Why is it so ****** hard to make a watermark on Pages? I usually have to end up converting the file to Word, and then using their method, which takes two strokes. I like Apple because it simplifies things and looks beautiful, but in this case they fell down.
MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016)
The word “rant” is a lightning rod to draw the hosts to your post. You don't want that.
Apple never designed any version of Pages over the years to compete, or clone features found with Microsoft, or any other vendor's word processing application. So watermarks are something you normally create elsewhere and drag/drop onto Pages before moving them to section master.
The following AppleScript is limited by Apple's scripting definitions for Pages, so the best it can do is to automate creation of a watermark up to an intermediate stage, and the rest is user interaction with the application.
Tested with Pages v5.6.2 on El Capitan, and v7.0.1 with High Sierra 10.13.5.
set watermark to "Draft"
tell application "Pages"
activate
set newDoc to make new document with properties {document template:template id "Application/Blank/Traditional"}
tell newDoc
set locked of every iWork item to false
tell current page
-- a 4 x 6 inch (288 x 432 point) box with left upper corner at 1.25 x 3.5 in (90 x 252 point)
set thisTB to make new text item with properties {height:288, width:432, position:{90, 252}}
set object text of thisTB to watermark
set opacity of thisTB to 15
set rotation of thisTB to 45
tell object text of thisTB
set properties to {font:"Helvetica Bold", size:120, color:{0, 0, 0}}
end tell
end tell
end tell
end tell
And the resulting Pages document looks like the following:
Now, you must do the following manually:
Set Text Wrap to None
And finally, Arrange menu : Section Masters : Move Object to Section Master.
You can copy/paste the Text box from this document to another, providing you use Paste, and not Paste and Match Style in the destination document. You can export to PDF, and drag/drop the PDF into future Pages documents for use as an object section master.
The word “rant” is a lightning rod to draw the hosts to your post. You don't want that.
Apple never designed any version of Pages over the years to compete, or clone features found with Microsoft, or any other vendor's word processing application. So watermarks are something you normally create elsewhere and drag/drop onto Pages before moving them to section master.
The following AppleScript is limited by Apple's scripting definitions for Pages, so the best it can do is to automate creation of a watermark up to an intermediate stage, and the rest is user interaction with the application.
Tested with Pages v5.6.2 on El Capitan, and v7.0.1 with High Sierra 10.13.5.
set watermark to "Draft"
tell application "Pages"
activate
set newDoc to make new document with properties {document template:template id "Application/Blank/Traditional"}
tell newDoc
set locked of every iWork item to false
tell current page
-- a 4 x 6 inch (288 x 432 point) box with left upper corner at 1.25 x 3.5 in (90 x 252 point)
set thisTB to make new text item with properties {height:288, width:432, position:{90, 252}}
set object text of thisTB to watermark
set opacity of thisTB to 15
set rotation of thisTB to 45
tell object text of thisTB
set properties to {font:"Helvetica Bold", size:120, color:{0, 0, 0}}
end tell
end tell
end tell
end tell
And the resulting Pages document looks like the following:
Now, you must do the following manually:
Set Text Wrap to None
And finally, Arrange menu : Section Masters : Move Object to Section Master.
You can copy/paste the Text box from this document to another, providing you use Paste, and not Paste and Match Style in the destination document. You can export to PDF, and drag/drop the PDF into future Pages documents for use as an object section master.
Thanks for that reminder, I have * Nisus Pro but had not used water mark. It is has lots of options.
* I am in no way affiliated with Nisus, or receive any compensation or special consideration for mentioning their product here.
Thank you. Just seems like a lot to go through for a few well placed words.
I appreciate the heads up about the use of the 'r' word.
Look at that YouTube link
Since Pages is no Word clone, your options for generating a watermark in it are limited to the video that Sparkleberry provided a link too, my process, an entirely manual process in Pages, or your round trip to Word.
Of course, you could just use a different, non-Apple, word processing solution that does provide a simple interface watermark solution. For instance, Nisus Writer Pro (80USD) in the Mac App Store, or its free, fully functional 15-day trial from their website.
Using Pages 7.0.1, just export existing Pages documents to RTF, or .docx and Nisus Writer Pro will open them.
I am in no way affiliated with Nisus, or receive any compensation or special consideration for mentioning their product here.
Watermark rant
