Pages App - Why cant pages be separate in the middle of your edit?

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of how Pages works. It has two types of documents, with the first being the default if you start with a blank template: 1) word processing mode, and 2) page layout mode. This is explained here, and I do recommend that you read the associated Pages User Guide thoroughly to eliminate most confusion.

Intro to word-processing and page layout documents in Pages on Mac - Apple Support

When you choose a blank template from the Template chooser, you are creating a word-processing format document. It is a section-based document that automatically adds new pages as your content fills each page. Whether you force page breaks or not, all pages belong to the first section until you insert a new section break.

1. Each section's pages are separate from other sections and if you did not introduce a section break, you already have separate pages in that first section, even after you forced five page breaks.
2. Pages is not designed to remember what you did previously in the document.
3. The Pages word processing format is designed around sections and pages. The Pages page layout design is one page per section and no text entry or automatic flow to another page unless text entry is in a Text box, or linked Text boxes. The blank page layout template name is Blank Layout.

You also cannot delete any given section page via thumbnails in a word-processing document as that would destroy the entire document. A page layout style document allows one to do this as each page is also a section.

Without seeing the document in question, it's hard to be sure, but in general, adding page breaks is not the way to make each page separate and distinct. That might have been the mistake.

Inserting page breaks tells Pages to start a new page at the current insertion point, and is most commonly used for things like chapter and other logical breaks in a continuous flow. However, it is still subject to edits (additions and deletions) in earlier parts of the document... so what was a page break that started page 4, for example, could slide to page 5 if sufficient content is added on pages 1-3. or back to page 3 if earlier content is deleted.

That's because Page's default mode is document based, where all text is assumed to be continuous and flowing.

It sounds like you want the alternative model, where you lay out the content on each page directly, with no inherent continuity between pages. To do this you need to create text boxes on the respective pages and put your text in those boxes.

For example, in a new document, you can create a text box via the toolbar:

This creates a discrete block on the page that can be positioned and sized at will. The text box can be set as fixed on the page via the Inspector -> Format -> Arrange.

The main difference is that text flows within the constraints of the text box and is not affected by the main body text (i.e. it won't move as more text is added elsewhere in the document), and adding more text into the box won't cause other blocks of text to move either (although you can link text boxes together to give Pages a hint as to how to overflow text from one box to another as you add text).

If you're working with page-oriented content, it's often easier/better to create text boxes for your content on each page.

As for how toyour questions:

> Question 1:

>How do I make ALL pages separate at this point?

That's tricky since we're working blind, and this is only an assumption as to what's going on. There's no one-click solution to toggle between document and page-based layout. It may be that your best bet is to create a new document, place empty text boxes as needed, and copy/paste the content from your current document.

> Question 2.

>Why does Pages ignore the fact that I started the document by adding 5 page breaks and adhere to that standard for the life of the doc unless commanded otherwise?

As stated, inserting 5 page breaks is not the way to tell Pages you are creating a 5-page document. That's a way to tell if there are at least 5 page breaks, but the actual number of pages will depend on the amount of content you write.

> Question 3.

> Is there a setting that would stop this sectioning behavior?

You kind of need to know when you start whether you're working on a continuous document or page-based content and start off accordingly.