How do set Letter size paper as default document size?

Question

Level 1

10 points

How do set Letter size paper as default document size?

Hi,
I need all my documents to be US Letter sized, but every templete I have tried comes with A4 as a default paper size. When I switch to Letter many elements get displaced due to the different size. Is ther a way to set the templates as a US Letter deafult size?

Note: in my printer default settings I have already checked US Latter for all printers.

iMac Power PC G5, Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on Nov 27, 2007 1:28 PM

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Answer 1

DennisG

Level 5

6,520 points

Nov 27, 2007 1:49 PM in response to freshy

freshy,

Pages looks at the language you set in System Preferences in order to determine correct paper size. If you want U.S. letter as your default, make sure you have U.S. English at the top of your language list.

-Dennis

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Answer 2

freshy Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 27, 2007 8:55 PM in response to DennisG

Hi, thanks for the reply.
I do have English as the first language on my languages list. I normally have my keyboard set to Spanish, but even if I change it to the US English setup (the keyboard that is) but I still get the A4 format.

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Answer 3

Peggy

Level 8

41,847 points

Nov 27, 2007 9:34 PM in response to freshy

I'm not sure it would make a difference, but what is the default paper size set in System Preferences > Print & Fax? It also might take quitting Pages, logging out & back in or, even, restarting your Mac for the changes to take effect.

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Answer 4

Bekins

Level 3

734 points

Nov 27, 2007 9:58 PM in response to freshy

The language isn't the setting which affects (paper size).
It's the region under *System Preferences* > International > Formats.
I believe that most of the region settings will cause Pages to default to ISO paper sizes (such as A4).
The only ones I know of which result in US Letter are *United States*, *United States (Computer)*, and Canada.

If all you care about is the paper size for new blank documents, you can always save a custom template with your preferred page setup, use that, and not touch your system settings.

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Answer 5

freshy Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 29, 2007 9:55 AM in response to Bekins

You're right, the US English setting changes the default size of the templates to Letter, which is what I was going for. But still, I would think Apple shoud allow me to customize the paper sizes regardless of the region I use. It also changed my date formats but what'cha gonna do? It's one or the other right? Oh well... thanks for your answer anyway!

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Answer 6

Nov 29, 2007 10:40 AM in response to freshy

I agree with you I use a custom date format and I have to change to US letter every time.
Not user friendly.

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Answer 7

L M

Level 3

679 points

Jan 16, 2008 9:30 PM in response to Bekins

Well I'm learning Irish, so I want to set the date/calendar language to Irish/Gaeilge (Sys Prefs-->International-->Formats-->Region-->Irish-->Ireland), but I want to use Letter paper for templates (not A4).

If I go into the International settings, even if I change Measurement Units to US, Pages still uses A4 paper size. Is there really no way to get this to work except to use US as the Region? That's unfortunate. I guess Apple can "póg mo thóin", or a Hiberno-English translation would be "pógigí mo thóin". 🙂

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Answer 8

dobes918

Level 4

1,446 points

Jan 17, 2008 5:12 AM in response to freshy

I write in US English and want my dates in US format (being American!) but I live in Europe and need A4 size paper. So -- I opened a new blank document and chose my usual font and font size, etc. Then, in File> Page Setup I chose A4 size. Then I went to File>save as template, named it A4 Default, and saved it. I then made it my default template.

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