converting Word docs to Pages
Help! How do I convert Word docs (migrated from my ancient iMac) to Pages on my new imac with macOS Mojave?
You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
Help! How do I convert Word docs (migrated from my ancient iMac) to Pages on my new imac with macOS Mojave?
Thank you all. Apple Support and I discovered a simple solution: Pages can open any of my old Word documents so long as it has the .doc extension on the name. I get the "cannot open" message if the name of the document does not have that extension.
So, for any document I want, I add that and it opens. And if I hit "Save" it is saved as a Pages document, as well as dropping back in as a .doc.
Thank you all. Apple Support and I discovered a simple solution: Pages can open any of my old Word documents so long as it has the .doc extension on the name. I get the "cannot open" message if the name of the document does not have that extension.
So, for any document I want, I add that and it opens. And if I hit "Save" it is saved as a Pages document, as well as dropping back in as a .doc.
Pages is not a Word clone, but will open uncomplicated Word documents that it can translate to the internal Pages format without failure, or that are not too old. I have a 1995 Word 6 document that Pages v8.1 says it cannot read, but LibreOffice v6.3.0.4 can. Pages v8.1 can open a 2000 Word document though.
If you want the closest MS Word compatibility, or insurance for opening older Word documents, then I recommend using LibreOffice v6.3.0.4.
Thanks but it doesn't work. I just get "Can't be opened right now. Pages can't read the file." Which is interesting because I can read the documents by selecting them and hitting space bar. But I can't do anything but read it -- no copying, no printing -- and when I try, I get the same "Pages can't..." message.
Yes, Pages does need a proper file extension on the Word document, though you should first check to be certain that macOS is not simply hiding the extension in the Get Info panel.
As you can see from the dialog above, if the document is too old, even the upper, or lower case .doc extension will not matter and Pages will simply refuse to open the document. In this case, still a valid reason to keep a current release of LibreOffice installed.
Here is the Pages v8.1 dialog I get with this vintage 1995 Word document:
Have you tried launching Pages and then opening the Word doc? You should be able to right-click a word document within Finder and select Open with... Pages.
A tool I have found is able to work with a lot of old file formats is LibreOffice.
Thanks to both for suggesting Libre Office v6.3.0.4. I'll give it a try when LO has solved the security problem.
The security problem was in 6.2.5 and is resolved on the Mac in 6.3.0.4.
converting Word docs to Pages