User profile for user: bhaller
bhaller Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Pages 14.1 won't move an image back behind text

I'm using Pages 14.1 on macOS 13.7.1. I've got two documents open. In one, I've got a title page image that is behind the text on the title page. In the "Arrange" inspector, that image is configured as "Object Placement: Move with Text" and "Text Wrap: None". The "Back" and "Front" buttons in the inspector are usable; the image has been moved all the way back, but I can click "Front" and then "Back" to move the image up and down relative to the text. So that's great. In the other document, I have the same configuration: a title page image that I just inserted, "Move with Text", and "None". For this image, in this other document, however, the "Back" and "Front" buttons in the inspector are dimmed and unusable. The image is in front of the text, and that apparently cannot be changed. I've quit and restarted the app, I've deleted and re-inserted the image; it remains the same. The "Send to Back" menu item is also dimmed when the image is selected. Both images are PDFs.


If I insert the same PDF image used in the first document into the second document instead, I also cannot move it to the back in that document. Similarly, if I go to the image in the first document and click "Replace" in the image inspector, I can replace it with the title page image for the second document, and still move it back and front. So the problem seems to be with the document somehow, not with the image; the first document allows this movement, the second document doesn't. Anybody have any ideas on how to fix the second document to allow me to do "Back"?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.7

Posted on Mar 29, 2025 6:02 AM

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
User level: Level 10
119,609 points

Mar 29, 2025 6:26 AM in response to bhaller

In Pages, regardless of the version, when in a word-processing (default) layout document, all objects float above the body text. The Arrange panel's Back, Front, Backward, and Forward buttons are for changing the layer relationship of two or more document objects. When there is a single object, these buttons will be inactive.


If you want an object behind the body text, that is when you select the object and choose the Arrange menu > Section Layouts > Move Object to Section Layout. You would do so if you wanted to place a variable opacity image behind the body text like an image watermark.


If you want an image behind the text effect, then insert an appropriate Text box, set its Text Wrap to None, and then position that Text box over the image. The default Text box has a transparent background and a choice of image opacity and text color can make this work.


Although you can insert a multi-page PDF into Pages as a document object, it will only display the first page of that PDF with the remaining pages inaccessible and unnecessarily inflating the Pages document size.


One can always refer to: Pages User Guide for Mac - Apple Support though there may be features shown in that current documentation that were not available in Pages v14.1 on Ventura.


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User profile for user: bhaller
bhaller Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Mar 29, 2025 6:34 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks! Yes, I started trying to fix the problem by just adapting the first document to become the second document – removing all the content from it and copying over the content from the second document. That's when I realized the key difference: in the first document the text on the title page was in the form of text box objects, whereas in the second document the (virtually identical) text on the title page was text in the flow of the document itself. When I changed it to text boxes instead, I was then able to move the image behind the text.


This was very confusing! In general, it is really unhelpful, in a user interface design, to have buttons or menu items that just become disabled under certain conditions, with no indication to the user as to *why* they're disabled – especially when the reason is something as hidden and cryptic as "there are no other 'document objects' present on the page" (because the text is not considered a 'document object'). If a Pages developer is reading, I'd suggest: (a) keep "Back" enabled but show a panel when it is clicked explaining that there are no other elements for it to move back behind, and that the text on the page needs to be made into text boxes for the image to be able to move behind it; or (b) disable "Back" but explain in tooltip text or elsewhere visible to the user *why* it is disabled; or (c) perhaps the best option, simply allow the image to be removed behind the page's text.


Anyhow, thanks very much VikingOSX. If I hadn't just figured out the problem for myself, your answer would definitely have sent me onto the correct path.

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Pages 14.1 won't move an image back behind text

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