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I have Numbers and Pages for iOS and the Mac. With iOS 5, I can create documents and spreadsheets in iCloud. How can I access those same iCloud documents in the Mac versions? Even better yet, if I want to create a document in the Mac version, how can I save it in iCloud to begin with?

I have upgraded to the latest OS X Lion version (10.7.2) and while I see the new iCloud preference pane un System Preferences and I have enabled Documents In The Cloud, I cannot see to find their counterparts in the Mac iWork apps. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

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iWork for Mac, at the time of writing of this post, has not been updated to work with iCloud.
Last version on the App Store came out in July, 20th, and does not have iCloud integration.

Meanwhile, you can upload and download documents from this page, which is a web interface to iCloud. The process is described in this guide.

iCloud web interface

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  • I saw this web interface but it does not feel like the "better" way to do this, as you mention. I get the feeling that it should work like the iOS apps do. I began suspecting there is no upgrade to the Mac apps yet when I saw this web UI and after not finding any references to iCloud on the iWork for Mac pages in apple.com. Thanks for including a link to the guide, I was looking for something like that.
    – Christian Correa
    Commented Oct 13, 2011 at 14:35
  • Why are you comparing to upgrading iWork, currently there doesn't seem to be an upgrade or update for the Mac versions
    – Jonathan.
    Commented Oct 13, 2011 at 17:33
  • @Jonathan: you're right. Initially I thought there's no upgrade (and even checked on the App Store) but another answer, already deleted by the author, claimed such update has been a part of 10.7.2 system upgrade in a manner so convincing I rewrote my post. Edited now.
    – Dan
    Commented Oct 13, 2011 at 22:07
  • I was wondering how that answer got deleted. You're right, it must have been by the author. As of this writing, there is still no specific updates for the iWork apps. That leaves this page as the only officially supported means to send documents from the Mac to the iOS version of iWork.
    – Christian Correa
    Commented Oct 14, 2011 at 13:07
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There is no iCloud-enabled version of iWork '09 on the Mac as of yet. Right now the way to save to iCloud from the Mac iWork apps is through the website.

Enabling iCloud for iWork for Mac is a bigger deal than I think most people realize. We've still yet to see any sort of UI for saving documents to iCloud on a Mac. So, for example, in iWork, will you see a standard "iCloud" folder in the Finder? Will you see a UI pane similar to the iOS versions of the apps? But in that case, how can you save a standard file to on your computer? Apple hasn't yet answered these questions, and I believe they are still working out some of these major details.

Aside from the UI issues, the Mac versions of iWork still have more advanced capabilities than the iOS versions. My guess, and hope, is that Apple will not enable cross-platform iCloud auto-saving until they are sure that changes will persist exactly across both platforms.

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  • Its quite simple, have a folder called iCloud in the Documents folder which is synced. No massive issues are there?
    – Jonathan.
    Commented Oct 13, 2011 at 22:46
  • Yes, but that would basically be an iDisk now, which Apple has said they do not want to do. Part of the point of iCloud is to decouple saving and creating documents from the file system, so users do not have to worry about file management. I hope what happens is some sort of check mark - save this file to the system (in any folder) but also sync it to iCloud.
    – chrismanderson
    Commented Oct 14, 2011 at 2:40
  • Given that you can access your documents on icloud.com, as documents is not just a syncing service like photostream is, it basically is iDisk just with less functionality.
    – Jonathan.
    Commented Oct 14, 2011 at 6:57
  • But that's still different than an iDisk. In this case, the document is tied to the app itself, not to the file system. Minor difference, but still an important one.
    – chrismanderson
    Commented Oct 14, 2011 at 11:50
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    I had not thought about what you mention and it is a very interesting point: The features in iOS Pages are a subset of the features of the OS X version. Compatibility had not even crossed my mind and you're right in that it will be something to consider. Apple is known for releasing things until they're mostly satisfied with the result; so if the iCloud integration is not out yet it must be because it is not as great as they would like it to be. Good point.
    – Christian Correa
    Commented Oct 14, 2011 at 13:11

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