Microsoft 365 service is quietly taking up on the offline Office productivity suite. Most companies and enterprise solutions use Microsoft Office apps to get things done. At home, you might be using the Apple Pages software to create and edit documents. Since both Microsoft Word and Apple Pages are different apps, you need to convert the document file type before making changes.
If you're working with text-based documents, Microsoft Word is pretty much the standard. But to use the software you'll usually either have to buy it outright or sign up to a subscription. I use LibreOffice Write for long documents with Tables of Contents because PDF Export can generate clickable PDF bookmarks whereas MS Word on the Mac cannot (although the Windows version can). And LibreOffice Calc is more flexible than MS Excel at importing and exporting CSV files which use a separator other than comma.
The process works in both ways. You can convert Apple Pages documents to Word file as well. During the process, you need to keep certain things in mind so that the formatting doesn't change drastically while completing the document.
It's also useful for those working on the same document between PC and Mac. If you've created a document on Microsoft Word but want to edit it on a Mac, you'll find that your Mac does not come with Microsoft Word. Instead, Apple's built-in word processing software is called Pages.
While you could just purchase and download the Microsoft Office suite for your Mac computer, it's also quite easy to convert a Word document into Pages. In this post, we will talk about how to convert Word documents to Pages and vice versa. You can use both the Word web and Mac app to complete the process. Let's get started.
Also on Guiding Tech How to Add Special Characters and Symbols in Apple Pages and Other Tricks Read MoreHow to Convert Word Files to Pages on Mac
If you are fully invested in an Apple ecosystem and don't have Microsoft apps such as OneDrive or Microsoft Word, you two options. You can either download these apps on Mac to open the saved Word documents or use the Office web to download the Word documents.
We will stick with the second option as it's quick and doesn't require you to download additional apps (after all, the Microsoft Word app on Mac weights more than 1GB) on the Mac. Follow the steps below to download and convert Word documents to Pages on Mac.
Step 1: Visit Office Online on the web and sign in using Microsoft account credentials.
Visit Microsoft Office WebStep 2: Here, you will see all the Office online apps and recently used documents.
Step 3: Use the search bar at the top to open the word document that you want to convert.
Step 4: Open the document using the Word web app and tap on the File at the upper left corner.
Step 5: Select Save As and Download a Copy on your Mac.
Step 6: Now, open the Apple Pages app and go to File > Open. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Command + O to open the file from the Mac.
Step 7: Locate to the Word file and open it on Pages.
Step 8: The software will automatically convert the file type from Word to Pages during the opening process.
Based on the type of document and content, you will the Apple Pages software removing some incompatible components from the Word document. For example, the default Calibri fonts will be replaced by different ones in Pages.
Unlike Word, you will see all the major editing options on the right side. The ability to add images, table, links, etc. are the top. Similar to Microsoft Word, Apple Pages also offers solid templates.
Make the necessary changes to the Pages, and all the changes will be store in the Pages file.
Also on Guiding Tech 7 Best Mac Apps to Stay Organized Read MoreConvert Apple Pages File to Microsoft Word Documents
If you have to share the Apple Pages document with colleague or friends, you need to make sure that it's a Word file and not the Pages one as the Word file are most compatible with other word processor apps. Here arethe step-by-step directions to convert Pages document to Word file.
Step 1: Open the Apple Pages app and select the file that you want to convert and share.
Step 2: Make the necessary changes and give it a final look.
Step 3: Tap on the File menu at the upper left corner.
Step 4: Select Export to and tap on the Word option.
Step 5: The following menu will ask you to add a password for further authentication.
Step 6: Tap on the Advanced Options and select the extension option such as .docx or .doc.
Step 7: Select Next and save it on the device.
Your Apple Pages document is successfully converted to the Word file. Now, it's ready to share with other users.
That's not all. You can easily convert these Pages documents to PDF, Plain Text, and even directly publish them to Apple Books.
Before you start sharing your document, it's advisable to look it over carefully. Formatting may have changed, and you may have to fix it. There's always a chance that so much happened during the export that you can't use your document.
Also on Guiding TechInstall Microsoft Word On Mac
#pages Click here to see our pages articles pageConvert Documents on the Go
Microsoft Word (.docx) is one of the oldest and most recognizable document that is compatible with several other programs. When working on the Mac, you need to convert it to Pagesto make changes in the Apple Pages app. After making necessary changes,don't forget to export it as a Word file before sharing it with others.
Next up:Are you getting confused between Apple Pages and Microsoft Word? Read the post below to find the differences and pick the better option for you.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
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Software-as-a-Service Alternatives
If you're an organization doing a lot of targeted mailings and campaigns, you may want to consider uploading your email lists to an online service that will track campaigns and templates for you as well as give your users an easy way to unsubscribe. Here are some examples of those SaaS solutions:
Google Add-ons
There are also some third-party add-on solutions. If you don't mind the developers having access to your Google information, then you may want to explore these options:
Some other funky workarounds..
This Apple support communities discussion has some interesting other workarounds in Mac OS X for doing an email merge, including using the Mail Merge add-on for Thunderbird.
Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Outlook) Email Merge
This blog post is really about how to do an email merge using Microsoft Office on a Mac, so here are the steps and considerations. I'm using Gmail as an example, but you can do an email merge with any kind of email account, as long as it can be put into Outlook (Exchange, POP, IMAP, etc.).
Also, please be mindful, since you don't really have an unsubscribe button in Outlook email merges, that you should still be complying with the CAN-SPAM Act guide.
So, with Gmail as an example, go to Settings.
Under Forwarding and POP/IMAP, make sure Enable IMAP is selected (you may have to scroll down a bit to see the option).
For some reason, Google doesn't consider Outlook to be secure, so in order to access Google from Outlook, you'll have to go to google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps and select Turn on.
Launch up Outlook and select Outlook >Preferences.
Click on Accounts
Add whatever account you plan on emailing from. Since we're using a Gmail account as an example, you would click Other Email.
Enter the appropriate information, and then click Add Account.
Then click on Outlook and select Work Offline. This step isn't necessary, but I highly recommend it, because it gives you a chance to spotcheck the merged emails before they go out.
Now, launch up /Applications/Mail.app and go to Mail and select Preferences.
Apfs to mac os journaled. Unfortunately, Apple has made it so you can't select the preferences until you have set up at least one account, so you may have to set up your email account in Mail as well, even though we won't be using it.
Under Default email reader, select Microsoft Outlook.app.
If you find that Mail keeps reverting the default email client to be Mail instead of Outlook, you may have to run this command:
Update Microsoft Word On Mac
sudoCan't Open Word On Mac
—just run it as is). Thanks to Max108 for the tip.Make sure your Excel worksheet has at least an email column and another column (e.g., First Name). Save the Excel file some place where you can find it easily later.
Launch up Word and under Mailings, select the type to be Letters.
Then, select Use an Existing List and find the Excel file you saved earlier.
If you created the Excel sheet, you know it's not malicious. Click OK.
Click OK again, unless you're using another worksheet and have to select that.
You can insert values from different columns in the spreadsheet to be dynamic parts of your email (for example, Dear «First_Name» so the person's actual first name fills in).
When you're happy with how your 'letter' (email) looks, select Merge to E-Mail.
If Merge to E-Mail is grayed out, it means Word doesn't think that Outlook is the default email client. I've seen two situations for this—one is addressed with that command in case Mail stubbornly keeps itself as the default email client, and the other is the corresponding Outlook version not being installed. In other words, you can mix and match and use Word 2011 with Outlook 2016 as long as Outlook 2011 is installed.
Select the email address header for the To, put in the email subject you want recipients to see for Subject, and then select the message format type (probably HTML Message if you have any kind of bold/italics/color in your message).
Then click Mail Merge to Outbox.
This is where the setting-Outlook-to-offline-mode approach pays off, because you'll see your Outbox populate with the merged emails that won't send immediately.
So it means you can go into several of the pending emails and just make sure they look the way you want.
When you're satisfied with the messages, select Outlook >Work Offine to put it back online again, and then your messages should send.
