why, when I copy and paste a shape are the rest of the pages in the doc being deleted?

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why, when I copy and paste a shape are the rest of the pages in the doc being deleted?

I am trying to add an identical formatted shape below the first formatted shape, but when I select, copy, paste, it is deleting the following pages of the doc. If I'm not careful, I will lose the rest of the doc. What is going on?

If I select the shape I want to copy, it is outlined in blue and under Arrange the Group/Ungroup options are greyed out.

There is plenty of space for the new pasted image on the page and I just click below the original image being copied to paste it.

And sometimes there is this thick blue line at the top of the page when copy/paste -> dissapear. What is that?

Also, a pasted object always defaults to Inline instead of Floating, so a new image snaps to a grid. Anyway to change that?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 18, 2013 11:30 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 18, 2013 11:47 PM in response to kokoiii

1. The Inline image is not snapping to a grid it is acting like a character in the text.

2. To make the image floating first command click off the side of the page away from the text

3. It sounds like you are copying nested tables from the Internet which contain the images.

Try dragging images from web pages to your desktop first to shake off the formatting in the web page.

It might help to construct your page with image boxes and drag the images to those, by default they are placeholders and you can make them floating if that is what you want.

To duplicate anything option drag it.

Peter

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Answer 2

kokoiii Author

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Feb 18, 2013 11:59 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Thanks! I really like the Command + Click to make it Floating and the Option + Drag alernative to copy paste.

So, I don't really need the Copy Paste function anymore, but it seems pretty basic, so why would it delete the rest of the doc?

I am just copying a shape inserted from the Shapes on Pages so that there is a copy of it right underneath it. Nothing Crazy.

I was doing it by:

select shape to copy (this is a plain white box with a few words of text, not crowded)

two-finger tap the selected shape

select Copy

click in the empty part of doc

two-finger tap in empty part of doc and select Paste

And the duplicate shape would appear but two pages of the doc below the current page would disappear.

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Answer 3

kokoiii Author

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Feb 19, 2013 12:09 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

And now, I am selecting the new shape from Option + Drag and clicking Floating, and the rest of the doc disappears.

So, I try to delete that image, since it is Inline and sitting in an unwanted position in the doc, but the rest of the doc will disappear in the same way. Now I have this box that I can't put where I want and can't delete without losing 2 pages underneath it. I just don't know why a new shape is connected to the two pages below it and then why moving it makes it delete those pages.

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Answer 4

Feb 19, 2013 12:49 AM in response to kokoiii

Sorry I didn't notice that you are on iOS.

There are two kinds of Pages documents, Word Processing and Layout.

Word Processing documents have text on every page that automatically flows on to the next page if it does not fit on the current page. A page only is shown on screen if it has text on it. Floating objects don't count.

If you have a complicated set of objects with wrap pushing text out of the way and text being consequently pushed over to the enxt page, odd things can happen as that text, which includes invisibles like returns, spaces, tabs, page breaks etc push over to the next page or flow back to previous pages as you move objects and make room for the etxt or not.

Layout documents, do not auto flow from page to page. Each page is an individual section and things stay where you put them.

It sounds like you may be better off using a Layout template for your work. Choose one from the Template/Document Chooser.

Peter

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Answer 5

fruhulda

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Feb 19, 2013 4:45 AM in response to kokoiii

If you are on an iPad there is a forum for iwork for iOs that can help you how it works on the iPad.

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Answer 6

kokoiii Author

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Feb 19, 2013 8:16 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

I am not using iOS or an iPad, just the touchpad an a macbook pro.

Wrap is not checked for any part of the doc.

It is in Layout mode, not Text.

The test in the shapes is all contained in the shape, with no extra return at the bottom and no plus sign in the bottom handle saying it does not fit.

The only thing I see is that the objects are over the margins, but when I go to inspector to decrease the margins so everything lays inside, it deletes the last two pages the same way.

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Answer 7

Feb 19, 2013 8:38 AM in response to kokoiii

It definitely does not sound like you are using a Layout mode template.

Everything indicates that you are using shapes in a Word Processing template.

And that you do have wrap set on your objects.

What was the name of the template you used?

Peter

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Answer 8

kokoiii Author

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Feb 19, 2013 9:03 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

Ok, you're right! Duh, it is WP, Sorry! 😊 I just saw a blank one v the text one and assumed...

Is there an easy way to switch to Layout then?

I had to select all the shapes on one page, copy from original (WP) doc, and paste onto new (Layout) doc, one page at a time.

Because, if I copy all from old doc and paste onto new, all four pages ended up on top of each other on the first page of the new doc. This is even though I inserted four pages on the new doc.

Otherwise, thanks for answering all these tedious Qs. Just changing to Layout made it better.

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Answer 9

Feb 19, 2013 9:23 AM in response to kokoiii

There is no simple way to convert Word Processing to Layout other than copy and paste.

You can copy all the objects on a page and paste them across.

Text you will have to do separately. You will need to link textboxes across pages to have the text flow in Layout mode.

Peter

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