Pages '09 select column

[Bob Marsden]

El Capitan 10.11.1
Pages 5.6.1 (2562)

I want to Select Column. Pages ’08 Help says:

“To select a single row or column, choose Select Row or Select Column from the Edit Rows & Columns pop-up menu in the Table inspector.”

But in Table Inspector no ‘Edit Rows & Columns’ menu pops-up, and no trick I try makes one appear. (e.g. control-click).

Nor, in the Window Top Bar Format>Table menu is there any ‘select’ option.

I’ve never had problems in previous versions of Pages, and the files I'm putting data into are the same, so what am I doing wrong?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Bob,

Your post actually references three different versions of Pages - iWork '08 (ver 3.x), '09 (ver 4.x), and the current version 5.6.1. The older versions allowed selection of a column using the Table Inspector > Edit Rows & Columns, or Format > Select Column from the menu bar. In the current version, you simply click on the column number - i.e. A, B, C, etc. to select the entire column, or double-click the same to select only the cells excluding the column header. You may have to click once anywhere in the table to select it and enter edit mode.

Let me know if that works for you.

C

 

[Bob Marsden]

Thanks, it works.

But I don’t understand why, in Pages 5.6.1, when I use Pages Help, I get the ‘08 version.

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries.

Not sure about the Pages Help issue. Do you have the older iWork '08 version still installed?

C

 

[Bob Marsden]

No worries.

Not sure about the Pages Help issue. Do you have the older iWork '08 version still installed?

C

I’ve just deleted iWork ‘08 &’09.

Now Pages Help shows with the pen & paper icon of Pages 5.6.1, but when I search for “select column” it shows me every thing but ‘select column’ (e.g. stuff about Chinese and Japanese). When I Cntrl-click on a column head the pop-up menu has lots to do with managing columns, but not how to select them. Somewhere there must be a simple hint “To select column, click or double-click on a cell.”, but it won’t tell me where. In previous versions it was clear and obvious, but someone’s inserted perversity for fun. It’s the same with Spaces->Mission Control - improving it to dysfunctionality - or perhaps the unintended consequences of being too clever by half.

I went back to try again. This time, item 11 of 17 does get you to what you told me. I'm not sure what lesson I've just learned.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Apple does have online help with the latest versions of the iWork apps: Pages Help

When you open Help > Pages Help, you should now get this:

Is that what you are getting?

C

 

[Bob Marsden]

Yes. All I’ve got left in my apps is Pages.app (5.1.6 created 31 Oct 15) on its own, not in any iWork folder, both of which are trashed.


When an app is updated it’s difficult to find out what they’ve messed with and how. For example, in the later Pages the ‘highlight’ function “character fill colour’ is hidden two levels down instead of being in in a bar across the top of the document, as is used to be. And if you try to highlight in a colour more than once it doesn’t work - you have to pretend to colour it with another hue then go back to the one you want. Tiresome.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Yes, Apple could be a little better at describing major functionality changes. Not so much the new features/functions, but what they have changed dramatically or removed.

Let us know if you have additional questions/issues.

C