Desktop items disappear when Pages is in split view on MacBook Air

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Level 1

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Desktop items disappear when Pages is in split view on MacBook Air

I am using a 2026 M4 macbook air.

I am taking screen shots of a PDF document which I want to drag into a Pages document.

The screen shots go to my desktop.

When I open Pages which is set to half screen on the left of the screen all the documents on the desktop on the right of the screen disappear. So I cannot drag the document to Pages.

When I close Pages all the documents on the desktop come back. but I can't drag the documents to Pages because pages isn't on screen anymore.

I would be grateful for advice on how I set up the Mac so that when I open the Pages in half screen I can still see the documents that I have saved to the desktop on the right hand side of the screen and drag them to the Pages document

Thank you for your help

Posted on Sep 10, 2026 4:14 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Level 10

129,668 points

Sep 10, 2026 4:47 AM in response to BillyBobGoat

When you press and hold the green traffic light on the opened Pages document, select the left-most icon under move and resize. That will place Pages on the left side of your screen and leave visible content on your Desktop that you can then drag and drop into the Pages v15.3.1 document.

You can also drag and drop thumbnails from a PDF viewed in Apple's Preview directly onto your Pages document when you need to do that.

Tested: Pages v15.3.1, macOS 26.6.2, M4 Mac Mini Pro with LG 32UN880-B display.

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Answer 2

BillyBobGoat Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 10, 2026 5:54 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you Viking. I'm very grateful for your response.

I am using the green traffic light and the left hand choice and setting the split page to the left, but when Pages is open all of the images on my desktop disappear. As soon as I close Pages, they will come back again to the desktop. I have no idea why this is happening. This does not happen with my Mac mini but that is not to hand at the moment.

Your suggestion of dragging from the PDF has been very helpful. I have successfully been able to Preview the PDF and then just drag across the pages of the PDF document into the Pages document.

However, I am encountering a glitch. Something which I notice that a lot of people seem to be having problems with.

The PDF document has two pages. When I transfer the first page over to the Pages document I am able to select in the arrange section that I want this page to move with text. However, I cannot do this with the second page of from the PDF document. In the case of the second page the option to choose "move with text" blanks out and is not available to me.

I am experiencing this over and over again when working on Pages documents. Not just with pages from PDF documents, but with photos too. Some things that you transfer over can successfully be categorised as "move with text" but others cannot because the 'move with text' option is not available.

I am using Word processor mode and not the layout page mode and so that distinction is not the problem.

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

129,668 points

Sep 10, 2026 6:12 AM in response to BillyBobGoat

Generally, I do not use the green traffic light approach to position a Pages document window on the left side of my screen. One can simply drag the open document window there.

You can only drag and drop one PDF thumbnail at a time onto Pages. Selecting two or more, followed by a drag/drop only copies the first thumbnail. Pages can only display one PDF page per individual document object.

I have no issue separately dragging and dropping the first PDF page onto an opened Pages document, followed by the separate action on a subsequent PDF thumbnail. However, that second page will become the foreground document object in Pages, overlaying the first object if care is not taken to separate them.

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Answer 4

BillyBobGoat Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 10, 2026 6:04 AM in response to Yellowbox

Thank you for adding in a graphic Yellowbox. That is exactly what I am clicking to create the split Pages screen.

When I select Pages so it is on screen, all of the images on my desktop on the right disappear. When I close Pages, they all come back again to the desktop.

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