Is there any way to repeat the last action on a new selection?

I'm playing with Pages to see if I can use it instead of Word. I'm very expert with Word, just starting with Pages. Like some things, don't like some, but I think it's worth continuing to play with it to see if it will work for me. One problem I've been having is repeating an action. In Word, if you do something (in the particular situation I just had, it was deleting a row in a table), and then click on another place and do command-Y, it repeats what you did. Similarly, if you format a word as bold, say, and then select another word and do command-Y the second word will also be made bold. I realize the latter can be done in pages by selecting "emphasis" style for the second word, but I couldn't figure out any work-around for deleting the table rows (I tried selecting several non-adjacent rows, but "delete row" was greyed out on the actions menu). Any way to do this that I've missed?

Powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Aug 27, 2007 4:19 PM

Reply
6 replies

Aug 27, 2007 10:34 PM in response to Ric Donato

Thanks anyway. I'm sorry that Apple didn't include a "repeat" keyboard shortcut - going to the Inspector and then the actions wheel and then "delete row" time after time wasn't fun.

I'm afraid I failed to communicate well about outline format - I didn't mean a bulleted or numbered list, I do know how to do that, but rather making a single character (or in my particular interest a symbol, the diamond and heart suit symbols) appear in outline text format. You can do it by going to format->font->outline, but if I want to do it for several occurrences of the same thing (or a few different things), it's not much fun to do it that way. But maybe I can define a character format that's outline and that will work. Still would prefer to have a keyboard shortcut to apply the character format though.

Incidentally, while I'm talking about diamonds and hearts, is there any way to change the amount of space that gets put in after the diamond and heart symbols if you insert them using Edit->Special Characters? I write a lot of documents that use those symbols and lines end up unevenly spaced because of the large amount of space below each symbol (I've figured out a partial work-around - I defined a style for "body after suit symbol" that is raised enough to get the line spacing right, but that only works when I want to have a hard return at the end of the line with the suit symbols, since if the lines wrap, both lines have to have the same paragraph formatting. This problem isn't really Pages related - I have the same difficult with Word 🙂.

Aug 28, 2007 5:33 AM in response to JanM

Hi JanM,
Okay this time I'll dance faster...
Hope this helps:
1. Hold down the Cmd key (Apple key), highlight all the characters you want Outlined.
2. Click Format > Font > Outline, it will change at once all of those highlighted characters.

Did I win the cigar? Jan honestly I've tried, my brain now hurts, and I've danced really fast this time.

Have a pleasant day.

Sincerely,
RicD

Aug 27, 2007 5:41 PM in response to JanM

Hi JanM,
Welcome to the Pages discussions.
As for the MS Word command Y, in Pages using the Command (Apple Key) + b produces bold lettering, Command + I produces italics, and Command +u produces underline. Click the word in question then use one of the two key combinations aforementioned.

Also in Pages you can copy a style, the button is at the top of the Pages window.

The above may not answer all your questions but, it is my hope it better gets you up and running.

Sincerely,

RicD

Aug 27, 2007 8:20 PM in response to Ric Donato

Thanks, Ric, I did know that about formatting with command b, i & u, but what I was actually trying to repeat was a "delete row" from a table, and another time, using "outline" format on a symbol, neither of which is available (so far as I know) with keyboard commands. I wondered whether there was a way to do the same thing on several different words or table rows.

Aug 27, 2007 8:54 PM in response to JanM

Hi JanM,
Please excuse my misunderstanding of your question. I don't know of a way to repeat as you desire. One could use Inspector to increase or decrease rows. Or go to Format > Table > Delete Row(S), surely not as quick as a keyboard key combination.

As for the using "outline" format on a symbol" thingy, hum.
1. In the Inspector click the T
2. Click List
3. In the Bullets & Numbering choose Text Bullets.
4. A new box will appear where you can choose the type of bullet you desire.

Gosh I hope that's what you’re looking for.

Sincerely,
RicD

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Is there any way to repeat the last action on a new selection?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.