abdullahfromcorvallis

Q: How to auto capitalize the first letter of every sentence

I'm using the latest version of Pages on OS Sierra and I'm trying to find a way to automatically capitalize the first letter of every sentence with no avail. I've been a Pages user for years now and every time a new update is announced all I care about is the addition of this simple yet important feature. So now that the new update is here I still can't figure out how to auto-capitalize and I can't find any work arounds online to help me do it. Any idea?

MacBook Air, iOS 10

Posted on Sep 25, 2016 5:08 PM

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Q: How to auto capitalize the first letter of every sentence

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  • by Peggy,Helpful

    Peggy Peggy Sep 25, 2016 6:12 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis
    Level 8 (38,947 points)
    Applications
    Sep 25, 2016 6:12 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis

    You can use WordService from DEVONtechnologies, free in the Mac App Store. You will then need to go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services & enable the ones you want. You can then select the text you want to apply the service to & go to Pages > Services & select Initial Caps of Sentences. It is also possible to assign a keyboard shortcut to services. Using this or any similar feature in any word processing application still won't pick up on words within a sentence that should be capitalized such as "I" or proper nouns. You'll also have the problem of it capitalizing words after the period used in an abbreviation.

     

    I do it the old-fashioned way, using the shift key when needed. It's good practice to learn to type using the shift key rather than relying on software to do it for you. Just like using a spell checker. It's good, but it won't pick up on words that are spelled correctly but not the correct spelling for the situation.

    Screen Shot 2016-09-25 at 17.48.29.png

  • by Barry,

    Barry Barry Sep 25, 2016 5:58 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis
    Level 7 (32,714 points)
    iWork
    Sep 25, 2016 5:58 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis

    "Any idea?"

     

    Learn to use the shift keys?

     

    Regards,

    Barry

  • by abdullahfromcorvallis,

    abdullahfromcorvallis abdullahfromcorvallis Sep 25, 2016 6:17 PM in response to Barry
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iWork
    Sep 25, 2016 6:17 PM in response to Barry

    Barry,

     

    Can you please not waste my time if you don't have something helpful to add?

     

    Regards,

    Abdul

  • by abdullahfromcorvallis,

    abdullahfromcorvallis abdullahfromcorvallis Sep 25, 2016 6:16 PM in response to Peggy
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iWork
    Sep 25, 2016 6:16 PM in response to Peggy

    Thank you Peggy. I appreciate the answer. I noticed online while searching for an answer that a lot of people are for some reason rigid about the idea of manually using the shift key. I get the benefits of doing that. I just don't understand why it's a big deal to so many people. Anyways, I'm transcribing interviews for my research and having to do it manually is a tad bit time consuming when you have to transcribe so much so I thank you for the help with the extension. I installed it but now I get the green line under every first word of every sentence indicating a grammar mistake instead of automatically capitalizing it. What am I doing wrong?

  • by PeterBreis0807,

    PeterBreis0807 PeterBreis0807 Sep 25, 2016 6:54 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis
    Level 8 (35,825 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 6:54 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis

    Barry is spot on.

     

    This has to be the classic problem that isn't a problem until you made it one.

     

    Peter

  • by VikingOSX,Helpful

    VikingOSX VikingOSX Sep 25, 2016 11:58 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis
    Level 7 (21,545 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 11:58 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis

    After three years of Pages v5 updates (and now v6), auto-capitalization remains absent.

     

    I used to recommend WordService, until I, and others observed that its Initial Caps of Sentences was also capitalizing other words in the sentence that were not capitalized before the service was applied. This created more corrective work for the end user. I contacted Devon Technologies about this, and they said that it was being looked into. It has been months, and no update to the App Store version of Word Service has occurred.

     

    I had a glimmer of hope when I observed in macOS Sierra that the System Preferences : Keyboard panel : Text panel has additional check boxes, including “Capitalize words automatically.” The caveat is that the application must be programmed to allow this feature, and Pages v6 has not received this intelligence as of this post. I tested it.

     

    I just use the shift key when I am not using Pages '09 v4.3, with its auto-capitalization solution.

  • by PeterBreis0807,

    PeterBreis0807 PeterBreis0807 Sep 25, 2016 7:38 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis
    Level 8 (35,825 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 7:38 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis

    To call out the real problem you musn't think your research is actually worthwhile if you are using Pages 6.

     

    Peter

  • by Peggy,

    Peggy Peggy Sep 25, 2016 7:58 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis
    Level 8 (38,947 points)
    Applications
    Sep 25, 2016 7:58 PM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis

    Did I not say I use the old-fashioned way of using the shift key? I just used more words than the rest of my learned friends here. I also went on to say that it's good practice to learn to do so.

  • by Peggy,

    Peggy Peggy Sep 25, 2016 8:00 PM in response to VikingOSX
    Level 8 (38,947 points)
    Applications
    Sep 25, 2016 8:00 PM in response to VikingOSX

    I've used WordService for years, but not for the capitalization of sentences. Even though I continue to use Pages 4.3 on a daily basis, I never realized it did auto-capitalization.

  • by abdullahfromcorvallis,

    abdullahfromcorvallis abdullahfromcorvallis Sep 26, 2016 12:00 AM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iWork
    Sep 26, 2016 12:00 AM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis

    So the simple answer is there's no solution to my problem. Why is it so hard for you people to just say that?!

  • by Barry,

    Barry Barry Sep 26, 2016 12:55 AM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis
    Level 7 (32,714 points)
    iWork
    Sep 26, 2016 12:55 AM in response to abdullahfromcorvallis

    Several solutions were offered:

     

    • Use Pages 4.3 (aka Pages '09) , which does include Fix Capitalization as a preference setting. If you used Pages '09, and have not removed it from your computer, it is still there, in a folder named iWork 09, in your Applications folder. Whether Pages 4 works under OS X v10.12 (Sierra) is a question I haven't yet seen an answer to.

    • Install Word Services, enable Initial Caps of Sentences, choose the service from the Numbers menu before saving your work.

    • Learn to use the shift keys. (i.e. make that use an automatic part of your process—just like pressing command-s every time you got up and left the keyboard was in the days before Time Machine.

    • I'd add to the first: Find an application that does offer auto-capitalisation. Pages 6 is not the only WP application for the Mac. MS Word, AbiWord, LibreOffice, Apache OpenOffice all offer this feature. There may be others with this feature as well.

     

    Regards,

    Barry

  • by VikingOSX,

    VikingOSX VikingOSX Sep 26, 2016 5:00 AM in response to Peggy
    Level 7 (21,545 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 5:00 AM in response to Peggy

    Perhaps I was too spartan about my WordService comment, as it has other features (e.g. sorting) that remain  practical to the Pages community. I just won't recommend it as an auto-capitalization solution.

  • by Peggy,

    Peggy Peggy Sep 26, 2016 8:57 AM in response to Barry
    Level 8 (38,947 points)
    Applications
    Sep 26, 2016 8:57 AM in response to Barry

    Barry,

     

    I've posted in several threads here in the last six days that Pages 4.3 & Numbers 2.3 have been working without issues for me in my everyday use in Sierra for at least the last two months.

  • by PeterBreis0807,

    PeterBreis0807 PeterBreis0807 Sep 26, 2016 11:25 AM in response to Peggy
    Level 8 (35,825 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 11:25 AM in response to Peggy

    Peggy

     

    There do seem to be a few posters here reporting major issues with Pages 6 in Sierra.

     

    I am not in a rush to stick my head in the noose, perhaps you can follow this up?

     

    Peter

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