedback there, asking them to offer an open plug-in architecture so that other bibliography apps can offer equally convenient cooperation with Pages.

I would encourage other Bookends users to do the same. Here is the Pages feedback link:"

http://www.apple.com/feedback/pages.html

Jon
Sonny Software

[Dixiedog]

In the meantime (before Apple sees the error of its ways), is there a way to "unscan" using Bookends to operate on a pages file?

[Jon]

No, you can't unscan because there is no way to store invisible data (as there is in Word ).

Jon
Sonny Software

[Darren McDonald]

We're doing everything we can to support Pages. The recent interactive link between Pages '09 and EndNote is "hard wired", AFAICT. If you want to see something like that in the future with Bookends, I'll quote ozean from earlier in this thread:

"I have also submitted feedback there, asking them to offer an open plug-in architecture so that other bibliography apps can offer equally convenient cooperation with Pages.

I would encourage other Bookends users to do the same. Here is the Pages feedback link:"

http://www.apple.com/feedback/pages.html

Jon
Sonny Software

Hello Jon and Folks

Following is a message I sent to Pages feedback. I really want Apple to help the proper people!

------

Hello

I am using Bookends, a bibliographic software package dedicated to the Mac developed by an indie Mac developer. Although I appreciate that Endnote can now be used with Pages 09, I would MUCH prefer that Apple Pages 09 work with Bookends. As you are aware, Endnote is one of the "big boys" on the block and Apple's decision to only support Endnote is very disappointing. I recently switched from a Windows world to a Mac world because of the brilliant work done by Mac developers. Endnote have their toes in both worlds. I want to get out of the tie of any connection with Windows developers of the likes of Endnote, as well as now completely switching to Pages 09 ... no more Microsoft Word!! But, ironically, Apple is preventing me from doing this. PLEASE, PLEASE x 1000 PLEASES provide support to Bookends so I can truly deal with only the joys of the Mac and its community.

Thanking you in advance.

Darren McDonald
Associate Professor
Daito Bunka University
Tokyo

[Jon]

Hi,

Good feedback to Apple. :-)

Look for the next Bookends update soon, which will scan Pages '09 flat files (the default save format). Bookends works very well to scan Pages '09 documents, but lacks unscan capabilities.

On a side note, an issue has come to light with the Pages/EN integration paradigm that affects some users. If you move the Pages document to Word and back (as you might if you collaborate with others), you lose the modifiable citations created with EN. This doesn't happen if you use temp citations inserted by Bookends. So although we'd certainly like to be able to offer CWYW-like integration with Pages '09, there are some advantages to the current mechanism.

Jon
Sonny Software

[matthias]

Hi all,
I have no insight into the technical details of Pages and its interaction with other applications. But it struck me that the provider of a document sharing service (http://www.getbackboard.com/) is advertising to upload Pages 09 files to its servers via a "toolbar button" in Pages. They claim to implement this through a "plug-in". Is this in any way conclusive for a tighter Bookends integration? I would certainly welcome a toolbar button to scan a Pages document or to insert a citation into it.

Any thoughts on this anyone?

Matthias

[Jon]

Interesting. Have you installed it? Does it work?

Jon
Sonny Software