Procreate adds pages through Page Assist. Open the Actions menu (wrench icon), tap Canvas, and switch on Page Assist. Then tap New Page to insert a blank page to the right of the one you're on. Existing layers become individual pages when you turn Page Assist on, and importing a single PDF from the Gallery activates it automatically.

What "pages" mean in Procreate

Procreate doesn't have a traditional page tool. A standard Procreate artwork is one canvas with a stack of layers. Page Assist reinterprets that stack as a sequence of separate canvases inside one document. Each page is a full canvas that you paint on with the same brushes, selection tools, and adjustments you already use.

Page Assist suits sketchbooks, storyboards, notes, marked-up PDFs, and simple book or comic layouts. It is not built for print layout work such as two-page spreads. Knowing that up front will save you from fighting the feature.

How to turn on Page Assist

1. Open an artwork from the Gallery.
2. Tap the wrench icon in the top left to open the Actions menu.
3. Tap Canvas.
4. Flip the Page Assist toggle on.

The interface changes. The view zooms out to show the whole artwork, your canvas shows the currently selected page, and a Timeline of page thumbnails appears. The selected page is underlined in blue.

If the artwork already had several layers, each one becomes its own page. That matters if you turn Page Assist on in a finished illustration: your layers will be split across pages rather than stacked on one. Duplicate the artwork first if you want to keep the original layered file intact.

To switch Page Assist off, repeat the same steps and toggle it off.

How to add a new page

With Page Assist on:

1. Select the page you want to add after by tapping its thumbnail in the Timeline.
2. Tap New Page.
3. A blank page appears immediately to the right of your current page.

Because the new page is inserted next to whichever page is selected, you can build a document in the order you need without appending everything to the end. Check which page is underlined before you tap.

Reading the Timeline

The Timeline works like the Layers panel turned sideways. The bottom layer in the Layers panel is the far-left page, and pages read left to right in chronological order. You can move through it by:

• Tapping a thumbnail to jump to that page
• Dragging the Timeline back and forth
• Flicking it for a fast scroll through long documents

The Layers panel in Page Assist also lists every page as a thumbnail, so you can manage the document from either place.

Add pages by importing a PDF

If you already have a multi-page document, you can bring it in rather than building from scratch. Importing a single PDF while you're in the Gallery opens it straight into Page Assist. There are three ways to import:

• AirDrop: Send the PDF from another Apple device. On the iPad, choose Procreate from the "Open with…" panel and the file lands in your Gallery.
• Import from Files: In the Gallery, tap Import in the top right, browse to the PDF, and tap it.
• Drag and drop: Press and hold a PDF in the Files app, pick it up, and drag it into Procreate.

Two caveats from Procreate's own documentation:

• Importing multiple PDFs at once won't open them automatically. They are saved to the Gallery and you open each one yourself.
• If you already have a Procreate artwork open, the PDF won't open automatically either. Import from the Gallery instead.

This route is useful for annotation work, such as marking up client storyboards, script pages, or animatic sheets directly with Apple Pencil.

Manage pages after you add them

Once you have several pages, a few habits keep the document tidy:

• Use the Layers panel. Pages appear there as thumbnails too. Remember that the bottom of the stack is the first page.
• Duplicate before experimenting. Duplicating the artwork to try an alternative composition is faster than undoing your way back.
• Watch your canvas size. Every page is a full canvas, and Procreate has memory limitations. A large canvas with many pages will run out of headroom sooner than a small one. If you hit limits, reduce the canvas resolution or split the project into several documents.

When Page Assist isn't the right tool

Community discussion around multi-page Procreate work points to two situations where Page Assist falls short.

Two-page spreads and print layouts

If you need an image that spans two pages, such as a spread for print, Page Assist won't join pages together. Instead, make a single canvas sized to the combined width of both pages, plus bleed if the printer needs it. Add a guide layer marking where the pages divide, and paint with that in mind. Turn the guide off before exporting.

Long vertical comics sliced into pages

Webtoon-style strips that get cut into segments also don't map well to Page Assist, which is built for separate canvases rather than slicing one long canvas. The workable approach is to paint on one tall canvas, then duplicate the artwork and crop the copy into sections using guides. Never run the crop and resize action on your only working file. Cropping can occasionally misbehave, and in some cases undo history may not recover, so keep the untouched original.

Export your pages

When you're done, export from Actions > Share. For Page Assist documents, the PDF option under Share Layers exports the document back to PDF, which works well for sharing notes, marked-up documents, and book or comic pages. Check the Share panel on your Procreate version to see which other formats are offered for your document.

Using Procreate pages in a motion pipeline

Many motion designers and animators use Procreate for the early, hand-driven stages: boards, styleframe sketches, character poses, and texture studies. Page Assist is a quick way to hold those in one file, with one page per beat, pose, or composition.

From there, the pages need to move into your real production tools. A reasonable workflow:

1. Build one page per storyboard beat or key pose in Procreate.
2. Export the pages from Procreate (a PDF works for sharing with a client or director).
3. Bring the exported pages into After Effects, Premiere Pro, Blender, Cinema 4D, or Nuke as reference or as layers for comp.

Where AI-assisted generation fits your process, Styleframe is one AI video and motion tool you could use with those exported pages as references. The point is to keep your compositing pipeline as it is and use Procreate for what it does best: hand-made source material.

Troubleshooting common problems

I can't find the Page Assist toggle. Make sure you're inside an artwork, not the Gallery. The setting lives under Actions (wrench) > Canvas.

My layers turned into pages. That's expected behavior when you activate Page Assist on an artwork with multiple layers. Turn it off to return to the layer stack, or work from a duplicate next time.

My PDF didn't open in Page Assist. You're likely importing multiple files, or importing while another artwork is open. Return to the Gallery and open the file from there.

New Page added the page in the wrong place. The page is inserted to the right of the selected page. Select the correct thumbnail first before you tap New Page.

The app slows down with many pages. Reduce canvas dimensions, merge or remove unused pages, or split the project across files.

Summary

To add pages in Procreate, enable Page Assist from Actions > Canvas, then use New Page to add blank pages after your current one. Import a PDF from the Gallery to start with a ready-made set of pages. For spreads or sliced vertical comics, use a single large canvas with guides and crop a duplicate. Once your pages are done, export them as a PDF and carry them into After Effects, Nuke, or a tool like Styleframe as references for the rest of your production.

Procreate adds pages through Page Assist. Open the Actions menu (wrench icon), tap Canvas, and switch on Page Assist. Then tap New Page to insert a blank page to the right of the one you're on. Existing layers become individual pages when you turn Page Assist on, and importing a single PDF from the Gallery activates it automatically.

What "pages" mean in Procreate

Procreate doesn't have a traditional page tool. A standard Procreate artwork is one canvas with a stack of layers. Page Assist reinterprets that stack as a sequence of separate canvases inside one document. Each page is a full canvas that you paint on with the same brushes, selection tools, and adjustments you already use.

Page Assist suits sketchbooks, storyboards, notes, marked-up PDFs, and simple book or comic layouts. It is not built for print layout work such as two-page spreads. Knowing that up front will save you from fighting the feature.

How to turn on Page Assist

1. Open an artwork from the Gallery.
2. Tap the wrench icon in the top left to open the Actions menu.
3. Tap Canvas.
4. Flip the Page Assist toggle on.

The interface changes. The view zooms out to show the whole artwork, your canvas shows the currently selected page, and a Timeline of page thumbnails appears. The selected page is underlined in blue.

If the artwork already had several layers, each one becomes its own page. That matters if you turn Page Assist on in a finished illustration: your layers will be split across pages rather than stacked on one. Duplicate the artwork first if you want to keep the original layered file intact.

To switch Page Assist off, repeat the same steps and toggle it off.

How to add a new page

With Page Assist on:

1. Select the page you want to add after by tapping its thumbnail in the Timeline.
2. Tap New Page.
3. A blank page appears immediately to the right of your current page.

Because the new page is inserted next to whichever page is selected, you can build a document in the order you need without appending everything to the end. Check which page is underlined before you tap.

Reading the Timeline

The Timeline works like the Layers panel turned sideways. The bottom layer in the Layers panel is the far-left page, and pages read left to right in chronological order. You can move through it by:

• Tapping a thumbnail to jump to that page
• Dragging the Timeline back and forth
• Flicking it for a fast scroll through long documents

The Layers panel in Page Assist also lists every page as a thumbnail, so you can manage the document from either place.

Add pages by importing a PDF

If you already have a multi-page document, you can bring it in rather than building from scratch. Importing a single PDF while you're in the Gallery opens it straight into Page Assist. There are three ways to import:

• AirDrop: Send the PDF from another Apple device. On the iPad, choose Procreate from the "Open with…" panel and the file lands in your Gallery.
• Import from Files: In the Gallery, tap Import in the top right, browse to the PDF, and tap it.
• Drag and drop: Press and hold a PDF in the Files app, pick it up, and drag it into Procreate.

Two caveats from Procreate's own documentation:

• Importing multiple PDFs at once won't open them automatically. They are saved to the Gallery and you open each one yourself.
• If you already have a Procreate artwork open, the PDF won't open automatically either. Import from the Gallery instead.

This route is useful for annotation work, such as marking up client storyboards, script pages, or animatic sheets directly with Apple Pencil.

Manage pages after you add them

Once you have several pages, a few habits keep the document tidy:

• Use the Layers panel. Pages appear there as thumbnails too. Remember that the bottom of the stack is the first page.
• Duplicate before experimenting. Duplicating the artwork to try an alternative composition is faster than undoing your way back.
• Watch your canvas size. Every page is a full canvas, and Procreate has memory limitations. A large canvas with many pages will run out of headroom sooner than a small one. If you hit limits, reduce the canvas resolution or split the project into several documents.

When Page Assist isn't the right tool

Community discussion around multi-page Procreate work points to two situations where Page Assist falls short.

Two-page spreads and print layouts

If you need an image that spans two pages, such as a spread for print, Page Assist won't join pages together. Instead, make a single canvas sized to the combined width of both pages, plus bleed if the printer needs it. Add a guide layer marking where the pages divide, and paint with that in mind. Turn the guide off before exporting.

Long vertical comics sliced into pages

Webtoon-style strips that get cut into segments also don't map well to Page Assist, which is built for separate canvases rather than slicing one long canvas. The workable approach is to paint on one tall canvas, then duplicate the artwork and crop the copy into sections using guides. Never run the crop and resize action on your only working file. Cropping can occasionally misbehave, and in some cases undo history may not recover, so keep the untouched original.

Export your pages

When you're done, export from Actions > Share. For Page Assist documents, the PDF option under Share Layers exports the document back to PDF, which works well for sharing notes, marked-up documents, and book or comic pages. Check the Share panel on your Procreate version to see which other formats are offered for your document.

Using Procreate pages in a motion pipeline

Many motion designers and animators use Procreate for the early, hand-driven stages: boards, styleframe sketches, character poses, and texture studies. Page Assist is a quick way to hold those in one file, with one page per beat, pose, or composition.

From there, the pages need to move into your real production tools. A reasonable workflow:

1. Build one page per storyboard beat or key pose in Procreate.
2. Export the pages from Procreate (a PDF works for sharing with a client or director).
3. Bring the exported pages into After Effects, Premiere Pro, Blender, Cinema 4D, or Nuke as reference or as layers for comp.

Where AI-assisted generation fits your process, Styleframe is one AI video and motion tool you could use with those exported pages as references. The point is to keep your compositing pipeline as it is and use Procreate for what it does best: hand-made source material.

Troubleshooting common problems

I can't find the Page Assist toggle. Make sure you're inside an artwork, not the Gallery. The setting lives under Actions (wrench) > Canvas.

My layers turned into pages. That's expected behavior when you activate Page Assist on an artwork with multiple layers. Turn it off to return to the layer stack, or work from a duplicate next time.

My PDF didn't open in Page Assist. You're likely importing multiple files, or importing while another artwork is open. Return to the Gallery and open the file from there.

New Page added the page in the wrong place. The page is inserted to the right of the selected page. Select the correct thumbnail first before you tap New Page.

The app slows down with many pages. Reduce canvas dimensions, merge or remove unused pages, or split the project across files.

Summary

To add pages in Procreate, enable Page Assist from Actions > Canvas, then use New Page to add blank pages after your current one. Import a PDF from the Gallery to start with a ready-made set of pages. For spreads or sliced vertical comics, use a single large canvas with guides and crop a duplicate. Once your pages are done, export them as a PDF and carry them into After Effects, Nuke, or a tool like Styleframe as references for the rest of your production.