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Pages not opening documents in Big Sur

Hi, all. I have just updated to Big Sur and Pages will not open my old Pages documents. Pages will open and create a new document, but it will not open documents created in Catalina -- UGH!!! I found a way around it for the moment, until they make an update. I share the old document by sending it to email, then open the email attachment, copy it, and paste it into a new Pages document. I hope they put out a new Pages update soon that fixes this bug!

Posted on Nov 13, 2020 10:20 AM

Reply
99 replies

Nov 16, 2020 9:44 AM in response to Barbara Smits

Did you clean the caches in ˜/Library/Caches as explained here


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252035709?answerId=253882551022#253882551022


?


Please, try this:

  • Open ~/Library/Caches
  • Trash all folders in the Caches folder (not the folder itself, just the folders inside)
  • Reboot
  • Empty the trash
  • Copy the file on an external disk
  • Open Pages
  • Open file on external disk using Pages open menu voice


If the app crashes again, please post here the full errors page

Nov 18, 2020 5:33 AM in response to lieuhomes

It sounds as if you found a solution, but be careful, folks -- the following is from Apple: I'll still wait for them to solve the problem until I'm in dire need! I surely would hate to mess up Mail, Calendars, Contacts, etc., etc., because that would be a nightmare. Check further about the consequences of turning off iCloud and see if it is worth it! I'm just sayin' ...


"When you turn off an iCloud feature on a device, information stored only in iCloud for that feature is no longer available on the device. If you turn off Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Notes, Reminders, or iCloud Photos on just one device, you can still view and change your information on iCloud.com and on another device you set up for that feature.

Sometimes when you turn off an iCloud feature on a device, you can choose to keep a copy of the feature’s information on that device. The copied information isn’t kept in sync with iCloud. If you turn off Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and Tasks in iCloud for Windows on a Windows computer, information stored in iCloud remains available in Microsoft Outlook, but it isn’t kept up to date with your other devices. 

Before you turn off a particular feature on all of your devices, or before turning off iCloud completely, you can make a copy of the information you keep in iCloud on your computer. If you want to delete information and backups stored in iCloud, learn how to manage your iCloud storage."

Dec 3, 2020 12:11 AM in response to Barbara Smits

The problem seems to be “iCloud related”, so I found a couple of solutions that work:

  • copy the file outside of the Macintosh HD (i.e. to a usb key) and open the copy
  • deactivate the iCloud Desktop/Document folders sync: ATTENTION!


The second option will delete your file from your HD, so it's a good idea act in this way:

  • copy/move ALL files and folders IN THE Desktop folder TO another folder (i.e. the Download folder), better if you choose an external disk
  • copy/move ALL files and folders IN THE Documents folder TO another folder (i.e. the Download folder), better if you choose an external disk
  • deactivate iCloud Desktop / Documents folder sync (you will see an alert about deleting the files in that folders from your HD, but you have a copy)
  • when Desktop and Documents folder will be "local" again (/Macintosh HD/Users/yourusername/Desktop and no more iCloud/Desktop) you can restore your files and folder to Desktop / Documents (now local folders)
  • open files as usual with Pages

Dec 20, 2020 6:43 AM in response to Barbara Smits

I had this very same issue in Big Sur and have just figured it out. Hopefully this can work for you and others if the email thing doesn't help.


I too had a full I cloud storage and was attempting to open a document from there which was causing my pages app to crash. I tried clearing up some room in storage but that did nothing (except reveal how much useless crap I had kept this whole time).


When iCloud storage is full, your mac will save documents locally that would've otherwise been saved in that iCloud volume.


Try the following steps:

  • open finder
  • locate iCloud Drive folder (it'll be in the sidebar below Desktop, Downloads, etc)
  • locate document you wish to open and move elsewhere like desktop etc
  • Voila! You should now be able to open your doc without crashing pages

Nov 13, 2020 2:18 PM in response to VikingOSX

I'm attempting to open pages documents created with the latest Pages update, but don't forget that Pages is crashing without even trying to open a document -- it crashes before you get to open or create anything! In fact, Pages gave me trouble with its latest update, before updating to Big Sur, but the problem seemed to clear up by itself.


Nov 15, 2020 11:58 AM in response to Barbara Smits

Hi, I had the same problem. What you can do to bypass the problem is send the pages document via email to yourself, then open the attachment from your email (you don't even need to send the email just click on the attachment once its uploaded). Just for peace of mind I would recommend copying and pasting the existing text into a new pages document to make sure you don't lose anything.


hope this helps.

Nov 16, 2020 11:31 AM in response to AlchemyLab

Dear AlchemyLab -- Not to question your solution, but I'm a bit skeptical about trashing ALL of the folders in Library/Caches (WOW!) and would rather wait for Apple to fix the problem. I actually don't even have a cache folder for Pages or Numbers, just a document of some sort in the Caches folder/file -- but I have been told in this forum that not every software program has a cache folder. Thanks!

Pages not opening documents in Big Sur

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