Apple Pages
cannot drag thumbnails to change page order. thumbnail is orange but won't move
iMac 27″, macOS 10.13
cannot drag thumbnails to change page order. thumbnail is orange but won't move
iMac 27″, macOS 10.13
You can only drag to rearrange thumbnails in a pages layout document where each page is also a section. In a Pages word processing document (default), only section icons can be dragged and along with them any associated pages. You cannot arrange pages by dragging in a word processing layout document.
Thanks but confusing. How can I rearrange pages: make each page a section?
Understand the difference between Pages word processing layout (body text where content flows across pages) and page layout which has no body text, each page is its own section, and you enter text in Text boxes, which at your option, can flow text forward between Text boxes.
Intro to word-processing and page layout documents in Pages on Mac - Apple Support
When you create a new document in current versions of Pages, you have a choice of two types of blank templates, where I have added additional text for clarity:
You cannot revert your word processing format document to page layout without destroying your existing content. Never mind the File menu item indicating that conversion is possible. So, converting each page of a section to its own section is out of the question.
Moving pages around in a word processing layout is a royal pain, as one must copy a page to the clipboard, remove that page, insert a new page elsewhere in the same or another section, and then paste clipboard content back into that blank page. Not user friendly by any stretch.
Starting to understand, thanks. So, how does one rearrange a page in a word processing layout?--as you say, cut and paste? Or, use MS Word? Seems there must be a way.
PS I have a simple task: 6 page WP doc, rearrange last two pages, one w photos, into different sequence. Thinking about the next project so I do it correctly. Sometimes I want to rearrange page sequence as I edit.
Word 16.78 on macOS Sonoma has no convenience feature to simply drag thumbnails around in a word processing document either. You can view thumbnails in Word but do nothing with them.
LibreOffice Writer v7.6.2 doesn't even offer thumbnails for Writer documents. Mellel 5.1.6 does not offer page thumbnails. Softmaker's Office 2024 for Mac's TextMaker permits thumbnails but only for clicking to go to a different page focus, not rearranging the document pages.
So, there is no alternative bandaid to using Pages Layout mode for simplicity of page rearrangement. Otherwise, you are in a pickle of having to copy a pages content to the clipboard (or another blank Pages receiving document), selecting/deleting all content on the given page, plus another backspace to remove its page break. Then you will need to insert the new page in the section immediately after the page where you want it placed, then paste the clipboard content into it, or copy/paste the content from the other Pages document. In short, a PITA.
Apple Pages