Automating Pages

[rodriguezcommaj]

I’ve been hunting around here and online and can’t figure out if what I want to do is possible. Figured someone here would know…

Is there a way to automate Pages to open up and create a new blank document? I’d love to combine it with BetterTouchTool so that I can do a specific gesture on my trackpad to trigger it. It’d be something like:

1. Three finger swipe
2. Pages opens
3. Pages creates new blank doc
4. I get to start typing

What are my options here? Have looked at Shortcuts and Automator, but I don’t see any options to use either with Pages.

[memex]

you might want to check this:

https://iworkautomation.com/pages/document-make.html

and the whole site / suite of sites:

http://macosxautomation.com

edit: it may be a little on the old side of things, but still… it may work

[karlnyhus]

It’s not too bad creating a Keyboard Maestro macro for “selected text to new Byword document." Skip the Copy command at the start if you’re not bringing in selected text and substitute a reference to the Pages app instead of the Byword editor. Cmd+Up Arrow at the end is Byword’s way of moving the cursor to the top of the document.

[rodriguezcommaj]

Thanks for the help, everyone! I was able to create a new script and combine it with BetterTouchTool to accomplish it following the links from @memex. Appreciate it!

[memex]

glad it worked

10x2 chars

[tomalmy]

Here is a trivial way to do it with only the built-in OS features if you are willing to do it with a file you click to open. (Automation beyond that is up to you.)

1. Create a new, empty document in Pages.
2. Save it to the desktop
3. Do a Get Info on it and check the Stationery pad box.

Now whenever you click on the document icon it will open Pages with a new, empty document.

[rodriguezcommaj]

That Stationary Pad trick is really interesting, didn’t realize that was a feature. Just tried it and it definitely works, but is a little bit slower than the AppleScript route.

I’m a fan of using my Dock, so I actually ended up creating a shortcut that runs the AppleScript and tossed it into my Dock. Now I can click on that icon and it does exactly what I want.