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Does anyone know how to set the default font for iWorks/Pages? There is nothing under Preferences and nothing under Help. So far I think AppleWorks is a better word processor.

Paul wrote:Does anyone know how to set the default font for iWorks/Pages? There is nothing under Preferences and nothing under Help. So far I think AppleWorks is a better word processor.

Try doing the same as you would do with AppleWorks.

Open a new Pages word processing document using the Blank template. Set the font, size, colour, etc. to your desired values. Save as a Template.

Optional: Go to Pages > Preferences > General, set New Document to Use Template, and choose your new template as the one to use.

Regards,
Barry

PS: I've done only minimal testing on this. Post back (as a reply in this thread) if you run into problems with it.
B

Paul wrote:Does anyone know how to set the default font for iWorks/Pages? There is nothing under Preferences and nothing under Help. So far I think AppleWorks is a better word processor.

You need to create your own default template in Pages. Set up your document with the margins, headers, etc. as you'd like. Redefine all of the paragraph & character styles to have your desired font.

While you're at it, you might want to set default styles for all objects, text boxes, tables, paragraph styles, etc. Start with a blank document & insert an object. Change the color, wrap, etc. to your choosing & then go to Format > Advanced > Define Default Shape Style then delete the object. Repeat with an image/photo, a text box & a table. Now, save this as a template then, in Pages > Preferences, select this template as the default for new documents. All of your new documents will have these settings for inserted objects, images & tables. Unfortunately, the settings won't apply to any other templates or "foreign" documents you open with Pages.

As far as AppleWorks being better or not, it depends on what you need. For everyday word processing, I think Pages is much better. But there are a lot of little things AppleWorks does Pages doesn't do or is easier. Of course, easier is often just what we're used to. Since I've used Pages for 4+ years, I'm pretty comfortable with it. But I used AppleWorks since classic AppleWorks on my IIgs 20+ years ago then from ClarisWorks 1 on my first Mac all the way to the current AppleWorks 6.2.9.

Thank you, Barry. Creating the template eems to work just fine. AppleWorks allows the user to actually set a default font, as did ClarisWorks before, so I was surprised to find iWorks doesn't.

Barry wrote:

Paul wrote:Does anyone know how to set the default font for iWorks/Pages? There is nothing under Preferences and nothing under Help. So far I think AppleWorks is a better word processor.

Try doing the same as you would do with AppleWorks.

Open a new Pages word processing document using the Blank template. Set the font, size, colour, etc. to your desired values. Save as a Template.

Optional: Go to Pages > Preferences > General, set New Document to Use Template, and choose your new template as the one to use.

Regards,
Barry

PS: I've done only minimal testing on this. Post back (as a reply in this thread) if you run into problems with it.
B

Thank you, Peggy. Two of you suggested the same thing and it is a solution. I know "easier" is often what we are used to, but Apple word processors in the past have been far more user friendly and intuitive, plus, they came installed on the machine. I am still happy to be a Mac user, but the switch to Intel was more than just a hardware change. I appreciate your response.

Peggy wrote:

Paul wrote:Does anyone know how to set the default font for iWorks/Pages? There is nothing under Preferences and nothing under Help. So far I think AppleWorks is a better word processor.

You need to create your own default template in Pages. Set up your document with the margins, headers, etc. as you'd like. Redefine all of the paragraph & character styles to have your desired font.

While you're at it, you might want to set default styles for all objects, text boxes, tables, paragraph styles, etc. Start with a blank document & insert an object. Change the color, wrap, etc. to your choosing & then go to Format > Advanced > Define Default Shape Style then delete the object. Repeat with an image/photo, a text box & a table. Now, save this as a template then, in Pages > Preferences, select this template as the default for new documents. All of your new documents will have these settings for inserted objects, images & tables. Unfortunately, the settings won't apply to any other templates or "foreign" documents you open with Pages.

As far as AppleWorks being better or not, it depends on what you need. For everyday word processing, I think Pages is much better. But there are a lot of little things AppleWorks does Pages doesn't do or is easier. Of course, easier is often just what we're used to. Since I've used Pages for 4+ years, I'm pretty comfortable with it. But I used AppleWorks since classic AppleWorks on my IIgs 20+ years ago then from ClarisWorks 1 on my first Mac all the way to the current AppleWorks 6.2.9.