Create an ePub on your Mac with iWork Pages

You can now create ePub ebook files directly within Apple software thanks to a recent iWork update to the Pages app. The iWork update brings Pages to version 4.0.4 and includes functionality to export documents as ePub format, to do so you will just use the Share menu and select “Export” with EPub now being a selectable output format.

You can get the iWork and Pages update through the Software Update control panel. This is highly recommended for Mac authors and content creators if you’re looking to ever publish something in the ePub format. ePub is the standard for the iBooks store on iTunes and the preferred ebook format for iPad, iPhone, and many other digital readers.

This is a great addition to Pages because before you would have to convert to epub using a third party tool, which works fine but ultimately it’s always better to be able to directly export to a format rather than convert.

If you don’t already own iWork, it’s a pretty decent office productivity package that rivals the Microsoft Office suite with a good word processor, spreadsheets, and presentation app. You can buy iWork on Amazon for $49 which is about 40% cheaper than the Apple Store. My only complaint is that the spreadsheet app isn’t quite as powerful as Excel.