I use Pages iWorks '09 for editing purposes. I have created new paragraph styles in a document and removed unwanted ones, then used File > Save as template... to save the document as a user template.
To edit a document, I first open the original and then open a blank using File > New from template chooser... command.
- I then copy+paste the original text into the blank document
- Then I highlight everything and convert to Freeform style first prior to going through systematically styling the document. That makes it easier to style on screen as everything is 'background' 10pt font, 1.5 line spacing.
This is where the problems start:
The problem is, these issues are seemingly inconsistent. Sometimes Pages does one thing, sometimes another.
This is incredibly frustrating. After getting used to the different interface, I found I like Pages a lot. However, this kind of weird, inconsistent behaviour is driving me insane. It's sad that I cannot use Pages for 'serious' work like editing.
Any advice on preferences that need to be on/off, mistakes I am making, or what you think Pages might be doing with the styles would be much appreciated.
To edit a document, I first open the original and then open a blank using File > New from template chooser... command.
- I then copy+paste the original text into the blank document
- Then I highlight everything and convert to Freeform style first prior to going through systematically styling the document. That makes it easier to style on screen as everything is 'background' 10pt font, 1.5 line spacing.
This is where the problems start:
- One or two of the styles I created disappear from the styles drawer. Why?
- Many new styles are added from the original I pasted in. OK, fair enough, I assume Pages picks them up from the original Word doc. styles. I delete the ones I am not using, but some I cannot delete at all. Why not?
- Because of problem (2) I tried to redefine the styles I could not delete and then rename them. It works sometimes... but a lot of the time it then creates another unwanted style!
E.g., I typically cannot delete a style called 'Heading 2' (I have my own, Heading B). So I tried redefining Heading 2 it to the format I want and then renaming it to Heading B (after deleting my own style first). This worked once, but now Pages simply creates a new style 'Heading 3'. Why? I am not telling to do this. Can I switch this off?
The problem is, these issues are seemingly inconsistent. Sometimes Pages does one thing, sometimes another.
- I have tried pasting in plain text. Same issues.
- I have tried saving the template document as a blank file with just the styles. Same problem.
- I have tried saving the template with styled text, which I then paste over when I use File > New from template chooser. Still the issues occur.
This is incredibly frustrating. After getting used to the different interface, I found I like Pages a lot. However, this kind of weird, inconsistent behaviour is driving me insane. It's sad that I cannot use Pages for 'serious' work like editing.
Any advice on preferences that need to be on/off, mistakes I am making, or what you think Pages might be doing with the styles would be much appreciated.