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iPad 101: finding the Tab key in Pages
Eager to make my new iPad 2 earn its keep, I've stopped rationalizing the purchase and gotten down to work. The next logical purchase, I figured, is Pages, which I'll use for word processing while on the road. Mobile productivity is what the iPad is all about, isn't it? I read the "getting started" tutorial and then waited for a project to present itself while I was away from my Mac. An opportunity soon presented itself during a boring train ride. While riding the train to music rehearsal, I needed to type up a simple set list of songs. On the left, I wanted to type the song titles, and on the right, each song's key. This is something I've done hundreds of times on my Mac with minimal fuss. Unfortunately, however, I hit a snag in Pages. I discovered that there is no tab key on the iPad's virtual keyboard -- even in Pages. I quickly double checked this on my iPhone keyboard and found the same result. I searched "tab" and "tab key" in the Pages help section with poor results. I started fumbling around the various menu options in Pages, growing frustrated and confused at the lack of a tab key. Had the iPad let me down? Fortunately, after ten minutes of repeated menu hopping, and searching various internet forums, I saw the tab icon staring me in the face, next to the text alignment icons. Pulling into the train station, I tapped the icon and a short menu appeared with the tab option at the top. I can't fathom why Apple would decide not to put a tab key on the iPad's keyboard, at least in Pages. But thank goodness it's there, even if it does require two taps to make a tab indentation instead of the single keyboard stroke required on a conventional keyboard. Have you had a little tiff with your iPad? Why not let us know in the comments below? We may even be able to help you work it out!
iWork suite gains iOS 4.2 support on iPad
The iWork productivity suite for iPad is receiving significant upgrades to coincide with the release of iOS 4.2, Macworld reports. Most significantly, the three iWork tools (Numbers, Keynotes, and Pages) will support multitasking on the iPad. Multitasking in 4.2 will already be familiar to many iPhone users. When you switch away from one of the iWork applications, the iPad will save the state of your work in iWork. When you come back to that application later, you'll be able to resume right where you left off. iWork has many other updates. The Tools menus have been simplified and now support AirPrint. PDFs should be more reliable when created in iWork, fixing a font compatibility issue. Keynote now supports more presenter-display functionality, allowing a presenter to see notes and slide information on their iPad without that view also being sent to the presentation projector. Keynote should also be more reliable when importing from PowerPoint and Keynote '09. Numbers is updated to allow you to preview how your spreadsheet will print when using multiple pages, but now it also includes an AutoFit function. There are many usability upgrades to Numbers and Pages which add up to really making the iWork apps a much more functional productivity suite. These iWork updates should be available today (November 22), coinciding with the release of iOS 4.2.
