Use VoiceOver to create a Pages document on Mac
You can create a Pages document on your Mac 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.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier.
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 Mac.Press VO-M to jump to the menu bar, navigate to File > New, then press Return.
The template chooser opens.
Do one of the following:
Choose from all templates: Press VO-Left Arrow to navigate to the template chooser collection, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it.
Choose a template by category, such as Reports and CVs: Press VO-Left Arrow to navigate to the table of template categories, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it. Press VO-Down Arrow to scroll through the list of categories until you hear the category you want, then press VO-J to jump to the templates in that category.
To navigate through the template options, press any of the arrow keys, then press Return to choose one.
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 document layout area.
Go to the Pages app
on your Mac.Open a document with placeholder text, then press VO-U to open the rotor.
Press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key until you hear “Window Spots”, then press the Down Arrow key until you hear “content - Document layout area”.
To select the document layout area, press Return, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it.
To scroll to the page with the text you want to replace, press VO-Up Arrow or VO-Down Arrow, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it.
Press VO-Right Arrow or VO-Left Arrow until you hear the text you want to edit (for instance, Header or Body), then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow.
If a text group has multiple lines, press VO-Up Arrow or VO-Down Arrow to scroll through the lines.
To select the text in the VoiceOver cursor, press VO-Shift-A.
Type to add your own text.
If you want to edit more text in the same group, press VO with any arrow key to navigate to it. If you want to edit a different text group, press VO-Shift-Up Arrow, then press VO-Right Arrow or VO-Left Arrow 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 document layout area.
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 Mac.Open a document, then Press VO-U to open the rotor.
Press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key until you hear “Window Spots”, then press the Down Arrow key until you hear “content - Document layout area”.
To select the document layout area, press Return, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it.
To scroll to the page with the text you want to style, press VO-Up Arrow or VO-Down Arrow, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it.
Press VO-Right Arrow or VO-Left Arrow until you hear the text you want to style, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow.
To select the text in the VoiceOver cursor, press VO-Shift-Down Arrow, then press VO-Shift-A.
To select only some of the text, press and hold Shift-Option while you press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key. The text to the left or right of the insertion point is selected.
Press VO-J to jump to the Text tab of the Format sidebar.
Note: If you jump to a different sidebar instead, you can navigate to the Format sidebar using the toolbar. From your current location, press VO-Shift-Up Arrow, then press VO-Left Arrow to navigate to the toolbar. To enter the toolbar, press VO-Shift Down Arrow, then press VO-Right Arrow to navigate to the Format button. Press VO-Space to select it, then press VO-J twice to jump to the Text tab.
If you jump to a different tab in the Format sidebar, press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key to navigate to the Text tab, then press VO-Space to select it.
To change the paragraph style, press VO-Down Arrow to navigate to the Paragraph Styles button, then press VO-Space. Press VO-Right Arrow to navigate to the Paragraph Styles table, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it. Press VO-Down Arrow until you hear the style you want, then press VO-Space to choose it.
You can change other text settings in the Text Formatter scroll area. Press VO-Down Arrow to navigate to the Style button, then press VO-Space to select it. Press VO-Down Arrow to navigate to the Text Formatter scroll area, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it. Change any of the following:
Font: Press VO-Down Arrow to navigate to the Font family button, then press VO-Space. Press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key until you hear the font you want, then press VO-Space to choose it.
Font size: Press VO-Right Arrow to navigate to the Font size text field, then type a new font size.
Font style (bold, italic, underline and so on): Press VO-Down Arrow to navigate to the Font Style group, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it. Press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key to navigate the font styles, then press VO-Space to choose the ones you want.
To choose options like strikethrough or outline, navigate to advanced options, then press VO-Space.
Text colour: Press VO-Right Arrow to navigate to the Fill preset picker, then press VO-Space. Press VO with any arrow key until you hear the colour you want, then press VO-Space to choose it.
To learn about advanced colour options, see Fill shapes and text boxes with colour or an image.
Alignment: Press VO-Down Arrow to navigate to the Horizontal alignment group, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it. Press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key to navigate the alignment options, then press VO-Space to choose one.
To learn about aligning text, see Align and justify text.
Spacing: Press VO-Down Arrow until you hear “Spacing” (make sure the disclosure arrow is expanded). Press VO-Right Arrow to navigate to the Line spacing button, then press VO-Space. Press the Down Arrow key until you hear the spacing option you want, then press Return to choose it.
To learn more about spacing, see Set line spacing.
List formatting: Press VO-Down Arrow until you hear “Bullets and lists”. Press VO-Right Arrow to navigate to the Paragraph Styles button, then press VO-Space. Press VO-Right Arrow to navigate to the list styles list, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow. Press VO-Down Arrow until you hear the list style you want, then press VO-Space to choose it.
To learn more about list formatting, see Format lists.
Press VO-J to jump back to the text in the document layout area.
Add your own media
You can replace the media placeholders in a template to add your own images and video. You do this in the document layout area.
Go to the Pages app
on your Mac.Open a document with media placeholders.
Press VO-U to open the rotor.
Press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key until you hear “Window Spots”, then press the Down Arrow key until you hear “content - Document layout area”.
To select the document layout area, press Return, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it.
To scroll to the page with the image you want to replace, press VO-Up Arrow or VO-Down Arrow, then press VO-Shift-Down Arrow to enter it.
Press VO-Right Arrow or VO-Left Arrow until you hear the name of the image you want to replace.
Press VO-Shift-M to open a shortcut menu, then press the Down Arrow key until you hear “Replace Image”. Press Return.
In the Photos menu, navigate to the image or video you want to add, then press VO-Space to select it.
The image appears on the page where the previous image used to be.
You can also insert your own shapes and other objects by selecting the Insert menu in the toolbar.
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.
To learn more about keyboard shortcuts, see Keyboard shortcuts.