Change how text looks in Pages on Mac, iPhone or iPad

Change the colour, alignment and spacing of text in your Pages document.

Change how text looks in Pages on Mac

Select text, then change its colour, alignment and spacing. You can also select and format noncontiguous ranges of text: press and hold the Command key on your keyboard, then select the text.

Change the colour of text

Select the text.
Click the Format button in the toolbar to show the Format sidebar.
Click the Style button in the sidebar. If the text is in a text box, table or shape, first click the Text tab at the top of the sidebar, then click the Style button.
Click the pop-up menu below the Font section, choose Text Colour, then choose an option to pick your colour:
- To pick a colour that coordinates with your template, click the colour well, then choose a colour.
- To pick any colour, click the colour wheel, then choose a colour from one of the colour palettes.

You can also fill text with a gradient or an image, and change the text colour for your comments and tracked changes.

Align text

Alignment determines how the edges of the text appear in your document. You can align text in paragraphs, text boxes, shapes or table cells.

Choose the text you want to align:
- To align all the text in a particular paragraph, click anywhere in the paragraph.
- To align all the text in multiple paragraphs, select the paragraphs.
- To align text in a text box or shape, click the text box or a shape.
- To align text in a table, select the cells, rows or columns.
Click the Format button in the toolbar, then click the Style button in the Format sidebar.
For text in a text box, table or shape, first click the Text tab at the top of the sidebar, then click the Style button.
Click the alignment buttons to horizontally align your text:
- To align text to the left margin, click the align left button .
- To align text to the centre, click the align centre button .
- To align text to the right margin, click the align right button .
- To justify the text so it aligns to the left and right margins, click the justify text button .
To indent text, click the text indent button .
To decrease the indent, click the decrease indent button .
To vertically align text in a text box, shape or table cell, click a vertical alignment button to align text to the top , the middle or the bottom of the container.

Change the spacing of text

You can change the amount of space between lines of text and the amount of space before or after a paragraph.

Select any portion of the text you want to align, click a text box or a shape with text, or click a table cell or select a row or column if you’re working in a table.
Click the Format button in the toolbar, then click the Style button in the Format sidebar.
- If the text is in a text box, table or shape, first click the Text tab at the top of the sidebar, then click the Style button.
To change the amount of space between lines of text, click the Spacing pop-up menu, then choose an option.
To change the amount of space before or after a selected paragraph, click the arrows for Before Paragraph and After Paragraph.

Advanced text styling options

You can also adjust the spacing between individual characters and raise and lower text in relation to adjacent text. When you're finished styling your text, you can save that look as a custom character style so that you can easily apply it to other text in your document.

Change how text looks in Pages on iPhone or iPad

Select text, then change its colour, alignment and spacing. And if you have an external keyboard and mouse or trackpad connected to your iPad, you can select and format noncontiguous ranges of text: press and hold the Command key on your keyboard, then select the text with the mouse or trackpad.

If the Edit button appears in the toolbar when you open the document, make sure to tap it so you can edit the document.