Filed under: Tips and tricks, iWork
iWork secret life as ZIP file revealed, includes PDF preview
Former TUAW colleague David Chartier over at Finer Things in Mac has noted something interesting about the innocuous iWork '09 file format. What he found may surprise you.An iWork '09 file created from Pages, Numbers, or Keynote actually lives a secret life as a ZIP archive. This trick isn't a new one; the most common example of archive trickery by Apple is probably the iPod/iPhone software bundle which uses ZIP as a container format. Previous iWork versions actually created folder-like bundle files by default, which made them tricky to upload to cloud storage or email to collaborators.
In the case of the new iWork files, changing the file extension to .zip and expanding the archive reveals the as-expected XML document and plist files (for the document and its formatting) as well as a little PDF surprise -- a preview version of the file. What this means for you is that you can send an iWork file to a friend or co-worker and regardless of their operating system choice or installed software base, they can "view" your document by unzipping it and opening the PDF.
On Windows, you would simply change the extension to .zip and open with your favorite un-archiving utility. Given the kludgy-ness of this process, it doesn't surprise me that Apple isn't promoting it. However, it would be interesting to see the folks in Cupertino release an iWork viewer for the Windows users in our lives (other than the extant iwork.com sharing service).
[Via Download Squad]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Stephen.4 said 10:38AM on 11-02-2009
Ever noticed the "Include preview of document" check box when saving a file?
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4858/screenshot20091102at103.png
It's set by default.
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Dave said 1:36PM on 11-02-2009
It can also be disabled, by default, in the app's Preference settings. I kept it turned off just to help keep file sizes down. Mind you, I generally save final revisions as Word doc's anyway... Somehow I think Word format will outlast iWork (call me crazy, but I think Apple has a tendency to depreciate its own file formats relatively quickly).
Aaron said 10:40AM on 11-02-2009
What this means for you is that you can send an iWork file to a friend or co-worker and regardless of their operating system choice or installed software base, they can "view" your document by unzipping it and opening the PDF.
Or you can export a PDF and send that to them...
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Wheels said 11:46AM on 11-02-2009
Thank you.
Yes, let's be like Rube Goldgerg when there's a much simpler way.
Dan Peterson said 10:42AM on 11-02-2009
Cute trick but it seems exhausting since your Windows friends can't actually work on the document, anyway. Try printing the document, saving it as a PDF and email that instead.
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Aron Trimble said 11:40AM on 11-02-2009
While true, that doesn't really help you if you're trying to access something from MobileMe while on a friend's Mac without iWork, or heaven forbid, on Windows.
Jordan said 10:51AM on 11-02-2009
What this means is larger file sizes because of the included PDF. Why not just use office and save yourself all the hassle?
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Mike P said 11:28AM on 11-02-2009
...because iWork does many things better than Office.
Jordan said 11:39AM on 11-02-2009
Please give examples instead of just trying to make a statement. Your comment sounds like a Mac ad, it just says something but doesn't tell us any reason why.
michaelm said 12:03PM on 11-02-2009
Keynote does a better job with graphics as compared to PowerPoint. If one uses LaTeX to create an equation--a far better way than using Equation Editor in Office--one can output a PDF that works beautifully in Keynote. It looks terrible in PowerPoint. Also, PowerPoint files get messed-up ("corrupted" ?) and are then useless. iWork files are always accessible as they do not exist as binaries. One could go on and on. In the end, I stopped trying to figure out how to make PowerPoint work for me. I use Keynote and when I need to send someone a PP version, I export it. Has always worked better for me this way.
Perhaps Office 2008 (or 2007 on Windows) has fixed some of these issues but after iWork came out and I started to use it, I have rarely looked back.
Shunnabunich said 10:08AM on 11-03-2009
"Why not just use office and save yourself...hassle?"
Reported for spam. No other possible explanation for your post.
dombi said 10:52AM on 11-02-2009
Excellent tip! Thanks for sharing.
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Dave said 10:55AM on 11-02-2009
@Dan you can export as Word or RTF or plain text.
pretty much anyone these days can open a word file, and work on it...
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Gazoobee said 10:58AM on 11-02-2009
Fail. This was talked about ad infinitum when the product was released. One of the few major changes last time was the file format. It was in *every* review I read of the product, where were you?
Also, if I was sending a file to a Windows user I would just save it as a *.doc right in Pages, or just save it as a *.PDF right from Pages.
You might want to mention that Pages is capable of doing that instead of implying that its some kind of weird dealie that is otherwise incompatible with Windows or Office. Pages is more compatible with Word formats than some of Microsoft's own products.
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Mike said 11:44AM on 11-02-2009
Isn't new? Yeah, it's the ISO document standard. See ODF.
ODF files are zips as well...
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Erik said 11:01AM on 11-02-2009
This file structure isn't anything out of the ordinary. Microsoft Office (as of 2007 for Windows and 2008 for Mac) files are also .zip archives containing XML data. I believe that Open Office.org files are also built the same way.
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totoro said 11:20AM on 11-02-2009
Yes, the whole docx, etc. format is similar. As is the new eBook standard, ePub.
Alex C said 11:16AM on 11-02-2009
Very old story...
This trick also works with Office 2007 (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) and OpenOffice.org (.odt) documents. They even include a preview, but not in pdf format (maybe as a png thumbnail).
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Dani L said 11:53AM on 11-02-2009
Here's what I think is a real use of this feature:
I use Keynote a lot, but I don't know of a way to edit images that I have included in my presentation with an external program, such as Photoshop. By unzipping the Keynote document it becomes possible to retrieve and of the images included in the presentation, edit it with any application that is right for the task, save in the same place (w/o changing the name), and zip back the folder. Next time the presentation is opened in Keynote, the changes will be there. I just tried it.
Of course, this is a rather annoying procedure, if anyone has a simpler way, I'd be happy to hear about it.
Dani
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Urbz said 12:04PM on 11-02-2009
This is useful to me because with all my documents stored on my iDisk, I can edit a file on a Windows PC at school without needing my laptop...
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