Unable to copy paste from ChatGPT or Perplexity to Pages

If you have tried Page's Paste, or Paste and Match Style with the same result, then you may need to copy/paste the ChatGPT/Perplexity content to an intermediary application if it is not placing the correct content formatting on the clipboard that Pages is designed to read during the paste.

Don't rule out selecting the content in ChatGPT/Perplexity, click and hold, then drag as a text clipping onto the Pages document window. Different results?

Consider Apple's TextEdit (Rich Text mode), or the free version of BBEdit as the intermediary target as a test.

What Camelot and I have been saying is that Pages is bi-modal and behaves differently to paste operations depending upon which blank template that you choose:

The Blank Layout template only receives pasted text in Text boxes.

Apple attempts to explain the difference between word-processing and page layout modes:

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

BBEdit is for macOS, not i/OS/PadOS.

If you are using the Blank Layout template for your document, text will only exist within a Text box in page layout format. If you started with a Blank template, as I said before, Pages is designed to read very specific types of content from the clipboard and if ChatGPT or Perplexity are not properly formatting that content to the clipboard, you may still experience the Text box on paste. Not Pages fault.

Did you try to paste into a Rich Text Format TextEdit window and then copy/paste that into Pages?

I tried this, and I think you're doing it wrong, or, at least, in a way that Pages responds to that you don't expect.

First, understand that Pages has two 'modes' - a 'document' mode and a 'layout' mode

Document mode is used for things like letters, books, reports, etc... anything where there's a continuous stream of consciousness in the document.

Layout mode is more for page-oriented formats such as brochures, flyers, newsletters, etc.

The main difference is that in Layout mode, every object (where 'object' is a block of text, image, table, etc.) has its own bounding box that can be repositioned on page at will.

When I copy text from ChatGPT and paste it into Pages, one of two things happens.

If I'm in Layout mode, or if nothing on the page is selected, Pages creates a new text box containing the copied text. This seems to match your description.

However, if I'm in document mode (as denoted by a blinking insertion point in the document body, then the text pastes as somewhat-rich* text (which I think is what you're expecting/hoping).

So the problem may be that you're just in the wrong 'mode' when you paste the text and Pages is assuming you want Layout mode, with the text in its own box, rather than document mode with the text pasted in-line.

Try experimenting with what's selected when you paste the text. The big 'tell' is the Inspector. If it says 'Nothing selected' when you paste, then you're going to get a text box.

* Note I say 'somewhat-rich' because some style attributes are honored (indents, bullets, images), but others are not (bold/italics, fonts, styles, etc.)