Where Is App Preference On Word Mac

Oct 24, 2017 If the Mac app supports tabs, it should respect this system setting toggle and not require individual app-specific fiddling. How to Prefer Tabs When Opening Documents Across Mac OS Apps. From anywhere on the Mac, go to the Apple menu then choose “System Preferences” Go to the “Dock” preference panel. Delete the app preference file. Plist files can become corrupt when a Mac shuts down or restarts unexpectedly or when an app freezes or crashes. As a result, the app may not open. When you delete a bad preference file, the Mac creates a new plist file that contains all the app's defaults automatically.

You have a Macbook Air or Pro and you need a reliable word processor. What is the best choice for you? Microsoft Word or Apple Pages?

It’s an easy decision if you don’t want to spend a lot of money. The biggest advantage of Pages vs. Word is that Pages is free for a Mac user.

But can Pages do everything you want to do for your writing needs?

Read on for a comparison of these two writing programs.

In This ArticleHideApple Pages word processorMicrosoft Office for MacApple Pages is freeWriting without WordIt’s easy to use PagesImages in Apple Pages vs Microsoft WordEpub for ebook authorsWorking with Word files in PagesAdvantages of Apple Pages vs. WordAre there any drawbacks?

Apple Pages word processor

I have used every version of the Pages app since Apple released it in 2009.

The iWork 09 version worked perfectly. But at that time, it cost $79.00 for the suite of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

Later, in 2014, Apple released a new version. The pricing dropped to $19.99 for each app on a Mac, and $9.99 for an iOS device.

At the same time, the release of iWork for iCloud became available.

However, you could get the apps for free when you bought a new Mac computer.

Then in 2017, Apple finally made all three apps free on the Mac App Store for Mac, iPad, and iPhone.

I have never found a lot of use for Pages for iOS, but it can be handy for a quick edit or writing when traveling on your iPhone or iPad.

I have used Pages documents and Numbers for Mac almost every day now for over ten years on my Apple laptops.

The number one advantage is that because the apps are designed for Mac, they work fast and integrate with all your other Apple tools.

Microsoft Office for Mac

Yes, I use Pages and Word for Mac too.

The current version of Office I have installed is Office for Mac 2011, which works with versions up to Mac OS Sierra.

But this version is not supported on Macs using macOS High Sierra, Mojave, or new versions.

If you want to use Word or other Office apps on a new MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, it is going to cost quite a lot of money to upgrade to Office 2016 or Office 2019.

I have Word for Mac on three laptops. But I’m not sure I will install it on my new computers in the future.

The price to upgrade is very expensive, depending on which versions of Word you select.

For a one-time purchase of the Office 2019 software for PC or Mac operating systems, it will cost over $350.00.

For a yearly personal Office 365 for Mac subscription, it will cost me 3 cents short of $180.00. The price depends on which country you are in and which version of Office 365 you can choose.

However, if you want to try Office on your Mac, you can get a one-month free trial version.

There is also this question to answer with subscription software. What happens to your data and files if you decide to cancel your subscription?

On top of that, of all the Office products, I would only use Word and perhaps Excel from time to time and never use the other apps in the suite.

If you don’t need all versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, and OneNote, why pay for what you will rarely or never use?

So given a choice between $350.00, $180.00 for an Office 365 subscription, or free, it’s doesn’t take much brainpower to consider using the Apple iWork suite to replace the Microsoft Office suite.

Apple Pages is free

If you are a Mac user like me and your primary requirement is for word processing programs, can Pages reliably replace Microsoft Word?

The short answer is yes, it definitely can.

In some ways, it is even better. Word vs. Pages?

Apple Pages is like having Microsoft Word for Mac for free.

Writing without Word

If all you need is an Apple word processor, Mac Pages can handle everything you will probably ever need to do.

Like Word in Office for Mac, you can start with a blank document or use the template chooser.

The word processing in page layout document view is easy to work with, and all the text formatting, fonts, outline styles, and writing tools are easy to find and use.

There is a spell checker, word count, auto table of contents, and track change with an add comments option.

It is difficult to think of a standard function in Word that is not available in Pages documents.

There are some areas of compatibility. They are mostly very advanced features of Word compared to Pages and Excel compared to Numbers.

Most issues are related to the compatibility of macros. You will only need to consider it if you are an advanced user.

Apple has a list of compatibility issues between Office and iWork apps.

You might consider this if you are using complex charts, tables, and macros. But there are no aspects that would concern an author, content writer, or blogger.

You can write, format, make columns, import, export, and print in precisely the same way as you do with Word.

It’s easy to use Pages

Pages is a great word processor. It has had a lot of stability improvements over the years to make it extremely reliable and robust.

It only takes half an hour or so to become familiar with the menus, options, and text styles. You will find that Pages is very easy to use.

The sidebar menu is intuitive and changes depending on what you are doing or where you place your cursor. For most users, every tool you want to use is visible when you need it.

One big plus with Pages is that you never need to bother with doing a save because it automatically saves as you work. This is a huge bonus and timesaver. You never have to worry about losing one single word of your work.

Every day tasks like inserting headers and footers, text boxes, or adding page numbers are all simple. The image galleries make adding and adjusting images and pictures quick and easy.

Images in Apple Pages vs Microsoft Word

Working with images is one area where Pages really shines. There is so much more control over images compared to Word.

You can scan a document using an iPad app and then drop your photo or scan it into a document. Equally as easy, you can add an existing image from your hard drive.

For authors working with paperback covers, it is easy to drop in a high-resolution cover image, make your adjustments, and then export directly to pdf.

One minor image feature that is missing in Pages compared to Word is adding a hyperlink to an image.

You would probably rarely need to do this. But if you do, there is this workaround on Apple Discussions. It works by simply overlaying a text box and then making it invisible.

Epub for ebook authors

One other big plus for Pages for authors is that you can export directly to epub without the hassle of converting your file in another program.

If you are publishing ebooks, this is a massive time saver.

There are not a lot of options compared to what you get with Calibre.

But it is more than enough to export a perfectly acceptable epub file directly from Pages ready for publishing with Amazon KDP, Smashwords, or Draft2Digital.

Working with Word files in Pages

There is no doubt that you will have times when you need to collaborate on documents and work with Word users. But it is quick and easy to convert Pages to Word, or Word to Pages.

It would be rare that authors and writers need real-time collaboration tools.

Generally, the real need is to open Word documents or to send Pages documents in doc or docx file format.

To open a Word file, simply open it with a double click or right-click open file as you usually would do. If you do not have Word installed on your computer, it will open automatically in Pages.

When you need to send a Word file, you can do a quick export of Pages files.

You can choose either .doc or .docx file format, then save your document, and you can send it to any Word user.

Advantages of Apple Pages vs. Word

If you want to move away from the expense of Microsoft Word for Mac, you have two logical choices.

You could opt for Google Docs, which is also free.

However, it requires an Internet connection and only works in a web browser. But there is a way to access and edit files offline with a Chrome extension.

The Pages word processor is a much a better option for Mac users because it autosaves directly to your computer hard drive, or more likely to you iCloud drive when you are online.

On top of that, you can get the full suite of tools for free. So you get Pages along with the other iWork apps, Numbers, and Keynote as a bonus.

If you are a Mac user, all you need is your Apple ID to download Pages Mac and iOS from the Mac App Store.

If you are creating documents and want to work on the move with an iOS device, you can use Pages on your iPhone or iPad. It can also use Apple Pencil, which is a cool tool for adding smart annotation.

There is no version for Apple watch. But I can’t imagine how it would work on such a small screen.

Currently, you might be working with Word and Pages side by side.

But when it comes time to spend a lot of money to upgrade to the Microsoft Office 2019 version, it might be time to consider using Apple Pages only and forgetting all about the expense of Microsoft Word for Macbook laptops.

Are there any drawbacks?

If you are a Grammarly user, there is no support for Word for Mac anyway.

But it is super easy to use the Grammarly editor. You only need to export to docx from Pages before you open your document in Grammarly.

Update: Grammarly for Word for Mac is now in beta.

The same goes for using ProWritingAid as it too only accepts docx files, so you can use the same method.

You might want to exchange document versions with a proofreader or editor. If they are using Word, you will need to convert or export and import your pages and word files.

If you want to use advanced features like macros, Pages is quite limited in this area.

If you can live with these few and very minor inconveniences, then yes. You can certainly write and survive quite happily with only Pages as your primary word processor.

On top of that, you will save yourself an awful lot of money by doing so.

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Starting with Version 16.28 of Office for Mac, there are new preference settings that allow you to control settings related to the following:

Diagnostic data that is collected and sent to Microsoft about Office client software being used.
Connected experiences that use cloud-based functionality to provide enhanced Office features to you and your users.

In addition, there is a new preference setting related to a Required Data Notice dialog for Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU).

For more information about diagnostic data and connected experiences, see Overview of privacy controls.

Note

For information about similar settings for Office on computers running Windows, see Use policy settings to manage privacy controls for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise.
For information about similar settings for Office on iOS devices, see Use preferences to manage privacy controls for Office on iOS devices.

Setting preferences

These new preference settings are CFPreferences API compatible and can be set using the defaults command in Terminal, or enforced through a Configuration Profile or Mobile Device Management (MDM) server. When the preferences are enforced, the user cannot change the values, and any in-app controls will appear disabled.

Note

You can also use the Office cloud policy service and these 5 policy settings:

Configure the level of client software diagnostic data sent by Office to Microsoft
Allow the use of connected experiences in Office that analyze content
Allow the use of connected experiences in Office that download online content
Allow the use of additional optional connected experiences in Office
Allow the use of connected experiences in Office

For more information on using the Office cloud policy service, see Overview of the Office cloud policy service.

Preference setting for diagnostic data

Diagnostic data is used to keep Office secure and up-to-date, detect, diagnose and remediate problems, and also make product improvements. For more information, see Diagnostic data sent from Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise to Microsoft.

Preference Domain	`com.microsoft.office`
Key	`DiagnosticDataTypePreference`
Data Type	String
Possible values	`BasicDiagnosticData`(this sets the level to Required) `FullDiagnosticData`(this sets the level to Optional) `ZeroDiagnosticData`(this sets the level to Neither)
Availability	16.28 and later

Starting with new installations of Version 16.30, if you don't set this preference, only required diagnostic data is sent to Microsoft if users with an Office 365 (or Microsoft 365) subscription are signed in with a work or school account or if users have a volume licensed version of Office 2019 for Mac. Also, these users can't change the level of diagnostic data regardless of how you set this preference.

Note

If you install Version 16.28 or 16.29 and you don't set this preference, both optional and required diagnostic data is sent to Microsoft. If you then upgrade to Version 16.30 or later, both optional and required diagnostic data is still sent to Microsoft, unless you use this preference to set a different value.
If you set this preference, it also will apply to Version 1.00.217856 and later of Teams for Mac and to Version 16.28 and later of Skype for Business for Mac.

For other users, such as home users with an Office 365 (or Microsoft 365) subscription, only required diagnostic data is sent, unless the user chooses to also send optional diagnostic data by going to Preferences > Privacy.

Preference setting for connected experiences that analyze your content

Connected experiences that analyze your content are experiences that use your Office content to provide you with design recommendations, editing suggestions, data insights, and similar features. For example, PowerPoint Designer or Researcher in Word. For a list of these connected experiences, see Connected experiences in Office.

Preference Domain	`com.microsoft.office`
Key	`OfficeExperiencesAnalyzingContentPreference`
Data Type	Boolean
Possible values	`TRUE`(enabled) `FALSE`(disabled)
Availability	16.28 and later

If you don't set this preference, connected experiences that analyze content are available to users.

If the user has an Office 365 (or Microsoft 365) subscription and is signed in with a work or school account or if the user has a volume licensed version of Office 2019 for Mac, then the user can't turn off connected experiences that analyze content.

For other users, such as home users with an Office 365 (or Microsoft 365) subscription, the user can choose to turn off connected experiences that analyze content by going to Preferences > Privacy.

Open System Preferences On Mac

Preference setting for connected experiences that download online content

Connected experiences that download online content are experiences that allow you to search and download online content including templates, images, 3D models, videos, and reference materials to enhance your documents. For example, Office templates or PowerPoint QuickStarter. For a list of these connected experiences, see Connected experiences in Office.

Preference Domain	`com.microsoft.office`
Key	`OfficeExperiencesDownloadingContentPreference`
Data Type	Boolean
Possible values	`TRUE`(enabled) `FALSE`(disabled)
Availability	16.28 and later

If you don't set this preference, connected experiences that download online content are available to users.

For other users, such as home users with an Office 365 (or Microsoft 365) subscription, a user can choose to turn off connected experiences that download online content by going to Preferences > Privacy.

Preference setting for optional connected experiences

In addition to the connected experiences mentioned above, there are some optional connected experiences that you may choose to allow your users to access with their organization account, which is sometimes referred to as a work or school account. For example, the LinkedIn features of the Resume Assistant in Word or the Weather Bar in Outlook, which uses MSN Weather. For more examples, see Overview of optional connected experiences in Office.

Preference Domain	`com.microsoft.office`
Key	`OptionalConnectedExperiencesPreference`
Data Type	Boolean
Possible values	`TRUE`(enabled) `FALSE`(disabled)
Availability	16.28 and later

If you don't set this preference, optional connected experiences are available to users with an Office 365 (or Microsoft 365) subscription that are signed in with a work or school account or users who have a volume licensed version of Office 2019 for Mac. Unless you have set this preference to FALSE, these users can choose to turn off optional connected experiences by going to Preferences > Privacy.

For other users, such as home users with an Office 365 (or Microsoft 365) subscription, there isn't an option to turn off optional connected experiences.

Preference setting for most connected experiences

You can use this preference to control whether most connected experiences are available to your users.

Preference Domain	`com.microsoft.office`
Key	`ConnectedOfficeExperiencesPreference`
Data Type	Boolean
Possible values	`TRUE`(enabled) `FALSE`(disabled)
Availability	16.28 and later

System Preferences On Mac

If you don't set this preference, all connected experiences are available to your users, unless you have set one of the other preferences for connected experiences previously mentioned, such as OfficeExperiencesAnalyzingContentPreference.

For example, if you set this preference to FALSE, the following types of connected experiences won't be available to your users:

Experiences that analyze your content
Experiences that download online content
Optional connected experiences

In addition, if you set this preference to FALSE, most other connected experiences are also turned off, such as co-authoring and online file storage. For a list of these other connected experiences, see Connected experiences in Office.

Safari Preferences On Mac

But even if you set this preference to FALSE, limited Office functionality will remain available, such as synching a mailbox in Outlook, and Teams and Skype for Business will continue to work. Essential services, such as the licensing service that confirms that you’re properly licensed to use Office, will also remain available.

For other users, such as home users with an Office 365 (or Microsoft 365) subscription, a user can choose to turn off most connected experiences by going to Preferences > Privacy.

Preference setting for the Required Data Notice dialog for Microsoft AutoUpdate

The first time Version 4.12 or later of Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) is launched, users will see a Required Data Notice dialog which provides them with information about what data from MAU is sent to Microsoft.