Add Page is not adding the new page to the bottom of Document

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Add Page is not adding the new page to the bottom of Document

Add Page should add a page to the bottom of the Document but instead, it inserts itself at the top pushing the 1st page down. If I add another page it does the same again - the new page goes to the top pushing the other two down; i.e. it's doing the opposite.

Couldn't figure it out so opened thumbnails as the user guide said we can move the pages around, but it's not letting me move thumbnails and thereby the pages around. When I right-click there are options, like cut, paste, duplicate and delete. If I select the new page I don't want and 'delete' the first page I created gets deleted instead.

Something can't be right with this.

I'm on an M1 mac mini and the latest version of Ventura

Mac mini, macOS 13.2

Posted on Mar 25, 2023 12:58 PM

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Answer 1

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VikingOSX

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Mar 25, 2023 1:45 PM in response to armaroque

If you have chosen the optional page layout format for Pages, then each thumbnail is a section and also a page and these can be rearranged, added, or removed as you wish via the thumbnails.

By default, Pages is in word processing mode, not the page layout mode, and thus, there are sections with their own pages, and only those entire sections can be moved around via the thumbnails. When one clicks the first page of a section its thumbnail will be a bright blue and the thumbnails representing the pages of that section with have a dim blue background. You cannot move a page from one section to another, but you can rearrange the order of the individual section thumbnails. Attempting to use any of those right-click thumbnail menu items from this mode of a Pages document can lead to loss of all your document contents.

See Pages User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Mar 26, 2023 4:25 AM in response to armaroque

Recent versions of Pages offer a Blank (word processing) and Blank Layout (layout mode) template. Choose the latter to initiate that type of new Pages document. Unlike a word processing document, there is no auto-flowing body text and all text must be contained in single or linked text boxes. You will know when you have opened a Layout mode template as the Document panel will not have a Section or Bookmark tab, and Document Body will not be selected.

What template are you using? Are you collaborating on a document someone else has created? Is your Accent color in System Preferences set to Graphite?

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Answer 3

armaroque Author

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Mar 26, 2023 2:22 AM in response to VikingOSX

VikingOSX wrote:

If you have chosen the optional page layout format for Pages, then each thumbnail is a section and also a page and these can be rearranged, added, or removed as you wish via the thumbnails.

Where or how do I do that?

I just opened a bank page document and started with the default settings.

When I click on a thumbnail it highlights as dark grey and I can't re-arrange their order.

Also, any idea why "Add Page" is not adding it to the bottom as the next blank page but instead inserting it to the top pushing the first page down?

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Answer 4

armaroque Author

Level 1

15 points

Mar 26, 2023 8:07 AM in response to VikingOSX

VikingOSX wrote:

Recent versions of Pages offer a Blank (word processing) and Blank Layout (layout mode) template. Choose the latter to initiate that type of new Pages document.

AHA! ...I hadn't noticed and wasn't aware of that distinction.

So, I was using 'document' although I was using text boxes anyway for the written parts.

What about "Blank Landscape"? That doesn't seem to have a 'Layout' version

What template are you using? Are you collaborating on a document someone else has created? Is your Accent color in System Preferences set to Graphite?

I'm starting with blank layouts.

Not collaborating or working on something already created by someone else.

The accent color on my macOS was Graphite! I didn't even know but that explains why the thumbnails were highlighting as grey. I've just changed the color in Systems Preferences and now the thumbnails are reflecting that system wide change.

Now, that I opened a blank layout when I add a page it is getting added to the bottom as it should be and I can now drag and drop the thumbnails around, thus changing the page sequence if need be, although it's not needed now that the pages are getting added on properly at the bottom.

However, it's still not doing that in the document which is weird and wrong. I'm turning every stone over to see whether there is some preference enabling that but I can't find anything.

The Blank Layout is at least an improvement and means I can use it again for my projects although, because I'm using images, the Blank Landscape was a nice format as it gives me the width to do the images justice it behaves like blank wordprocessing with the same misbehaviours

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Answer 5

Mar 26, 2023 8:39 AM in response to armaroque

Open a Blank Layout template. Visit the Document panel and click on the Landscape orientation icon. Now, from the File menu > Save as Template… Add to Template Chooser with the name LandScape Layout. This will now appear in the Template Chooser under your custom My Templates category.

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