Master Objects in Page layout

John,

I agree with you that Pages Help mentions that master objects can be used in both word processing and page layout documents. But it doesn't make sense to me. The whole point of master objects (also called +section masters+) is to get objects (photos and shapes) to repeat on every page of a section. That's very useful in word processing mode, where sections can be two or more pages long. But in page layout mode, each page is its own separate section.

Maybe someone else can think of a situation where page layout documents have multiple pages per section, but I can't. Or some other way to get master objects to repeat from section to section.

-Dennis

John,

I'll agree with Dennis, Page Layout doesn't need Master Objects. The "bug" is in the documentation, not the program. What happens when you come to the end of a page in Page Layout? You make another page. The program doesn't do it for you. The easiest way to make another page is to copy a previous page. Therefore, anything on a page that's copied ends up being a "master". Working in Page Layout is an exercise in planning ahead. You make your layouts, you make copies of them if necessary, and then you populate them with content. It's possible to re-create your layout each time you have to begin another page, but it's inefficient. Better to have a blank with whatever background, etc. you want and then copy it to become the next new page.

Regards,

Jerry

John,

Try this: click on the thumbnail of the page you'd like to repeat. Then click on Format > Advanced > Capture Pages. Now when you click on the Pages icon in the icon bar, your new page will be there. Selecting it will add it to your document. That's as close to a master object as you're going to get.

-Dennis

I'm not really sure why that's a poor substitution for a master page. You originally asked about creating a master object in page layout mode. Even if you could do that, it would simply repeat one object on the next page. That's hardly a master page.

-Dennis

I feel the need to chime in here, too. MANY times, when working with a "Page Layout" document, you may want one or more elements that remain stationary from one page to the next. These should be Master Objects. Then the objects could be altered (text edited, graphics replaced or moved, resized, and all of the pages using that template would change automatically.

The Idea of the Master Objects is perfectly relevant, and in our opinion needed, in Pages. Kind of a shop stopper for me, really.

Agreed. I am working on a curriculum and am needing several elements to repeat while others are completely laid out differently each page. I am then designing the page around the repeated items. I want to be able to update the repeated items (because I am creating a template) and chnage them once for all.

Master Objects needed.

I was hoping to use Pages for a relatively simple newsletter. Today, I started trying to learn Pages. What a disappointment! I wish to prepare a simple multi-page newsletter. master pages, and the ability to place small master objects such as logo's are important. The job really needs to be done in layout mode. And the Pages' limitation that there be one and only one page in each section of a layout document is a show-stopper. This seriously cripples the utility of master objects, and thus the whole Pages program.

To make matters worse, the Apple documentation is, I believe, very misleading. It clearly implies one can do things such as have different master object positioning in facing pages of a layout document. But, it appears one simply cannot do this with any degree of ease. (I've copied relevant text from the Pages Help documentation below, so you can judge for yourselves....)

Apple: you need to update this program, and until you do, you need to be sure the documentation accurately reflects what the program can and cannot do.

Someone please let me know if I'm wrong!

From the pages help menu: "You may want to add watermarks, logos, or other background images that appear in the same spot on every page of your word processing and page layout documents. These repeated graphics are called master objects.
If your document is divided into sections, you can put different master objects in each section. Within a section, you can put a different master object on the first page of the section and on right and left pages in the section. See Setting Up a Unique Format for a Section’s First Page and Formatting Facing Pages in a Section for more information."

alexofindy wrote:
Apple: you need to update this program, and until you do, you need to be sure the documentation accurately reflects what the program can and cannot do.

Someone please let me know if I'm wrong!

You are wrong. Trying to pass a request to Apple here is perfectly useless.
Here we are endUsers responding to other endUsers.

You must use the channel dedicated to this task:

_Go to "Provide Pages Feedback" in the "Pages" menu_, describe what you wish.
Then, cross your fingers, and wait _at least_ for iWork'09 😉

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE lundi 7 juillet 2008 10:21:57)

Fair enough. I did as you suggest.

alexofindy wrote:
I was hoping to use Pages for a relatively simple newsletter.

I am also preparing a newsletter (single sheet A4, two sides) and need what appears to be master objects, as follows. The newsletter will be printed in black and white, but printed onto a coloured template. This allows some colour in it while keeping printing costs down. So, I've used Pages to prepare the coloured parts, made a PDF of that, and sent it off to the printer. They can print that. This gives me the paper to put in the mono-laser printer. So far so good.

Now I want to prepare the text and black and white photos for the newsletter. Evidently, to have everything line up, I need to start from the Pages doc I already have, but now want to put the coloured items into a page master so I can overlay the images and text for alignment purposes.

Further, I want then to prepare a pdf which excludes the master items (which I then feed to my laser printer, using the preprinted paper). Is this possible?

I suppose a work-around would be to group and lock the coloured items, and after overlaying the text etc and aligning it all, I can delete that locked item, and create the PDF, and then undelete it. But that seems a bit of a hack. What Pages features facilitate this process?

Thanks,

I could easily see using Pages for book and newspaper layouts with left and right hand page masters as well as section/chapter heading masters. I agree that Pages doesn't have to compete with InDesign or Quark in feature sets but Master pages in page layout mode would be great. A larger question might be why are there two modes? Why not combine the two and have some real power.

ClothEars-2 wrote:
Further, I want then to prepare a pdf which excludes the master items (which I then feed to my laser printer, using the preprinted paper). Is this possible?

I suppose a work-around would be to group and lock the coloured items, and after overlaying the text etc and aligning it all, I can delete that locked item, and create the PDF, and then undelete it. But that seems a bit of a hack. What Pages features facilitate this process?

Why is this a hack? I'm unclear what other options would take any fewer steps -- even having things on separate layers would still entail selecting the layer, making it not visible, and then exporting the PDF.