Keyboard shortcuts on this blog

Do many of us remember - or want to remember - the time before mouse? We used to do everything with just the keyboard, didn't we? There was an ad that had stuck in my memory from the seventies when the mouse first appeared: 'If you can point a finger, you can type'. Well, we've come the full round and re-learn the importance of keyboard.

Here is the list of my blogposts about various shortcuts I find particularly useful in Pages. A long list of shortcuts sits under Pages Help menu. And another comprehensive list of shortcuts is in System Preferences>International>Input Menu.



The usefulness of most shortcuts is self-evident, for example Command+S - Save. With many others it is not clear why you might need them and where they could be useful. That's why I scribbled notes about the ones I particularly liked while working in Pages.


Click on the label (tag) iWork Pages keyboard shortcuts or useful shortcuts to see all articles on this topic.

My top Pages shortcut: the undo
Health and Efficiency: three serious reasons to work with both hands
Look after your hands: useful shortcuts
Undo-Redo Shortcut: Zap To And Fro
How to design folders (about send backwards/bring forwards shortcuts)
Keyboard shortcuts: Hide and show invisibles and layout
Screenshots in Mac OS
What to do when picture wrapping pushes caption out of the text box - about Bring to Front shortcut
How to empty Trash (wastebasket) with locked files
Rose cover: simple tricks with photos
Mac-mouse equivalent of the 'right-click'
Colour Palette shortcut
'Up folder' shortcut on Macs
Valentine's clipart and graphics - uses for Command+D, Send to back and Screenshot key-shorts.
Use Preview to update repeated formats - how to use define as media placeholder short, select all, open file and open a selection of files.
Skip to my Lou: how to select random files

Say No to Autosave

Read more in my new book 'iWork for Mas OSX Cookbook' (2012)

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Apple blossom photos by ©A.Anichkin/Rendezvous Media

Up folder shortcut on Macs

I've been working on Macs since 1991 - almost without breaks, but in several jobs I had to switch to Windows, just because that was what was in the office.

Switching from Mac to Windows and back was surprisingly uncomplicated. Although I think working on a Mac is easier - and  more enjoyable - I found the 'up folder' option in the Windows toolbar very useful. It looks like this:



and allows you to jump from the folder you are currently in straight to the bigger one - in which the first one sits. This makes it easier to navigate through a large project where files are sorted in many different folders.

It took me some time to discover that Macs have the same option, except that it's a keyboard shortcut, not a toolbar or menu option. Press Command and hit the up arrow:


It's also useful to open quickly your Home folder from the Desktop. Many Macusers don't realise that Desktop in OSX is just another folder on your machine. When you switch on your Mac and all the folders are closed, you can, instead of going through the Finder menu, just press Command and hit the up arrow.

Please read this earlier article on why it is important to use keyboard shortcuts.

Three easy ways to send Pages as email attachments

1. ZIP - compress to .zip
2. DMG - as disc image
3. STUFFIT - compress through Stuffit

1. To save your Pages document in .zip format just resave it typing .zip after the name of the file, but before the .pages extension, if it is not hidden. Choose Save as... from the file menu (or use the keyboard shortcut: Command+Shift+S) and when the dialogue window opens, type .zip.

2. To create a disc image (.dmg) file out of a Pages document, resave in the same way as above, but type .dmg after the name of the file.

3. To stuff your Pages document, launch StuffIt and drag your file over the programme's icon.

After doing this simple operation you can attach your Pages document as you would with files created in other programmes.

You may find that the first two options are more attractive, if you have to email Pages documents often, because StuffIt is a paid for application.

And, of course, all this only makes sense if your correspondent also has iWork/Pages to open your document.

If not, try these three easy ways of sending out Pages documents in non-iWork formats:

1. MAIL PDF - command+P to open print dialogue window. Click on PDF in the bottom left corner. Choose Mail Pdf. Your Pages document automatically converts to PDF format of a mailable size and attaches to a new email message. Fill in the address and message, send. This option is preferable if your correspondent is to make comments to the document. Acrobat allows making comments on PDF documents.

2. MAIL JPEG - open print dialogue window, click on PDF and choose Save PDF to iPhoto. Your Pages document converts to JPEG format. Then, in iPhoto click on the Mail icon and send out your JPEG. iPhoto has an option of reducing the JPEG file for fast loading.

3. PNG SCREENSHOTS. A quick and fun way of sending out smaller Pages documents or documents in work, because screenshots show guides, invisibles and open Inspectors. The keyboard shortcut to make a screenshot is Command+Shift and hit 4. Cursor turns into crosshairs, drag it to select the area for a screenshot, let go of the mouse (a no-buttons macmouse) and, after a camera shutter sounds, you get a PNG file on your desktop.

If you want a screenshot of just one particular open window, document, Inspector or open folder, press Command+Shift, type 4 and then hit the Space Bar. Move the cursor over the window (it will highlight) and click to get the screenshot in PNG format.

The ease of sharing files in a networked environment is one of the main considerations for businesses and offices when they choose a productivity suite - with a word processor, presentation and spreadsheet programmes. With low cost, striking templates, ease of use and full integration with other applications which come preinstalled on Macs, iWork may be an attractive choice.

Please check these other articles on I Work in Pages:
How to send iWork Pages as mail attachments
Sending out Pages documents
Quick JPEGs straight from Pages

Sharing and teamwork in iWork/Pages

When picture wrapping pushes caption out of the text box

It often happens that a high setting for wrapping of a photo squashes or entirely pushes out caption placed in a text box underneath.

Reducing the wrapping count of the photo will bring text back inside the box. But you may want to keep it high for design purposes, for example to set the main body of an article flow farther away from the picture.

One easy way to solve the problem is to

bring the Text Box to front

Select the text box and bring it to front under Arrange menu. Or use the keyboard shortcut:

Read about my favourite shortcut here and why your left (non-mouse) hand should be used for keyboard shortcuts and not to hold a cigarette or a coffee cup here

'Blue Stickies'? Don't panic!

New features in iWork/Pages 2008 greatly enhance the programme, but sometimes they pop-up quite unexpectedly and may confuse those who are used to working in a previous version of this programme...

Just as we were rushing to meet deadlines for the July issue of the Rendezvous magazine, there was a moment of panic when Pages threw up clusters of BLUE STICKIES on my partner's computer demanding that she rejects or accepts the changes made in the document. I myself had the same mild shock last month when I first saw how Tracking Changes works, so I already knew what to do.

Under Edit menu go down to Turn off tracking
or click Stop Tracking in the tool Bar

Tracking Changes feature is useful when several people work on a project created in Pages. A journalist writes copy, editor edits it before it is put into a page, designer puts text and graphics together and sub-editor makes changes necessary from the lay-out point of view etc. Or a business proposal is prepared and goes from one department to another, or minutes of a meeting are prepared and moved for checking and approval from one committee member to another. Or costings are calculated and recalculated with charts and graphs added...

Click on Cross button to reject the change,
or click on Tick button to accept it.
This closes the blue stickie.

At each stage there is a possibility of a typo, an error or a disagreement within the team. With tracking each member of the team can see what and where was changed. It is also very useful for proofing. From my correspondence and from discussions on the internet forums I know that smooth teamwork is considered to be essential when deciding whether to use iWork/Pages as the main working software in an organisation. And where a team works tracking changes and commenting on the document is necessary.

However, in many cases, when you work on your own, you don't need tracking and it could be distracting. That's when you may want to switch tracking off.

Tracking works in a similar way to Comments feature with yellow stickies where you just comment on a part of the document without actually changing anything.

Another example of Pages panic is here
and an overview of various methods of sharing and teamwork with Pages,
including local networks and mailing, is here.

Last minute corrections - use patchwork.

Last week the designer who works with me was travelling in Italy when the proof reader discovered a few typos in the page which was supplied to me as a PDF module originally created in Illustrator. (There are types of PDFs which Enfocus PitStop can't get into!) I couldn't get through to her and had to correct the typos by superimposing text boxes over the text, matching the colour, the font and filling the box with gradient colour fill to match the background (top image shows the word rendez-vous spelled the French way, correctly, image below shows the text box with corrected part of text ready to be moved into position).


The simple technique of using patches always helps when you need to make last minute minor corrections in photographs, graphic images and text. Here is how it works:

- create a Text Box (or Object), type in correct word or letter sequence, adjust font and point size to match the original, set Stroke (frame) to none (image at right);
- uncheck wrapping in the Wrap Inspector;
- under Arrange menu make sure your patch is at the front: slide down to 'Bring to front';
- resize the text box so that it doesn't clip adjacent letters or lines. If you find it difficult to resize the box by dragging box handles, try doing it through Metrics Inspector. It allows discreet millimetres - down to tenth of a millimetre;
- move the patch to cover the text which needs correcting to align with the rest of the text - with keyboard arrows first. Then, if the patch does not align exactly, use Metrics Inspector to adjust coordinates - x for horizontals and y for verticals. Keyboard arrows move objects by the typographical point, but in Metrics Inspector you can move objects by the tenth of a millimetre;
- go to Object inspector, choose colour fill or gradient fill. Using the magnifying glass (loupe) in the Crayons window of Colours Inspector match the object colour fill to the background colour. Hide layout and invisibles to check if your patch matches the background and covers the corrected text.

Patchwork technique is very flexible and could be used for improving minor problems with photos and other images. But I suggest treating this as a quick fix rather than as a standard solution.

However, looking back, I see that over the past two years I've used patching many times to enhance photos or adjust them to layout requirements. Here are two examples.

1. There was a crease in the Marmite&croissant studio photo for our launch issue cover (image on the right, before patching). I put two patches - gradient colour filled objects on both sides of the marmite jar. Matching colour fill of an object is done as follows.

- in Object Ispector choose Gradient fill;
- click on one of the colour bars and when the colour well opens (crayons) click on the magnifying glass above/left of the crayons box (keyboard shortcut to open the colour well any time: Command+Shift+C).
- The cursor turns into the magnifying glass, hover it over the colour you want to copy, as close to the patch as possible - and click.
- Gauge in which direction the colour changes and repeat the same procedure with the second colour bar.
- Rotate the gradient direction wheel in the Inspector to adjust the colour change flow (image below right shows patch in position, with rectangular patch slanted to avoid cutting into the side of the jar).

2. The February Rendezvous magazine cover photo shows a just married couple sitting on a WWII vintage Willys Jeep. White straplines went nicely over olive green jeep body, but the white army markings were a bit distracting. In between the straplines (in text boxes) and the photo I put a shape with rounded corners, filled it with olive green matching the body of the Jeep and set opacity to 75 percent. This dimmed the white of the markings and made the straplines stand out better. To align the patch with the rest of the Jeep I tilted the patch right-downwards through Metrics Inspector.















To view full images of the May 2008, February 2008 and June 2006 covers of the Rendezvous magazine go to the Rendezvous Editor's Blog here
For more ideas check these earlier articles:
Preview as a cropping device
Extracting portions of a Pages document for separate use
Sharing and teamwork in iWork/Pages

The Rendezvous magazine June 2006 and February 2008 photos are by Mike Forster, Images of Normandy

Sharing and teamwork in iWork/Pages

There are many ways of sharing Pages documents and working on them as a team.

(There is an important update to this article about sending Pages documents as email attachments. To read it please click here)


Here is a description of several ways to share Pages. I have used all of these successfully in my publishing project which involves journalists, editors, photographers, graphic designers and printers spread over a large area, mostly here in Normandy, but with contributors in other countries as well.


Sharing and team-working

use LAN:
simply move files from computer to computer over a local network. I have three computers linked together in my office over a router and it works fine.

use .Mac - iDisc:
This is a paid subscription service from Apple which includes, among many other things, a storage facility called iDisc. Pages documents could be stored in a public folder (or a private folder with password protected acces for members of your project team). That way, everyone can access the file and upload when they're finished.

This could be more attractive if your document progresses from one member of the team to another with each one having the authority to make changes, not just comment or suggest. From my own experience I'd recommend appointing one member of the group to be responsible for coordinating and clearing all changes and edits before they make it into the final version.


use PDFs:
PDFs work on any computer and could be sent out via email or FTP. Full Acrobat allows comments and has various other proofing and editing features. Make your Pages project into a PDF to share. Check this earlier article on creating mailable compact PDFs from Pages: 'Three steps from Pages to PDF'

Pages let you save your document straight to iPhoto in mailable JPEG format. Send it out directly from iPhoto. Alternatively, choose 'Mail PDF' option: your Pages document is converted into a mailable PDF and attached to a new Mail message in one go. Both options can be found in Print dialogue window when you click on PDF drop down menu in the bottom left corner. Check these previous articles:
- Quick JPEGs straight from Pages;
- Sending out Pages documents

Enfocus PitStop allows modifications in PDFs, including correcting text. For more information see this previous article: PitStop and producing press quality PDFs

use modules:
break your project into chunks of work that can be done by many different workers who use their own favourite software, but deliver to you in PDF (or other Pages compatible format.) Then it's up to you to put the modules together in a Pages document.

Modules could be small graphic files or section headers, for example, or large semi-finished elements of a page. For instance, one of my colleagues lays out some of the pages for the magazine in InDesign, converts them to PDF and sends to me. They are not whole, ready to go pages, but just the part inside the margins. I add headers, footers with page number etc. myself.

If these modules are graphics heavy and too big to send as attachments, various free FTP systems could be used - Skype, Yousendit.com and others.


Converting Pages to Word and Word to Pages

Pages documents can be exported to Word format. Use Export... under File menu. Some formatting may be lost, but not to the extent that the document would become unrecognizable.

Word documents can be opened in Pages even easier: drag and drop the Word file onto the Pages icon in the Dock. Again, some formatting, may be lost, but not to the extent that the whole document would be unrecognizable.

Sometimes formatting created in the Word document must be retained. In these cases it's a good idea to 'Print' the Word document to PDF (preferably via PostScript, read about this process in these older articles: 'Pages and professional printshops: why PostScript') Then import (drag and drop) the PDF into the open Pages document. If the Word document is on several pages, delete the ones you don't need (in PDF) before importing.

Mask the PDF after importing as you would mask any image leaving only the part you need visible.

If you find working with masks too fiddly, crop your PDF (in Acrobat, under Document menu) and then import.

If you want to change fonts or anything else, do it in Word and then create PDF and import. For an example of this process see this older article: 'Importing Word into Pages: use PDF'



Screenshots

Screenshot shortcut on Mac: Command+Shift+4. Cursor turns into a hair-cross. Drag it over an area of the screen and get a compact PNG file.

Don't forget about this feature which is very useful when teamwork and sharing is needed: to send out proofs, to illustrate an aspect or a detail of work/design which is too long to describe in words, to give lists of files and send detailed technical information on the document (take a screenshot of an open folder or of the Pages Inspector and send the PNG via email)


In general

I think Pages are not particularly difficult to share or to work in as a team. A few habits have to be changed, some workarounds used, but good results are not harder to achieve than in any other (often more expensive) software.

New users switching from MS Office have two major complaints: can't send Pages as email attachments and can't convert to Word or import from Word retaining formatting.

I have encountered the same difficulties, but after more than two years of continuous work in iWork/Pages I have developed a number of work-arounds. Anyone can, I think it's just a matter of time.

Pages documents are a different type of file - it is not actually a single file, but a collection of folders and files smartly put together by Apple's operation system to look on screen as though it is one whole. That is why, I assume, even a simple one page document could be several megabytes in volume and impossible to share via email. Skype can handle very large files, but refuses to take Pages documents for sending through its system.