How to make Pages' view jump to follow me as I type?

Is there a way to make Pages jump to follow my typing? It's annoying to have to scroll down because I can't see what I'm typing anymore after I've gone off the screen. Also, Apple apparently decided to take a page out of Microsoft's book and make the bottom line of text arbitrary so that if you start editing close to the bottom of a page, text will jump back and forth from the bottom of one page to the top of the other, and back again, depending on how much editing you're doing. That has always annoyed me when I've been using Word, so I don't know why Apple decided it was a good idea. Anybody know how to make Pages stop doing that?

Posted on Feb 6, 2014 2:14 PM

Reply
5 replies

Feb 6, 2014 9:20 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Pages 5.1, Mavericks, MBP mid-2010 I think.


There is no option to set the view to enlarge.


Sorry for not being clear, and I should have checked what I was saying, it wasn't quite accurate. When I'm typing, as I get to the bottom of the page and the text is about to go off the screen, the body of already-typed text only moves up one line, unlike in OpenOffice, where the typed text moves up half a page so that where I am typing is now in the middle of the screen. It's not the end of the world, but it is rather annoying.


Maybe I shold've also clarified that there were two separate issues here.


The second is this: when I have text that is split onto two separate pages, if I got back and do enough editing (add/take out words), the bottom line of one page will jump to the next page. If I keep fiddling with the text, this will only keep happening more. In Word and apparently now in Pages, that bottom line of text on the one page will skip back and forth between pages, whereas in OpenOffice it was stuck on the one page. I don't just mean that if I add enough text that the bottom line moves to the next page, obviously that will happen, what I mean is the end result is that a change of a single character can move a whole line from one page to another. I've never liked that Word did this, I don't know why Pages does now. Hopefully that is more clear. I meant "arbitrary" in that Pages and Word both seem to just change the margins of the page for no apparent reason or something, again I can't figure out why they do this. This is not an end-of-the-world issue either, it's a nuisance. But I'm supposed to be the one with the brain, I may not be a programmer but it is a big pet peeve of mine when my computer won't do what I want it to.

Feb 6, 2014 10:49 PM in response to jhstaff

jhstaff wrote:


Pages 5.1, Mavericks, MBP mid-2010 I think.


There is no option to set the view to enlarge.


Yes there is both in the View menu and Zoom top left in the Toolbar.


Sorry for not being clear, and I should have checked what I was saying, it wasn't quite accurate. When I'm typing, as I get to the bottom of the page and the text is about to go off the screen, the body of already-typed text only moves up one line, unlike in OpenOffice, where the typed text moves up half a page so that where I am typing is now in the middle of the screen. It's not the end of the world, but it is rather annoying.


Not excusing it, but merely a different behavior.


Maybe I shold've also clarified that there were two separate issues here.


The second is this: when I have text that is split onto two separate pages, if I got back and do enough editing (add/take out words), the bottom line of one page will jump to the next page. If I keep fiddling with the text, this will only keep happening more. In Word and apparently now in Pages, that bottom line of text on the one page will skip back and forth between pages, whereas in OpenOffice it was stuck on the one page. I don't just mean that if I add enough text that the bottom line moves to the next page, obviously that will happen, what I mean is the end result is that a change of a single character can move a whole line from one page to another. I've never liked that Word did this, I don't know why Pages does now. Hopefully that is more clear. I meant "arbitrary" in that Pages and Word both seem to just change the margins of the page for no apparent reason or something, again I can't figure out why they do this.


You have the Widows & Orphans options on, or Keep together. That keeps a certain number of lines on each page. Turn it off if it annoys you.


This is not an end-of-the-world issue either, it's a nuisance. But I'm supposed to be the one with the brain, I may not be a programmer but it is a big pet peeve of mine when my computer won't do what I want it to.


You need to look through the settings. Pages 5 does tend to hide them though.


If you had Pages '09 it should still be in your Applications/iWork folder.


Also LibreOffice [free] is an excellent alternative.


Peter

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

How to make Pages' view jump to follow me as I type?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.