![](https://help.apple.com/assets/65E61563AAB360A8BF0618F2/65E61567AAB360A8BF061904/en_US/0f08e34b33959fa375da7f6a555332c9.png)
If you can’t remove something from a document in Pages on Mac
Blue dots between words
Blue dots between words, and other blue symbols, are formatting marks (they don’t appear in print).
Choose View > Hide Invisibles (from the View menu at the top of the screen, not from the View menu in the toolbar).
For more information about invisibles, see View formatting symbols and layout.
A gray border around the document and header and footer boxes
These are layout marks to show the perimeter of body text and the location of headers and footers.
Choose View > Hide Layout (from the View menu at the top of the screen, not from the View button in the toolbar).
For more information about layout view, see View formatting symbols and layout.
A highlight on text
A highlight is added to text when it has a comment.
Click the highlighted text, then click Delete in the comment.
If the highlight is still on the text, see Remove a background color from text to learn how to remove the highlight effect.
The underline for a website address or email address
Click the linked text (in a table cell, click the cell first, then click the link).
In the link editor, click Edit.
Click Remove.
For more information, see Link to a webpage, email, or page.
Headers or footers on a page (not in a table)
Do one of the following:
Remove all headers and footers from the document: Click
in the toolbar, click the Document tab, then deselect the Header or Footer checkbox.
Remove headers and footers from just one section of the document: Click
in the toolbar, click the Section tab, then deselect the Header or Footer checkbox (for word-processing documents only).
For more information, see Add and remove headers and footers.
A shape, line, or image
Click the object, then press Delete on your keyboard.
If the object is still on the page, try the following:
If a small x appears at the corners or ends of the object when you click it, it’s locked. Choose Arrange > Unlock (from the Arrange menu at the top of your screen), then press Delete on your keyboard.
If you can’t select the object at all, it may be a section layout object placed on the background of the page. To make it selectable, choose Arrange > Section Layouts > Make Layout Objects Selectable (from the Arrange menu at the top of your screen). Click the object, then press Delete on your keyboard.
Note: Removing a section layout object removes it from every page in the section. If you want to make any remaining section layout objects unselectable again, choose Arrange > Section Layouts > Make Layout Objects Selectable (the checkmark is removed from the menu item).
A background color on a page
The background color of a predesigned template is a section layout object that appears on all pages of the document or section.
Follow the instructions above (about deleting a shape, line, or image) to make the section layout object selectable, then unlock it.
When the object is unlocked, you can either delete the color (it’s actually a shape with a color fill applied), or choose a new color fill.
If you received the document from someone else, they may have applied a background color using controls in the Format sidebar. To learn how to change or remove a background color applied this way, see Change the page background.
An empty page
The process for adding and deleting pages is different for word-processing and page layout documents. To learn how to delete pages for both of these types of documents, see Delete pages or sections in Pages on Mac.
If the empty page is at the beginning of a word-processing document, you may have placed the insertion point at the beginning of the document, then added a page break, or other formatting characters may be present.
Click at the beginning of the next page (to place the insertion point before the first text or graphic).
Press the Delete key on your keyboard until the page disappears.