Pages 5.5 Tables Bug?

Question

Pages 5.5 Tables Bug?

So I updated to Yosemite and upgraded iWork to the latest versions, which included Pages 5.5. Upon opening several different documents which I had saved in the previous version of Pages (5.2.2), I found that the tables in these documents were not displaying in the same way as they used to. The problem seemed to be that Pages 5.5 refuses to make a table that has too many rows for one page flow onto the next page. It simply moves the entire table to the next page.

I did a few tests with a new document created in Pages 5.5 with the following results:

1st Test: Created a new document, adding text to cover half of the first page, then inserted a table underneath. Increasing the number of rows to the point where the table no longer fits on page one causes the entire table to move to page 2.

2nd Test: With the same document as above, I increased the number of rows of the table until it could no longer fit on an entire page. Pages correctly flowed the table from page two to page three.

3rd Test: With the same document as above, I deleted the text and whitespace on page one. This forced the table back to page one, and Pages successfully flowed it to page two. But now, adding any text above the table on page one causes a bizarre result: the table moves down and the rows which flowed onto page two display correctly, but the first part of the table is entirely invisible. It isn't just a drawing problem, since zooming in and out does not help. See screenshot below (notice the row numbers are in the 30s, proving that this is the second part of the table).

4th Test: I saved the document to iCloud Drive and then reopened it. This results in absolutely nothing of the table being displayed, not even the second half. I have not figured out any way to make the table display itself. Opening this document on an iPad, Pages shows me the text on the first page, with the table flowing from page two to page three.

Anyone else noticing similar difficulties? I have documents that I had created in native Pages 5.2.2 format that were able to flow a table from one page to the next, so this looks a lot like a bug introduced by the 5.5 update.

Sincerely,

Alexander Dominic

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 12:39 PM

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Answer 1

machinex

Level 1

0 points

Oct 20, 2014 9:20 AM in response to Alexander Dominic

I have the exact same problem. I've tried everything. Looks like it's a bug we will have to wait for Apple to fix. The only suggestion I can make is to make your table follow right after your text. No paragraphs can be in between. So if you did your document in 5.2, and now 5.5 is breaking each long table onto the next page, highlight the paragraph indent after the text and delete it. That will show the table correctly.

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Answer 2

Oct 20, 2014 4:29 PM in response to machinex

Thank you for the workaround!!! I have to submit my thesis next week and Pages 5.5 stuffed up all my long tables and Table of Contents. And now that I've opened the document in Pages 5.5 I can't even go back to Pages 5.2. When I try to open the document in Pages 5.2 I get the error "You need newer versions of OS X and Pages to open this document".

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Answer 3

Oct 20, 2014 4:36 PM in response to machinex

Same problem here, no paragraph return between my text and table so no solution

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Answer 4

Insect

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2014 8:02 AM in response to machinex

I have the same problem as expressed on this page. Although your work around is functional, the problem remains if you want a space between a Table legend and the actual Table. This space (or two) may be required for certain manuscripts formatting by some publishers. Thus, your idea is okay in some circumstances but not in others. Therefore, as others have mentioned on this forum, APPLE PLEASE FIX THIS FLAW. How about actually hiring people who know about manuscript formatting to work on the team. GEEZ. (BTW, Yosemite is beautiful, but I don't need to waste time figuring out how to use an upgraded version of software).

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Answer 5

Oct 21, 2014 1:38 PM in response to Insect

I am absolutely in agreement with you that Apple has to fix this problem. I have many documents with text and and a table which then flows to another page, and these used to work even in Pages 5.2. I'm not sure why this is broken all of a sudden. We should submit this as a bug report to Apple.

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Answer 6

JaschaR

Level 1

5 points

Oct 22, 2014 7:25 AM in response to Alexander Dominic

Agree! This has to be fixed. Pages is a constant construction site. Please get the basic functions right! It actually sais that with the 5.5 update former Table problems were fixed.

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Answer 7

Oct 22, 2014 7:38 AM in response to Alexander Dominic

I have the exact same problem, and for some of the documents I use this is debilitating. Hopefully this has been reported as a bug to Apple, and they fix this quickly.

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Answer 8

machinex

Level 1

0 points

Oct 22, 2014 7:51 AM in response to Alexander Dominic

Just to let everyone know, somebody from iWork did contact me asking for a copy of Pages with the Tables bug. Ball is in their court now.

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Answer 9

Oct 22, 2014 8:04 AM in response to machinex

Great news, thanks for your help! Looking forward to the update...

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Answer 10

Oct 27, 2014 6:38 AM in response to Alexander Dominic

I think i found the reason for this behavior.

The tables are fine. It depends on a layout option that seems to be activated by default. In the inspector-panel is a "more…" There you can select the option "Avoid lonely lines" (dunno english term) When the section with the table is selected and you uncheck this feature everything is as expected.

Apple should change the defaults

See the screenshots attached.

Regards,

AW

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Answer 11

Oct 27, 2014 6:56 AM in response to Wolff-leipzig

I tried this, and it works great. Thanks!

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Answer 12

JaschaR

Level 1

5 points

Oct 27, 2014 7:11 AM in response to Alexander Dominic

It seems to be it, great!

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Answer 13

machinex

Level 1

0 points

Oct 27, 2014 7:53 AM in response to Wolff-leipzig

Thanks Wolff. You've been a huge help. The reason I never had this option was because I was selecting the actual table. For you to get the option, "Prevent window and orphan lines," select the table by clicking outside on the margin or on the text right above it.

Or if you have a bunch of tables throughout your document, it would be easier to go to "edit," then "select all," to uncheck this for everything.

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Answer 14

Oct 27, 2014 12:17 PM in response to Wolff-leipzig

Hi Wolff,

Thank you for your suggestions. I can also confirm that it works. The option in English is called: "Prevent widow & orphan lines".

I did a few basic tests to see how this option would affect the tables. If the option is turned on for a paragraph of text, and then you use the return key to add space between the paragraph and the table, then the table will be forced to the next page. If the option is turned off on the paragraph of text, then hitting the return key will correctly add space.

Interestingly, I found that if the option is off while you add space, and then turned back on, the table remains where it is. It is only actually added paragraphing between the text and the table which seems to trigger the behavior mentioned.

It still seems that there is something for Apple to fix here, but at least we have the solution to the initial problem. Thanks, Wolff!

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Answer 15

dPod

Level 1

35 points

Oct 27, 2014 5:08 PM in response to Wolff-leipzig

Thanks, Wolff-leipzig. This was driving me crazy in multiple documents.

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