word processing and page layout documents

You can use Pages to create word processing and page layout documents. You can add any type of content (text, graphics, charts and so on) to either, but there are differences in how you work with each type of document.

  • Word processing: Used primarily to create documents that include mainly text, like reports or letters. These documents have a body text area where you type, and the text flows from one page to the next, with new pages created automatically as needed. You can also divide documents into sections (for book chapters or report segments, for example), and add content apart from the body text (for things like sidebars or photo captions) by adding text boxes or other objects.

  • Page layout: Used primarily to create documents with a more custom design, like newsletters or posters. A page layout document is like a canvas to which you add text boxes, images and other objects, then arrange the objects on the page however you want. New pages must be added manually.

To see whether a document is set up for word processing, click the Document radio button in the toolbar, then click the Document tab. If the Document Body tick box is selected, it’s a word processing document.