How to highlight object behind other objects in Pages?

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Level 1

103 points

How to highlight object behind other objects in Pages?

(using Pages 11.2, on M1 Mini running Big Sur 11.5.2)

I'm very familiar with Pages and use it daily for creating flyers/posters/docs. The one thing I've never figured out is how to access an object that is behind a few other objects (in order to edit it).

In Keynote (v11.2), there's this brilliant "Show Objects List" column (⌘-⇧-L) which allows one to do exactly that, select any object regardless of depth and edit it.

Is there a trick to doing this is Pages?

Thanks for ideas.

Posted on Sep 29, 2021 7:18 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,458 points

Sep 29, 2021 8:04 AM in response to braintoniq

I would start with selecting all objects and from the Arrange panel, set Text Wrap to None (if you haven't done so already).

Pages only understands two layers: foreground and background, so if you have objects on the background layer, your choices are to click a piece of them for selection or select the obscuring object(s), and from the Arrange panel, select Back/Backward to expose the former background object for the edit. Then send it back/backward when done with the edit.

There is no facility in Pages to list your document objects, making their arbitrary selection more difficult via the Arrange panel. You are welcome to send the Pages product team your direct feedback about the need for this feature (using Keynote as an example) from the Pages application menu.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,458 points

Sep 29, 2021 9:15 AM in response to braintoniq

Or consider a proper vector design tool whose layers are visible at all times. Affinity Designer is a non-subscription product and $50 in the Mac App Store. There is a free trial from the vendor site. It is what I use instead of Pages or Keynote, despite their free nature.

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Answer 3

braintoniq Author

Level 1

103 points

Sep 29, 2021 8:21 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks, Viking. This is the process I've used, too. The tricky part is when there are 3 more layers, and getting the layers back to their correct position. But it does work. I'll give feedback to Apple on this idea now, especially since they already have the great Object layer feature in Keynote. (one of my ideas now is to simply use Keynote for much of my design work, instead of Pages)

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How to highlight object behind other objects in Pages?

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