Selecting objects in pages

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Level 1

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Selecting objects in pages

Hi I've been using appleworks for nearly 20 years to create all my maths textbooks - Each page has clip art, textboxes, tables and diagrams. Sorry to see Appleworks is unstable 10.6 and I hear not supported in Lion which now means I can no longer upgrade since I have thousands of documents and files in Appleworks

I need to be able to select lots of floating objects in Pages (100's) without selecting the whole document. It takesoo long to select 1 at a time and with drop shadows is impossible. In Appleworks you use the selection tool and drag it over the objects. Is there a similar tool in pages ?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 22, 2011 2:29 AM

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Answer 1

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fruhulda

Level 6

15,161 points

Oct 22, 2011 5:39 AM in response to tomstrang

Selecting several floating objects can be done in several ways, or at least in two.

1) select one object > press and keep pressed the shift key and click on aditional objects so they get selected too.

2) Widen the window so you see the grey background. Click on it. Click and hold down and drag over the objects you want selected

I hope this helped.

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Answer 2

tomstrang Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 22, 2011 6:05 AM in response to fruhulda

Thanks fruhulda

Thats ok for a few objects but on some of my pages I have hundreds of pieces of clip art - circles, text windows, clip art etc. Also with shadow boxes, I can't quite grab the hidden shadowed object easily.

In Appleworks, I could choose the selection tool and drag it over the objects I want.

There does not appear to be a selection (of graphic objects) tools or have I missed it ?

Tom

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Answer 3

tomstrang Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 22, 2011 6:08 AM in response to tomstrang

Sorry fruhulda

I did not read your suggestion properly

It works !!!

Thank you very much

Tom

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Answer 4

fruhulda

Level 6

15,161 points

Oct 22, 2011 6:47 AM in response to tomstrang

It is OK, I have also problems reading sometimes. I blame my aging eyes, dirty glasses etc. 😁

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Answer 5

tomstrang Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 22, 2011 9:12 AM in response to fruhulda

Thanks again.

One more question if I may.

I'm used in Appleworks to creating a textbox and colouring it say bold and black.

Then I duplicate it, change the font to red and sit it on top but slightly displaced giving a shadow effect.

Can't seem to do this in Pages as when I move the 2nd textbox to lie on top of the first, the first box moves or disappears

Any reason why and how can I resolve this.

Thanks

Tom

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Answer 6

fruhulda

Level 6

15,161 points

Oct 22, 2011 9:21 AM in response to tomstrang

You have to uncheck Object causes wrap in the Wrap tab in the Inspector.

A tip is that you hold down the Cmd key when you place the boxes.

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Answer 7

tomstrang Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 22, 2011 9:51 AM in response to fruhulda

Amazing

Thanks again

Have been using Appleworks for 20 years and know it inside out. Since it is not supported in Lion and is unstable in 10.6.8, I am going to have to learn how touse Pages. It is less intuitive though.

Ta

Tom

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Answer 8

fruhulda

Level 6

15,161 points

Oct 22, 2011 11:02 PM in response to tomstrang

Tom, I found it was a learning curve to master learning Pages but a lot was dur to that one was so used to how it worked in AW. You not just have to learn to do something you have to RElearn.

If you like to do graphical stuff have a look at this blog. http://i-work-in-pages.blogspot.com/

Alex is creating quite a few things in Pages.

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