How do I open greyed out pdf in iPages on my iPad

Okay...

If using the file-browser within the Pages App (per your screenshot - it says “Pages” at the top of the left-hand browser pane), any files that are “greyed-out” are not compatible with - and cannot be opened by - the Pages App. Only files that Pages can open are not ghosted.

If instead you open the native Files App on your iPad (at the top of the left-hand browser pane it will say “Browse”) and navigate to the same location/path in your filesystem - all files in this path will be accessible; the PDF files will not be greyed-out - and can be opened by your iPad using its native PDF reader.

The “subtle” differences between the file-browser of Pages (also applies to the Keynote and Numbers productivity Apps) and the full Files App often catch-out the unwary.

If you wish, you can also install one of the dedicated PDF Apps that are available within the Apple App Store - one of the best known and recognisable being Adobe Reader (which is also essentially free). This will provide an alternative App with which to open PDF files.

Does this answer your question and solve the problem?

Where are you attempting to open your PDF from - the Files App - the file browser within the Pages App - or from a Share-sheet?

If you can post a screenshot here, it might help to illustrate your problem.

Here is a link to the online iPad User Guide for iPadOS - and the process to take a screenshot. Your iPad may have a different iOS version (?) but the principal is the same:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/ipad/ipad08a40f3b/ipados

Once you have your screenshot image, you can attach it here using the little “picture” icon that you’ll find on the bottom egde of this “reply” window.

If the Files icon is not on one of your Home screens, or on the Dock at the bottom of the screen, then you can use the iPad Search function to find it.

To search the iPad from any Home screen, simply, touch the screen - anywhere except near the edges - and “drag” your finger downwards; the Search dialogue will appear at the top of the screen.

In the Search box, just type “files”; you should see the Files icon (and if hidden in a folder, its location) as the first item.

So your original problem is now solved?

As to your new questions...

Without knowing the precise workflow that was adopted - and the specific details of any file attachments, it is difficult to speculate on any observed behaviours. The native Mail app makes internal decisions based upon file-type and file-size (and, occasionally such as how the wind was blowing last Sunday); I’m not being facetious, but very often with the Mail App it is difficult to predict exactly how an attachment will be handled.

Remove Alibaba App if u have installed it in your mobile, i had the same problem and after removing alibaba it started working .

Thanks .

The reply concerning “alibaba”, although well intentioned, relates to a completely different problem seen with these user communities. Safe to say that it’s not at all relevant to your question.