Apple Updates iWork For iCloud Beta With Collaboration, Printing And Folders

Apple updated its iWork for iCloud services today with several features that it had previously announced were on their way. These center around a bunch of new collaboration tools that aim to make it a good alternative to Google Docs offerings for iCloud users.

Numbers, Keynote and Pages in iCloud were all updated and you can see the new stuff now at iCloud.com. The full list of changes differs slightly for each product but is mostly the same. Note that if you open a document in the new iWork for iCloud, you may end up seeing a message notifying you that your file will be converted. You’re given the option to copy your document or open and convert the original. If you do so, Apple notes, you may lose some bits that aren’t compatible with the new format.

The new format, of course, was part of Apple’s overarching updates to iWork across all of its platforms including OS X and iOS 7. That’s now unified and the new apps, though shy on some features, are now in lock step. Apple recently announced several features that it would be adding back to iWork over the next few months, in response to some vocal criticism.