Pages Style changes not working as expected

Question

Pages Style changes not working as expected

I'm finding in Pages on a mac pro that when I change a detail of a paragraph style, some ripple through to all the other instances of the paragraph style but some do not. For example; starting from a new blank document, I add a couple of paragraphs with the Heading style. Click on one of the paragraphs and change the font size in the Format side bar and the other paragraph also changes font size. And the style title gets an * and the Update button pops up.

But if I change the 'Bullets & Lists' option from 'None' to 'Numbered' then only the selected paragraph changes. The style title does not get a * and the Update button does not appear.

A bit of experimenting shows that it looks like anything in either the 'Spacing' or 'Bullets & Lists' sections is not actually included in the paragraph style.

All you can change is the font. Which pretty much defeats the purpose for having styles at all!

I've tried this on a mac pro (late 2013) running macOS 12.7.6 and Pages 13.1 and an iMac running macOS 15.0.1 and Pages 14.2

Compare this behaviour with Microsoft Word where changing the numbering does get applied to every paragraph with the same style. Not surprising that Word is more popular than Pages.

Mac Pro, macOS 12.7

Posted on Oct 29, 2024 7:09 AM

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Answer 1

zaazo

Level 1

62 points

Oct 29, 2024 7:15 AM in response to RatleyRambler

In Pages, not all formatting elements are linked directly to paragraph styles—particularly features in the "Spacing" and "Bullets & Lists" sections, as you noted. These settings need to be adjusted individually or through a separate list style.

To make the change apply across all paragraphs, try this:

Create a List Style: Set the Bullets & Lists option, then click Update in the sidebar to save it as a new list style. This should apply to all paragraphs that use that list style, but not the general paragraph style itself.
Apply Style Consistently: When applying styles, select the updated list style alongside your paragraph style for consistent formatting across the document.

For further guidance, here’s the Apple Support page for managing styles in Pages: Create and use paragraph styles in Pages.

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Answer 2

Oct 29, 2024 7:31 AM in response to zaazo

Hi zaazo. Thanks for your suggestion. I just tried it out and unfortunately it does not work

Firstly if you click the Update button, it updates the existing style. To create a new one based on the changes, you have to click in the Style box and then select +

But having done that, only changes to the Font get carried through to other instances of paragraphs with the same style.

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