Pages 10.3.9 has gotten worse-crashing every time I open it

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Pages 10.3.9 has gotten worse-crashing every time I open it

Running Big Sur 11.2 on my 2020 iMac, Pages has become more or less unusable. Previously, it would not open .docx files (or save them.) Then it starting crashing every time I opened it. I read several similar posts and tried Safe Boot mode. It opened fine and I was able to save both a docx file and a pages file. After restarting in normal mode the crashing behavior resumed. This behavior began when I updated to 10.3.9 Sometimes it will not open at all and I get the application not responding warning at the icon. Other times it will open and then be unresponsive, and still other times it will open and allow me to work, but when I try to save a document it freezes up with the progress bar window at about 25%.

rtvman

Posted on Feb 2, 2021 5:59 AM

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Answer 1

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Alwayswantingtohelp1

Community Specialist

Feb 5, 2021 5:24 AM in response to rtvman

rtvman,

Let's see if the issue persists while using another user account. This will determine if it is a systemwide issue or specific to your original user account. Use the steps from this article to create a new admin user account:

Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac - Apple Support

If the issue also happens when signed into another user account, you may need to contact Apple Support for additional assistance.

Get Support

All the best.

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Answer 2

Feb 4, 2021 7:28 AM in response to rtvman

Hello rtvman,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!

We understand from your post that Pages isn't always opening or letting you save documents. Safe mode allows you to use Pages without it closing and you can save documents, but starting up as normal returns Pages to the previous state. In a situation like this when something works properly in safe mode but doesn't when your Mac is started up as normal, that would be an indication that a third-party program could be interfering. The next step would be to remove login items to prevent them from starting up when your Mac starts up. This article will provide you with steps on how to remove login items:

Remove login items to resolve startup problems on your Mac - Apple Support

Once the login items have been removed, restart your Mac as normal and test Pages again. Let us know how it goes.

Best Regards.

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Answer 3

rtvman Author

Level 1

89 points

Feb 4, 2021 9:00 AM in response to rtvman

More fiddling around with Launch Daemon folder. I must have found the offending plist because suddenly Pages is both opening and saving docx files. It's a bit sluggish, but appears to be saving docx. However, now when I try to save a new file as a pages file, I get this message. Can't very well select permissions for a file I haven't yet created. This is so frustrating.

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Answer 4

rtvman Author

Level 1

89 points

Feb 4, 2021 7:54 AM in response to Alwayswantingtohelp1

I appreciate the suggestion. I only had two login items. I've been running them both prior to the Pages 10.3.9 update. I removed them and restarted. Pages opened normally but stalled on saving a docx file, like before.

I've also looked at the Launch Agents and Launch Daemons folders and eliminated a few things there that were from programs I no longer have without any luck. I should mention I wiped my hard drive, reinstalled Big Sur, and then restored a backup from Time Machine. No luck with that. I really enjoyed using Pages until this issue and have resorted to LibreOffice and Word in the meantime.

rtvman

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Answer 5

rtvman Author

Level 1

89 points

Feb 4, 2021 8:09 AM in response to Alwayswantingtohelp1

For some reason I am unable to edit my last reply. What is happening now is when I try to save a new file via the export as word feature, I get the message- The document “Untitled” could not be exported as “test”. You don’t have permission. Permissions show that I can read and write.

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Answer 6

Feb 5, 2021 8:09 AM in response to rtvman

Pages will continue to crash every time that you open it until you thwart it from using its previous application state on launch. Press and hold the shift key when launching Pages to stop the initial crash, though there may be other factors that lead to another crash.

Pages is not a Word clone, so there may be Word documents (age, damaged, or unsupported content) that Pages cannot open. Pages cannot save Word documents but can re-translate the internal Pages content into Word format using the Export To facility.'

You should be saving Pages documents to your startup drive, Apple's iCloud, or a mounted, writable drive that is formatted case-insensitive HFS+, APFS, FAT32, or exFAT. Apple did not develop Pages to save to Google Drive, DropBox, Microsoft One Drive, or any other cloud service. If you have exhausted your iCloud Drive storage, and have Pages configured to use iCloud Drive, it may bork on you due to that lack of available storage.

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Answer 7

rtvman Author

Level 1

89 points

Feb 5, 2021 8:14 AM in response to Alwayswantingtohelp1

I created another user account and Pages works just fine with that login. I can save and open both pages and docx files. I logged out of that account and logged in to my regular account. Pages was working! I tried logging in straight to my regular account and Pages continues to work now. I logged in and out with both accounts so many times, at one point- logged in to my regular account I was getting the same error messages again. After logging in again to my regular account, it seems to be working again. I will attempt to use VikingOSX's suggestion about the shift key when launching Pages. Thank you!

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Answer 8

rtvman Author

Level 1

89 points

Feb 5, 2021 8:17 AM in response to rtvman

Thanks for the explanation. Know about the shift/launch issue is very helpful. I am only saving to my local drive/desktop. Pages worked under the new user account I setup per Alwayswantingtohelp1's suggestion. After logging back in to my regular account, it now seems to be working again. I will continue to investigate but it seems to be working now.

rtvman

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Pages 10.3.9 has gotten worse-crashing every time I open it

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