Add guide lines or background elements to the Pages document to assist with layout

pages

I'm currently using Pages '09 on OS X 10.10.5. I have a document in portrait orientation that I occasionally print (8.5" x 11"), and fold into four equal vertical sections, like a spreadsheet with one column and four rows. Here's an image matching what I do with the printout.

enter image description here

The document consists of several text boxes. The text box layout is fitted to the content and this does not correspond to the page folding. Is there some way to add guide lines to my document to see where the folds will be? This would be for layout purposes only, the lines shouldn't appear in the printout. I looked through the menu options and the document inspector, but didn't see a way to accomplish what I want.

I believe any of these options would work, but I'm not sure how to accomplish them:

  • Add guide lines manually
  • Display a vertical ruler for the page (menu item references rulers but this document only displays a horizontal ruler)
  • Create a background image with the guide lines (easy with Pixelmator) and add it to the document

I am willing to use a newer version of Pages.

Best Answer

Here is how I solved this:

  • Used a spreadsheet to choose values for all of the margins and four equal-height text boxes to best use the full 11" height of the printed page
  • Created four text boxes, full page width, and equal height
  • Used margins at the top of page, bottom of page, and between each text box, with all of these margins being of equal value
  • Used the spreadsheet to determine the exact starting Y location of each text box and enforce the desired margins
  • Pasted existing text into the four text boxes, using paragraph separation in some cases to combine the text from previously-separate textboxes into one textbox
Related Question