My favourite shortcut in Pages is this:
Undo - Command+Z
On Macs it allows you to backtrack your changes - all the way to the last Save. In Pages it is particularly useful, because as you work on a layout you may sometimes follow a blind path - make change after change after change and end up hating what you've done. So, to go back where you had veered off, but not right down to the point where you opened a project in progress, you press Command+Z continuously - and start again. Or, in a simpler situation, you mess up something and quickly undo the mess-up.
To me this shortcut also has a deep philosophical meaning. It is somewhere between the magic time machine and the red stop button with which, in my opinion, all automatic devices, experimental projects and human brains absolutely must be equipped.
Whatever you do in life or on your computer - check first if there is an Undo (Command+Z) option or/and a red stop button. You will never regret you'd checked.
Important Update: Current versions of iWork/Pages allow Undo past the last save, not just upt to the point when the document was last saved. Unfortunately, it made redundant my second argument against building Auto-Save option into Pages.
Check this previous article:
Look after your hands: useful shortcuts
THANKS, IT WORKED!!!!!! all my words are back!!!
ReplyDeleteI would like to create a short cut to enter a commonly used bit of text, Any Idea how to make that happen?
ReplyDeleteDG
Doug, hi,
ReplyDeletethanks for suggesting this idea. I am not sure about the keyboard shortcut, but here is a work flow I've used a few times.
- Open a TextEdit file or create a new Sticky and type your frequently repeated text
- Select it (highlight)
- Switch to Pages and carry on until you need to insert the repeating text
- SWITCH TO STICKIES (CLICK ON A STICKY ONCE OR USE COMMAND+TAB TO ROTATE BETWEEN APPLICATIONS)
- CLICK AND HOLD ON THE HIGHLIGHTED TEXT (NOT ALLOWING THE HIGHLIGHTING TO DISAPPEAR) AND DRAG IT OVER TO THE PAGES DOCUMENT
- As you drag your selected text to Pages, green plus sign appears, which means Pages doc is ready to receive an insertion. Blinking insertion point in Pages doc shows where the text will go. Drag around to find exact point of insertion and let go of the mouse (release the button if you have one).
The trick here is, first, to master the one click only movement from one app to another to keep the highlighting on, and then, again one click-hold on the highlighted text to grab it.
Stickies are preferable, it's a very quick app specifically designed for short scribbles. And you can make a Sticky 'Float' on your screen, i.e. stay in front of all other open applications (under Note menu)
Of course, it would be a great feature if we had an option of two or more Clipboards - like you can have several Inspectors - store repeated text on one clipboard, use another for copy-pasting as you work on. But alas, it's not there.
Hope this helps.
I tried it and my document that I just spent two week typing just disappeared. It does keep putting this horseshoe/greek letter looking symbol though . . . .
ReplyDeletemmm, have you looked at the versions that Autosave may have created for you?
Delete