Migrating older Pages files from macOS Sierra to Catalina

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Migrating older Pages files from macOS Sierra to Catalina

Hello,

At the moment I have a lot of Pages files created/edited with Pages '09 version 4.3 (1048) or some maybe earlier.

After upgrading to Catalina, will I be able to open and edit all my old files using Pages 8.2.1 (current App Store version)?

Otherwise would I need to use Pages version 7.1 (5683), which I had downloaded in 2018 just in case, to open and save all my Pages files, which would be a lot of work (and also confuse all my files' modified dates)?

I'm asking because I read here and in the App Store reviews that some people were unable to open or save their earlier files!!

Thank you!

iMac 27", macOS 10.12

Posted on Dec 8, 2019 10:09 AM

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Answer 1

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VikingOSX

Level 10

123,230 points

Dec 11, 2019 7:02 AM in response to coxorange

Pages v8.2.1 can open Pages {'06, '08, '09}, Pages v5.0 — v8.2.1, and RTF documents. The proviso is that only if they do not use templates, or application features that are not implemented in the current Pages application, which prevents it from opening them. Otherwise, Pages v8.2.1 (and 7.0 too) will open the documents, but as soon as you attempt to make any change to the older document while opened in Pages v8.2.1, it will descend a sheet asking permission to convert the document to the newer document format. Once this happens, the converted document cannot be opened in a version of Pages older than (presently) v5.6.

Once you allow Pages v8.2.1 to convert the older document, it is now in the current Pages document format, and if any functionality in the older document is not supported by the current Pages, that document content will be either dropped, or mangled. This can adversely impact the original document's expected layout. This is why I suggest having a backup of your original documents, and feeding the current Pages copies of them. Otherwise, you risk destroying the originals.

There is an export to Pages 09 capability, but not to earlier Pages versions, and that export will not restore dropped features during the document conversion. This is the only way back to the older applications, short of export to Word.

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