Vertical line between columns

Question

Level 1

8 points

Vertical line between columns

Since upgrading to Snow Leopard, MS Word gives me so much grief, I finally made the jump to Pages. I've been generally pleased with the switch, but for this one issue:

In Word, I had the option to add a vertical line between columns for a newsletter I send out, but I can't find out how to do this without physically drawing a line down the middle of my columns. Does Pages also have this option?

Thanks for any help.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Nov 9, 2009 9:27 AM

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Answer 1

fruhulda

Level 6

15,167 points

Nov 9, 2009 9:36 AM in response to Maasman

Physically drawing a line? Do you mean crawl into the Mac and bring a pencil for the drawing? 🙂 😉
No, it was a joke!

1, You can use a line shape. Green shape in the tool bar.
2, Choose a line.
3, Rotate it by pressing command key and drag the end around. If you also press the Shift key you can make it turn exactly 90 degrees.
4, Elongate the line by dragging the ends.

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Answer 2

Nov 9, 2009 10:55 AM in response to Maasman

No, you must do this manually.

If you are doing this in a WP mode layout then make them master objects so they appear on every page.

Given the clumsiness of the way Pages works with Master Objects, you might blot out overlong lines with strategically placed white overlay boxes.

You do get all the spectacular fancy line features as compensation

Peter

btw Could you outline the specific problems you have been having with MsWord?

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Answer 3

Maasman Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 9, 2009 12:01 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Thanks for your help. I'll have to check out the line features. I'm still learning Pages.

Regarding Word, when I upgraded to Snow Leopard, on 2008 documents I had created, some of the fonts I had used disappeared or would only appear in certain specific sizes and when I changed the sizes, other fonts then would be all messed up. I think this may be a PostScript Type 1 issue, but I don't have time to really figure out what the other issues are. It also seemed more sluggish and would crash when closing the program or shutting down the computer. All these issues were not worth trying to diagnose as I found Pages didn't have any of these issues under Snow Leopard, so I'm starting the migration process. I've also started discovering the joy of OpenType, which Pages seems to handle wonderfully.

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Answer 4

Nov 9, 2009 12:18 PM in response to Maasman

Interesting.

I have only played with Word in Snow Leopard at one of my local Dept stores and it seemed pretty smooth.

I'll check out the issues you are reporting.

Pages has suffered font issues as well in SL, seems Apple has changed something fundamental.

Is Word not compatible with .otf fonts?

Peter

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Answer 5

Maasman Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 9, 2009 1:45 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

There's definitely something different with fonts in SL. Word is compatible with .otf fonts, but it doesn't seem to play as nice with the spacings and alternate characters as Pages does.

Thanks again for your help!

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Answer 6

fruhulda

Level 6

15,167 points

Nov 9, 2009 10:51 AM in response to Maasman

No there isn't. I did understand that and gave you a work around.

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Answer 7

Maasman Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 9, 2009 10:29 AM in response to fruhulda

LOL. Poor choice of words. What I meant, was is there a way to have Pages automatically put a line between the columns instead of my choosing a drawing tool and placing the line as a separate object.

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Answer 8

Maasman Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 9, 2009 11:53 AM in response to fruhulda

Thanks! Appreciate the workaround. I may just try and increase the size of my margins instead of playing around with objects.

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