iWork Pages: Aligning text to left AND right on same line?

[Erwin-Br]

Hi there,

I have a simple question. I have one line of text. I want to align the first part of this line to the left, and the second part to the right. How do I do this in iWork Pages?

In MS Word, I would simply select the last part of the line and click the "align to right" button. But when I do this in Pages, it aligns the ENTIRE line to the right.

Am I missing something? And please, don't tell me to use a table, or to use tabs as workarounds.

 

[Brammy]

Does "justify" do you what you need?

I don't know how that works on a single line.

 

[Erwin-Br]

Does "justify" do you what you need?

I don't know how that works on a single line.

Unfortunately not.

 

[Tonerl]

Could you create a one-row, two column table with invisible sides and put your text in the "cells" thus created, justifying each cell separately? This works in MS Word.
HTH

 

[reclusivemonkey]

I think the effect you are refering to is where you have a right aligned tab all the way to the right, so as soon as you hit tab the text will go to the right. Unfortunately I don't have Pages so I don't know how you would do it in there but I would explore you tab options.

 

[OrganMusic]

That's one thing I miss MOST OF ALL about having to leave wordperfect behind when I switched to mac. In WP you just do "flush right" but in every other word processor I've ever seen (word, OOO, nisus, abiword, etc) you have to fool around with right tabs.

I don't have Pages either, but I would hope you can make a right tab in there. If not, you'll just have to do the old <Tab> <tab ><tab> <space> <space> <space> <space> <space> until your text goes over there. Which is a horrible way to do it.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Of course you can add a right-tab in Pages, but the OP doesn't want to be told that's how it's done.

 

[OrganMusic]

that's how it's done.

It's just sad that that's the only way of doing it in virtually all current word processors. Who wants to have to fool around with tab settings to do something so simple?!

 

[IJ Reilly]

It's just sad that that's the only way of doing it in virtually all current word processors. Who wants to have to fool around with tab settings to do something so simple?!

Personally, I don't see the problem. Alignments should be set with tabs. The way Word does this seems counterintuitive.

 

[OrganMusic]

Personally, I don't see the problem. Alignments should be set with tabs.

perhaps but the Flush Right function in wordperfect is about 3 fewer steps

 

[IJ Reilly]

perhaps but the Flush Right function in wordperfect is about 3 fewer steps

A shortcut for every function imaginable -- not necessarily a feature.

 

[MacDawg]

Am I missing something? And please, don't tell me to use a table, or to use tabs as workarounds.

It is not a workaround
It is how you actually format precisely and specifically

It's just sad that that's the only way of doing it in virtually all current word processors.

So every word processor got it wrong?
Seems like if all current word processors do it... then it is the standard

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[OrganMusic]

My point is that WP is the only program it's easy to do in -- with one keystroke; it's a shame that the way with tabs IS the standard.


Is there a way in Ooo (or Word etc...), with macros perhaps, to setup a hotkey that automatically sets a center tab in the center and a right tab on the right margin, based of what the current margin or column settings are? That would at least reduce it down to two keystrokes.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Can I make an alternate suggestion? Set up a paragraph style to do what you want in Pages -- then, any time you need that alignment, it's a click away.

 

[TheAshMan]

Cut me a break

I see some people here giving this person a hard time which is unfortunate and smug. If you don't know the answer to a straightforward and legitimate question, don't pollute the thread with your comments and useless observations. I am looking for the exact same command/solution and have to wade through all the smart aleck remarks.

It is a key formatting feature that is so easy in WordPerfect, Alt+F6. You could do that on a left or center aligned line and it interferes with nothing, just let's you get your work done the way you need it.

Of course in Pages is completely hidden, not in Help or anywhere in the toolbars. Ridiculous. We should have to wade through 5 steps to enable this.

 

[TheAshMan]

Personally, I don't see the problem. Alignments should be set with tabs. The way Word does this seems counterintuitive.

The tab alignment method works, but it is tricky, try this procedure, it worked for me in Pages 2009.

* Turn on View Ruler if not visible

* On a new or existing line click in the ruler to set a tab.
A rightward pointing triangle appears on the ruler, this is a left-aligned tab stop.
* Right-click the triangle and select right-tab
The triangle will change to leftward pointing indicating that it will align from the right
* Drag the new tab all the way to your right margin, taking care not to drag it off the ruler (which deletes it in a cloud of smoke)
* Type text on your line using left alignment. When you press tab key it will "flush right" the rest of that line unless other tabs precede it on the ruler. If so you can delete the ones in the way of the last one. The behavior continues for every line after that. If you want to stop the behavior, just drag the triangle off, but don't sweat, all tab stops and settings on prior lines will remain.

 

[axemred]

Hi there,

I have a simple question. I have one line of text. I want to align the first part of this line to the left, and the second part to the right. How do I do this in iWork Pages?

In MS Word, I would simply select the last part of the line and click the "align to right" button. But when I do this in Pages, it aligns the ENTIRE line to the right.

I had the same problem with Pages. It was pretty much the only thing I hated about Pages.

Here's my "Import Workaround" to get the job done. It sounds stupid but is actually the most effective method I've found:

1. Create a Word document with a single line that is formatted to "flush-left / flush-right" to your liking.
2. Import this document into Pages by dragging the file onto the doc icon.
3. Voila, Pages formats it exactly how it was in Word.
4. Copy and paste the line as a template for whenever you need the flush-left / flush-right format.
5. Keep in mind this will only work with the original imported document. For frustrating reasons I don't understand, copying the properly formatted line into another Pages document will result in losing the flush-left / flush-right formatting.

The fact that Pages supports this after importing indicates that the software clearly has that format built in somewhere. It's super annoying that this isn't made available to the user to set up themselves. Still, I much prefer this Import workaround over using tabs (I found that the tabs actually don't align uniformly to the right, so if you try to "Flush Right" using tabs, the result is quite sloppy).

Hope this helps. It's a shame Pages isn't better in this particular area, but it's superior in so many others that I've decided to keep using it.

 

[sracer]

I had the same problem with Pages. It was pretty much the only thing I hated about Pages.

Here's my "Import Workaround" to get the job done. It sounds stupid but is actually the most effective method I've found:

1. Create a Word document with a single line that is formatted to "flush-left / flush-right" to your liking.
2. Import this document into Pages by dragging the file onto the doc icon.
3. Voila, Pages formats it exactly how it was in Word.
4. Copy and paste the line as a template for whenever you need the flush-left / flush-right format.
5. Keep in mind this will only work with the original imported document. For frustrating reasons I don't understand, copying the properly formatted line into another Pages document will result in losing the flush-left / flush-right formatting.

The fact that Pages supports this after importing indicates that the software clearly has that format built in somewhere. It's super annoying that this isn't made available to the user to set up themselves. Still, I much prefer this Import workaround over using tabs (I found that the tabs actually don't align uniformly to the right, so if you try to "Flush Right" using tabs, the result is quite sloppy).

Hope this helps. It's a shame Pages isn't better in this particular area, but it's superior in so many others that I've decided to keep using it.

Why did you register with this forum today only to resurrect a 7+ year old thread?

 

[axemred]

Why did you register with this forum today only to resurrect a 7+ year old thread?

Nice to meet you.