Create iOS Pages templates

Use Pages on your Mac to make templates for iOS

One of the joys of Pages is its reliance on templates. It ships with pre-built document types, covering newsletters, mailshots and everything in between, and each is a jumping off point for your own work.

Templates are subtly different to regular documents, as each is built using hot zones called ‘placeholders’. Tapping one lets you swap out its contents, with the new content taking on the formatting used to style up the placeholder.

If none of the templates supplied with the app suit your needs, you can create your own – on a Mac – to save time in the future and define a team’s house style.

Pages isn’t a Mac-only app, though – it also runs on the iPad, iPhone and at icloud.com in a PC or Mac’s web browser, but none are as fully featured as the OS X original. While those versions can use templates as starting points, you can’t use them to build your own.

Fortunately there is a workaround if you’re running Pages on iOS and the Mac: build your templates in OS X, then transfer them to your mobile device over iCloud. They still won’t work on icloud.com, but you can save time and conform to house style when working on the move. Nik Rawlinson

If none of the templates suit your needs, create your own to save time in the future