Use VoiceOver to create a Pages document on iPad
You can create and edit Pages documents on your iPad using VoiceOver, an advanced screen reader that lets you use your device without seeing the screen. Start with a pre-designed template that includes placeholder data, charts and images, then add your own content. Each template uses coordinated fonts, text styles and colours for a unified look.
VoiceOver can also interpret data from charts in your document by speaking axis descriptions, summarising the data and its trends and playing a series of different pitches to represent the values in the chart from left to right.
Choose a template
You can choose a template from several categories, such as letters, reports and books. For example, to create a flyer to advertise a special event, you might choose Event Poster Small in the Flyers & Posters category. You choose a template in the template chooser.
Go to the Pages app
on your iPad.When you first open Pages, the document manager opens. Swipe left or right (or use the left and right arrows on a keyboard) until you hear “Choose a Template”, then double-tap to open the template chooser.
Open the VoiceOver rotor and use the Headings setting to navigate through the template categories, such as Reports and CVs.
Note: You might need to scroll to hear all the categories.
Swipe left or right until you hear the name of the template you want to use, then double-tap to select it.
Add your own text
Document templates include placeholder text for titles, headers, body text and other text elements. You can replace any placeholder text with your own in the canvas.
Go to the Pages app
on your iPad.Open a document with placeholder text, then open the VoiceOver rotor and use the Containers setting to navigate to the canvas.
To navigate through the content in the canvas, swipe left or right (or use the left or right arrows on a keyboard) until you hear the text you want to edit (for instance, Header or Body), then double-tap to select it.
If a text group has multiple lines, use the Lines setting in the VoiceOver rotor to navigate through the lines before you select text.
Type to add your own text.
Note: If you’re editing a header or footer, navigate to the toolbar, then double-tap the Done button to return to the canvas.
If you want to edit another text placeholder, use the Lines setting in the VoiceOver rotor to navigate to it.
Style text
Templates use coordinated fonts, text styles and colours, but you can change the look of your text in the canvas.
If you’re using a template from the Basics category, such as Blank or Blank Landscape, you can set a default font and font size for all new documents. See Set a default font and font size for Basic templates.
Go to the Pages app
on your iPad.Open a document.
Open a document, then open the VoiceOver rotor and use the Containers setting to navigate to the canvas.
Swipe left or right (or use the left or right arrows on a keyboard) until you hear the text you want to edit, then use the Edit setting in the VoiceOver rotor to select the text.
If the text you want to edit is in a header or footer, double-tap the text to open the Document Setup window before you select it.
Use the Containers setting in the VoiceOver rotor to navigate to the toolbar. Swipe left or right until you hear “Format button”, then double-tap to open the Text tab in the Format menu.
To change the paragraph style, swipe left or right until you hear the current paragraph style, such as Title or Body, then double-tap to open the Paragraph Styles pop-over. Swipe left or right until you hear the style you want, then double-tap to choose it. To return to the Text menu, double-tap the Text back button.
To change other text settings, continue swiping through the Text tab in the Format menu.
Change any of the following:
Font: Swipe until VoiceOver speaks the current font, then double-tap to open the list of fonts. Swipe until you hear the font you want, then double-tap to choose it. To return to the Text menu, double-tap the Text back button.
Font style (bold, italic, underline and so on): Swipe until you hear the font styles, then double-tap to choose the ones you want.
To choose advanced options like capitalisation and ligatures, swipe until you hear “More text options”, then double-tap to open the Text Options menu.
Font size: Swipe until you hear the current font size, then swipe up or down to adjust the value.
Text colour: Swipe until you hear the current font colour, then double-tap to open the Text Colour menu. Swipe until you hear the colour you want, then double-tap to choose it.
To learn about advanced colour options, see Fill shapes and text boxes with colour or an image.
Alignment: Swipe until you hear the alignment options, then double-tap to choose one.
List formatting: Swipe until you hear “Bullets and lists”, then double-tap to open the List Style menu. Swipe until you hear the list style you want, then double-tap to choose it.
To learn more about list formatting, see Format lists.
Spacing: Swipe until you hear “Line spacing”, then double-tap to open the Line Spacing menu. Swipe until you hear the current line spacing, then swipe up or down to adjust the value.
To learn more about spacing, see Set line spacing.
Add your own media
To add your own images and videos, you can replace the media placeholders in the template with your own. You do this in the canvas.
Go to the Pages app
on your iPad.Open a document with media placeholders.
Open the VoiceOver rotor and use the Containers setting to navigate to the canvas.
To navigate through the content in the canvas, swipe left or right (or use the left and right arrows on a keyboard). When you hear the name of an image you want to replace, double-tap to select it.
Swipe left or right through the image’s handles until you hear “Replace Image button”, then double-tap to open the Albums sidebar.
Do one of the following to select the media you want to use:
To use a photo or video in the Albums sidebar: Select an album, then double-tap to select the media you want to add.
To use a photo or video from iCloud or another service: Double-tap Insert from below the albums, then double-tap to select the media you want to add.
To use a new photo or video: Choose Take Photo or Video, then choose Use Photo or Use Video.
The image or video automatically replaces the placeholder media in the document.
You can also insert your own shapes and other objects by choosing the Insert menu in the toolbar. To navigate to the toolbar from the canvas, use the Containers setting in the VoiceOver rotor.
To add accessibility descriptions to your images, drawings and videos (which are read by VoiceOver and other assistive technology), see Add an image description, Add a drawing description or Add a video description.
Use VoiceOver to interpret chart data
In iOS 15 or later or iPadOS 15 or later, VoiceOver can provide useful information about charts in your document, including axis information, the shape of the data, minimum values, maximum values and more. VoiceOver can also play a series of different pitches to represent the values in the chart from left to right.
Go to the Pages app
on your iPad.Open a document with a chart.
Select the chart in your document you want to get more information about.
Swipe left or right to select any data point in the chart.
Open the VoiceOver rotor, then select the Audio Graph setting.
Swipe up or down to choose any of the following:
Describe chart: Lists the name of each axis and lists the number of series.
Chart details: Opens an accessible view of the chart that provides access to the audio graph, summaries, statistics and more.
Play audio graph: Plays a series of tones that represents values in the chart, from left to right, using different pitches. The higher the value, the higher the pitch.