underline, bold, italic not working

Yes, I have noticed the same issue and I started another thread about it.

It seems that for whatever reason, if there is already a paragraph symbol there, when you hit Command-B or U or I it selects the paragraph symbol. You have to "unselect" the symbol by pressing the left cursor key, then you can begin typing in Bold or Italic or Underlined.

If you go to the very end of your document where there are no paragraph symbols and THEN hit Command-B or I or U then you'll be able to do it the old way: Command-B and start typing immediately.

It's just kind of weird and annoying. I don't remember Pages working this way before. And Microsoft Word never worked this way. I also have the sense this is somehow related to the iOS version or the Web version of Pages.

Here's the thread I started yesterday, FWIW: Re: Shortcut keys for bold, underline, italics - how do they work?

A standard no-no in any word processing software is to start typing when something is selected. Not exclusive to Pages.

Blue paragraph (hard return) symbols (aka Pilcrow) only appear when you have not selected hide invisibles from your View menu. They certainly do not occur as a result of these font attribute keyboard shortcuts. Not in any release of Pages v5, and not in Pages '09 v4.3.

The act of enabling the font attributes via the command key does not of itself select content with a blue background, but a double, or triple-click does, as would dragging the insertion beam over text.

You can position your insertion pointer inside an existing (unselected) word, press command+B, and the entire word will go bold. Repeating this will unbold the word. Similarly, you can double-click on a word to select it, and then apply these keyboard shortcut attributes to effect only the selected word. You need to click once inside the word, or outside of it to deselect, or the next key press will wipe that selected content.

I have the same problem as the original poster. When I am typing a document in Pages, and I want to begin a new paragraph with bold, italics, or underline - the new paragraph symbol appears when I hit command B/U/I. This is not the blue new paragraph symbol that appears when you "show visibles" in the view menu. Rather, it is a new paragraph symbol that had the blue field surrounding it as though it has been selected. When I begin to type the line disappears. This is really slowing me down, and I would really like an answer. The initial person replying did not, in my opinion, understand the question. Thanks!

I am having the same problem. Viking, we are talking about typing new text, not selecting and applying after the fact. When we decide to begin a new word or line in bold or italics, we expect to use the command + B or command + I and keep typing. This is not working. What d-moore describes is what happens instead.

I've noticed that this happens in only some of my documents, and it seems to have something to do with documents created on the iOS version. (I could be wrong.) Something about the dialogue between the iOS and the Mac version may be triggering this bug.

That bug was in the earlier versions of Pages 5, I thought they had fixed it.

I just tested it in Pages 5.6.1 on OSX 10.11.2 and it it is worling correctly.

None of you have said what versions you are using.

Peter

Not from a template. This particular text was created in Pages iOS. It seems fine in every other way, but without bold or italics I can't use it. Too much hassle and am increasingly using Word (blecch).

Everything starts from a template, unless it was imported, even a blank template.

I am not having the issue so you need to go through steps to locate the cause.

It is possible it it stems from the iOS version of the document.

So you can try doing what you did to create the document but do it from scratch on your Mac using Pages 5.6.1 and see if the problem exists or not.

Sounds like you have hit another bug and suggest you report it to Apple with enough detail for them to reproduce it:

Menu > Pages > Pages Feedback

Peter

I created a brief document in iOS Pages just now. I used the "blank" template. I then opened Pages 5.6.1 on my mac and opened this new document. If I begin a new line (or paragraph), I cannot select bold and begin writing. The bug appears. Same with italics. I can use the keyboard shortcuts while in the middle of a line.

So, yes, this may well be a bug in iOS Pages that migrates to the Mac version. I will submit a bug report when I get the chance.

I have the same exact issue. I've been frustrated all semester while taking notes this year. I've spent so much time opening the toolbar in order to create bold text that I've missed crucial notes that I'm copying off powerpoint slides in class.

I'm using Pages version 5.6.1 (2562)

Selected only the text where you want to apply character attributes. If you also select a new paragraph ¶ mark as part of that target text, mayhem ensues.

I have the most updated version of Pages. I have OS El Capitan.

You still haven't told us what version that is, leaving us guessing what you think that is.

Peter

Pages 5.6.1

Mac OS 10.11.2

Exactly what I am using.

So what template are you using?

Is it converted from another version or from Word .docx?

Or from an iPad?

Anything else unusual about it?

Peter