Five Power Tips for Apple Pages
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2024
- Apple's Pages word processor is remarkable -- but it tries to hide what it can do. Here are five power tips for getting a huge amount out of this excellent writing app. PLUS: the winners of the OmniOutliner contest. Join the Writers' Mailing List: eepurl.com/gQTq...
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If you didn't win OmniOutliner, get it for yourself right here: www.omnigroup....
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you mentioned word perfect! oh my! I used that software in the long lost time of mouse-less computers. I was so good at it, had ever shortcut at my finger tips. And after all those decades I can still wax nostalgic. Thank you very much for your entertaining tips. I‘ll have another look at omni too.
Thank you. I miss WordPerfect - even the Mac version, which wasn't brilliantly received. I wrote manuals for a computer firm in the 1980s and one day we came in to find that WordStar was gone and WordPerfect was in its place. We all shrugged and carried right on. A few months later, we came in one morning to find WordPerfect was gone and Microsoft Word was in its place. And we all struggled mightily.
I go back and forth between Scrivener and Pages (for novel/short story writing). Currently using Pages, because I like the simplicity.
I wish I knew why I pick Scrivener or Pages, I mean, I like them both very much but what is it about a particular idea or a specific project that means I have unthinkingly chosen one over the other?I I can't even see a pattern to it. But as long as we have two great tools and as long as we do the writing, I'll live with my questioning of myself.
The best tutorial ever. Thank you so much ❤
Thank you, that's very good of you to say.
William, thank you for sharing these tips. Two things about Pages. First, I tend to write my novel drafts with Ulysses, then port the final draft to Pages to share and comment with my editors. Word processors are not my go-to apps for first drafts and story shaping. Second, I find Pages far better than Word because of its plain interface. I find I spend much less time having to manage the app itself than I did with Word. Pages is great for simply getting on with my writing. Enjoy all your TH-cams. Cheers.
Thank you, that's very good of you to say. I used to very eagerly wait for each new edition of an online book called "Bend Word to Your Will", which was all about working around Word's oddities. One day I just thought this was the daftest thing I was doing, and have only used Word since when I've had to.
Like many, I been using Macs for years but never really 'got' Pages or Numbers because at work we were exclusively Word or Excel users. Now I am semi-retired, I'm using it more and loving it for many of the reasons you give. Thanks for all the informative and entertaining videos - look forward to more in 2022. Merry Christmas Sir.
Thank you - and merry Christmas to you and yours too. Odd thing; I’ve always had a lot of time for Excel, far more than Word. I don’t know if it’s that I put up with its foibles or it just has fewer. But Numbers tremendous.
Hi Mr. Gallagher, my name is Matthew. First off, ty for the videos as I’ve just begun to watch and enjoy them. However, I’M LOST! I have aspired to be an author for years and believe the talent to do so is there. In life, I believe I now have the ideal situation to do so as I am now out of the garage and stay home to care for my severely disabled son and my wife afflicted with MS. My 2 other autistic children are currently attempting to conquer life and are out of the house. It’s difficult being home all the time and am attempting to create a routine and environment conducive for writing and one thing I have a surplus and abundance of is ideas for writing. However, tech has passed me by as I long for the days of ms-dos. Initially, I tried to jump in the deep end using Pages and word along with a few downloaded apps but drowned in the depths. I’m now watching tutorial after tutorial and seem to be confusing myself even more. I know once I get started properly, the levies will break as wave upon wave of books will crash upon the shores of many viewers. Is there any way you can throw me a life preserver to save and guide me? Ty again
Yes. Open Pages again and start writing. Forget everything else, all the apps and tools, because you can come to them later: remember that I've been doing this for thirty years so while I enthuse about a huge number of apps and tools, I found each one as I came to need them. Technology is a boon, but it isn't a shortcut, writing is always and forever one word after another.
I, too, started with Word Perfect, and found it, well, Perfect. Now getting ready to start on Hot Keys, per earlier discussion, and wanted to start this next Pages ebook with gusto and gain more knowledge before muddling forward. I really did not know what I was doing a month ago, but you got me started. Sticking around for the inspiration...or avoidance in starting, whichever.
Phew. I felt the pressure there on "inspiration" but I can do avoidance, I can do avoidance very well indeed.
This was *so* useful -- as heretofore I *have* just nipped in to Pages to write this or that ... but this has opened up Possibilities. Thank you, William! (More in this general vein is welcome ... as you say, Apple isn't best about getting in one's face with tips, tricks, and recommendations.)
I agree - more on Pages would be nice to see. For instance, it was only this evening I figured out how to specify the next paragraph style. In the "blank" template, if you write in style Heading, when you hit enter it changes to Body style.
As it turns out, you do that with the "following paragraph style" in the "more" category in the format inspector.
I'm sure I'm only seeing half of Page's features, and there are probably things about styles I'm not aware of.
For example, when I first started using styles I would use a second newline to separate paragraphs. Far better to set the spacing between 'graphs in the style and never use two carriage returns. That way, you retain document-wide control over the layout.
Pages is obviously very polished coding.
Thanks, that's very good of you to say. And I was noodling over certain other Pages ideas but wasn't sure about them: I am now, there will be more Pages to come. Thank you.
I knew about these Pages features and yet I was still surprised the other day when a novelist mentioned that's what she writes in. Got me thinking. Now you're making me think more.
Thank you Mr. William wonderful effort. From now on I will be using Page.
Excellent, Do let me know how you get on with it.
regading # 2 - Putting page numbers in header and footer... you can either click in footer (after adding your pages to the header with the button) and go to the INSERT menu to insert the page number or the page count... you can also just select and copy the x pages of x from the heade, copy and paste into the footer and it will increment properly
Thank you.
You mentioning Word Perfect for Dos reminded me of a Barrister I used to work for, who still used WordStar up until the late 90s!
I can well believe it. I wrote for a company in the late 1980s that required me to use WordStar and I thought it was fine. Until one day, they did some deal that meant WordStar was deleted and WordPerfect was in. A whole group of us, caught by surprise one Monday morning and then shrugging, just getting on with the work and finding WordPerfect was so much better. Flash forward a few months and some other deal way above our department meant WordPerfect was deleted and Microsoft Word was now required. A whole group of us trying to fathom out how to use that thing. So much harder to transition to that WordPerfect had been.
Thank you for the Video, I plum forgot all about how useful Pages is. My only Apple devices years ago was first gen MacBook and first gen I-Pad mini. Now I got Mac Mini, base model and it smokes all my windows devices, I-Pad Pro, and an older MacBook Pro that is solely for DAW and photo edititing. My I-Pad Pro is my portable office now and although I have have used word a bunch over the years, I to also like the clean layout of Pages, just have to go get the feature I want to use and then back to a clean page to create on. Apple is just a simply strong work horse that gets the job done every time. Again, thanks for the video, you got a new like and suscriper.
Thank you. DAW is Digital Audio Workstation, right? And your old MacBook Pro is good for that? Take a look at the 58keys interview I did with musician Des Tong: he's using a MacBook Pro from a few years ago and is very interesting about it: th-cam.com/video/ji9XA0ZV38M/w-d-xo.html
Good food for thought - most enjoyable. I need to look at Pages again.
There is actually a way to obsess over the page count. The "insert page number" button gives formatting options, but there is also Insert->Page number and Insert->Page count for more manual presentation, either in any or all of the header/footer regions or in the text itself.
Oh! Fantastic: I did not know that, thank you very much.
@@WilliamGallagher It was a chance find, but it works. I tested it in all six header/footer regions starting with a simple "1," progressing through various stages of frustration to "Dadgummit, Jim, I'm Page 1, not a bricklayer!!"
I wasn’t a lucky winner. 😏
Oh well. I enjoyed this video anyway. I use Pages a lot, especially on iPad. You’re right that it’s underrated and too often overlooked.
If I could buy everyone OmniOutliner, I so would.
This was very helpful. I started with WordPerfect 5.1 back in the DOS days then moved to Word 2.0 (I think) when Windows 3.1 came out. I have since seen the light, moved to a Mac, but have continued to use Word, mainly because I am comfortable with it. This video has shown some of the features I need but have never bothered to figure out. I just might make the final jump over to Pages now. It appears I can still save it as a .docx file for my colleagues who use Word which is needed.
I didn't enter the OmniOutliner competition because 1) I never win anything, and 2) I already have it. If you ever quit singing its praises, I will be happy to pick up where you leave off. Truthfully, all of the OmniGroup apps are excellent. I still need to become more proficient with OmniGraffle and am running a trial of OmniPlan for a project now. I suspect I will open my wallet and buy OmniPlan too, once the trial expire.
You use even more Omni apps than I do! I've never quite got to grips with OmniGraffle, although I have used it for work. OmniPlan is great but I so rarely have something that needs both a lot of work and a lot of other people, so I tend to stay in OmniFocus. One thing about saving as Word's .docx, though: try it out first. In theory it works and I've sent hundreds of Pages documents to people in Word format, but there have been a couple of times when it's failed. Usually it means they're on some extraordinarily obscure version of Word, or they're actually on LibreOffice and don't want to say. But send them one as a test and if it works, you're fine.
I followed a similar path. I started with WordPerfect 5.1, then moved to Word 2.0 and Windows 3.1. I thought Word 6 was impressive. Word 2007 was the last time I was in the Word camp.
Oddly, I've never used Pages. When I got a chance to use a Mac, I jumped straight to Scrivener.
Although William has never sent me any documents, I totally admit to using LibreOffice. I use the Calc portion mostly, but I think it's a nice application. I like that LibreOffice uses the old menus so you can see what's available. It doesn't feel too overwhelming or too spartan.
As far as outlining, I'm still a fan of TaskPaper. Not as powerful as OmniOutliner, but it has solid features.
If you want more outlining features, Notion is an interesting application to look into. It has outlining, To Do, Lists, and some project management.
@@PeteWilson1313 I remember giving Word 6 for DOS a good review because it was mostly great. But there were some issues. Apparently Microsoft's PR firm read my list of questions before sending them on to (not ever be) answered and were bracing themselves for a very, very bad review. Whatever it was that wasn't working, it was big and serious and I covered it, but overall that was a good word processor. I'm not sad I've left all of that behind, though.
@@WilliamGallagher I will certainly try .docs from Pages first. Fortunately, what I usually share with others are relatively simply documents, with little to no special formatting.
I also don't have a lot of major projects, but being engineer by training, I like playing with that sort of stuff, which is another way of saying, that's how I chose to procrastinate (in addition to watching your videos, several of them multiple times).
@@PeteWilson1313 I'm a Scrivener fan and use it as well (learning more about it everyday). Word/Pages is mainly for correspondence and relatively simple documents. Had forgotten about Word 6 but yes, that was perhaps the last version that worked well without a lot of bloat.
This is my first of your videos. It was like sitting in your front room having a chat. Marvellous. However, my comfy jumper is more comfy that yours.
Oh, now, come on: my comfy jumper is probably bigger than your comfy jumper. So there. To infinity. No comebacks. Thanks: that’s the kind of feeling I want, that it is just you and me talking.
Any idea if there is a way to have a photo ‘ jump the gutter’ and do a two page spread?
No. You'll need something like Affinity Publisher to do that kind of layout
Character count!! That is what I routinely need and it is nowhere in sight.
You've seen the word count, right? (View menu, Show Word Count.) When that lozenge-shaped icon is up with the word count, you can click on it to change to showing characters, pages and chapters.
I'm sure I could learn stuff from you, William but I just subscribed because you're adorable.
That has entirely made my day, thank you.
@@WilliamGallagher Oh good. You should raffle off a writing retreat prize to your subscribers. Whoever wins gets to hang out with you in your place for a week, drink tea, write and yell over to you now and then with a question.
@@vandaloo But I'd have to tidy up! Actually... you've got me thinking... I've done live webinars for other people and enjoyed them hugely. Do think I could do a live 58keys session, I mean one that might be useful?
@@WilliamGallagher I'd love that! What would have enormous value for me would be a webinar called 'I Hate Pages' where we get to commiserate with each other about what we miss when we worked in Word, and what we can't figure out, even after Googling ... Then you could raise your hand and proffer: "But, but, it's quite simple actually, you see ..." You know how you do.
@@vandaloo I can see that Pages discussion getting as loud and angry as, well, some Word discussions. There was a man at the BBC who only swore once in the ten years I knew him and it was a turn-the-room-blue tirade about Microsoft Word. The whole newsroom could do nothing but nod in agreement.
Thank you so much for prompt reply, I have copy and pasted one para into a new doc without any clarity, could I email the page to you ?
Sure, but I’m away until Tuesday, I’m afraid. Send to wg@williamgallagher.com.
Hi William, not sure if you monitor old video comments but I'm struggling with a Pages 'feature' or lack of. I cannot for the life of me find a way of setting up a letterhead template for my Parish Council that has a logo layout on the first page only but reverts to standard margins from page two onwards? I'm sure it has something to do with section breaks but cannot find the solution. Any thoughts at all?
Yes. It's such a common issue that I knew the answer immediately - but such a fiddly one that I had to go look up the steps. Is the logo on the first page definitely in the document's header? If it is, then yep, you're right, there's a section break after page 1. If you don't certainly need section breaks - you're not changing anything else through the document such as page numbers - then you can delete it and replace it with a regular page break. However, if you do need sections then click on page 2 - the first without the correct logo - then open Pages's Document control (the icon at very top right of the document screen), then click Section. Under Headers and Footers there's a bit called Match Previous Section. I suspect that hasn't been ticked. If I'm right and you now tick it, the logo will be in the header in this section too. Do be a little careful because whoever set up the sections in the first place may have chosen to not tick Match Previous Section and have some reason that you'll only see when you've ticked it. You can untick it again, though. And you can add the logo directly to the header in each section, one after another, if there was a reason. Would you let me know what happens?
I much prefer pages. I just can’t, for the life of me, figure out how to format a picture for epub. The image is never where I initially put it.
Epub is shockingly poor behind the scenes, I think. We read plenty of ePub books that seem fine, then when you try to make one, it's alchemy. I presume you've tried tying the image to the specific part of the text it relates to, rather than positioning it on a specific page, yes?
@@WilliamGallagher yes. Looks like I am going to have to use another editor unless I want to make it fixed instead of moveable. Fixed just sacrifices so much aesthetically as compared to moveable.
Can you lock stuff so it does not move around?
Yes: support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/pages/tan5eab46568/mac
Darn it, also didn't win, congrats to the winners! And I'll have to give pages another go. :)
Sorry!
How do I get rid of those little red dots under a creative word?
The most useful way, I think, is to select the word -- tap and hold on an iPad or iPhone, right-click on a Mac - and choose “Learn Spelling” from the menu that appears. That will add your word to Pages’s dictionary and it won’t red-underline it again, but it will still continue pointing out actual typing mistakes. If you want rid of all red underlines, you can turn off spelling correction. On the Mac, you choose the Edit menu, then Spelling and Grammar, then untick “Check Spelling While Typing”. On the iPad, there’s no similar feature, you have to turn off spell checking for everything. Go to Settings, Keyboard, and turn off Check Spelling.
William I am in hell at the moment, I have tabbed text but I can't get the second line to line up... any hints on the second line?
The odds are that there is a margin change between the first and second lines. Not the width of the page but the tab stops. With the ruler showing, if you cursor down line by line you’ll probably see something move on that ruler. The usual answer for this and really any formatting problem is - if you can face it - selecting all, copying, then opening a new document and choose Paste and Match Style from the Edit menu. That will strip out all formatting, which is fine when it’s a short document but possibly painful if it’s a whole book and you need to slog back through adding the formatting that you need. Would you let me know what happens? I can’t think of anything else but maybe cleverer people than I can.