Turning regular pages into portfolio pages

I'm having an issue with portfolio navigation. I wanted to lay out my projects differently than the default options, which I find super limiting. I talked to chat and they just said to build them manually, by using image blocks etc. So I did that. But I realize now these pages don't have the functionality of portfolio pages, specifically how they link to each other. Is there any way to tell Squarespace these are portfolio pages? I feel like it involves my site structure in the left sidebar, so I attached an image of what that looks like.  

But I realize now these pages don't have the functionality of portfolio pages, specifically how they link to each other

If you need this, let me know. I will send some code, you can add manually on each page & adjust link...

I would love that @tuanphan! Specifically how it is on my current site, with the case study before and after linked at the bottom, just above the footer but below other content blocks. I would like to style the text as well, either in the editor or manually, because by default (as it is here) it's huge. 

I also just noticed another issue - even though I deleted the project pages, there's still a "manage projects" block on my home page that is just a huge empty space, and I don't know how to get rid of it. No trashcan.

4 minutes ago, KaijuCorgi said:

I would love that @tuanphan! Specifically how it is on my current site, with the case study before and after linked at the bottom, just above the footer but below other content blocks. I would like to style the text as well, either in the editor or manually, because by default (as it is here) it's huge. 

I will check agagin & send soon

1 minute ago, KaijuCorgi said:

I also just noticed another issue - even though I deleted the project pages, there's still a "manage projects" block on my home page that is just a huge empty space, and I don't know how to get rid of it. No trashcan.

Can you share link to homepage?

Sure @tuanphan!

https://pineapple-sapphire-khkb.squarespace.com
password: echeveria

Alternatively, how about converting portfolio pages into regular sub pages so they can be navigable in the regular site structure? Has anyone had any experience with that? I'm ditching the Portfolio structure – too limiting, not enough control – and going with regular pages.

@bbowers00 My projects are currently regular subpages under the "work" folder, so they show up in global navigation. If that's what you're looking for, it's super easy! Just make any main page in your global nav (like work, or "projects", "clients" etc) a folder and add regular pages to it. But they don't link to each other automatically like the portfolio pages do in my screenshot above. I'm sure there's a way to do it involving pagination, but I haven't figured it out yet. 

I just ended up adding text links to the bottom of each project. I'll have to update everything manually if I move things around, but I don't have many projects so that's fine.