Apple has released an update to iWork that in addition to fixing a handful of bugs, adds the ability to export Pages documents in the ePub format.
ePub is the open format Apple and many others use to publish ebooks but until now there has been no simple way for Mac users to create their own ePub content. In the updated Pages, ePub is listed as an export option, though only word processing documents are compatible; for layout documents, PDF remains the only and probably the best option.
But for word processing documents, ePub has a number of advantages, detailed by Apple in Creating ePub files with Pages.
These include optimisation for iBooks features such as changes in text size, font, and device orientation, support for embedded video, support for notes and automatic generation of a table of contents. However Apple does note that some elements of a Pages document cannot be exported, including smart fields, master and background objects, floating graphics and some image effects and columns. Footnotes are converted to endnotes.
ePub support aside, the update also provides bug fixes for tables in all three iWork applications and for printing, slide switching and image resizing in Keynote.
iWork 9.0.4 for iWork ’09 is available via Software Update or from support.apple.com/downloads.
