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User profile for user: BlackCyb3rKitty
BlackCyb3rKitty Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Can't find an older pages document back

I'm very busy on pages and I lost a document.

Normally I can find it back in pages by going to 'recent documents'. I never payed attention to where my macbook saved the document and continued working on different stuff in pages. But now that I need that file back, I can't seem to find it. Not even in the tab 'recent documents'. I can't seem to find it on my macbook either. not by typing in the documents name, not by checking all documents in pages. I'm pretty sure i did never delete it.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 27, 2021 2:57 PM

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User profile for user: Peggy
Peggy
User level: Level 8
41,661 points

Posted on Jun 27, 2021 4:16 PM

Recent documents lists documents that were opened "recently." That "recently" is limited by the number you have set in System Preferences > General (it's at the bottom of the window). This setting is used by most Apple apps & probably many third-party apps. It works for me in LibreOffice & PDFPen to name two. The list is NOT updated to remove the name of any file that has been deleted. If the deleted file is in the Trash you *might* be able to open it.



I have had apps not be able to open documents that have been moved to another drive. In years past you could move a file from one drive to another & the Mac OS could find it. That no longer works consistently for me. Since you are sure you have not deleted the file, try a search in Finder for the file name. A partial name will do. As you may get many results, let the choice to limit to "Name Matches:" your term & select that. Also, make sure the search is set to "This Mac" if you have more than one drive attached.



FWIW: Kayla is my new dog so it was an easy term for me to search on.


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User profile for user: Peggy
Peggy
User level: Level 8
41,661 points

Jun 27, 2021 4:16 PM in response to BlackCyb3rKitty

Recent documents lists documents that were opened "recently." That "recently" is limited by the number you have set in System Preferences > General (it's at the bottom of the window). This setting is used by most Apple apps & probably many third-party apps. It works for me in LibreOffice & PDFPen to name two. The list is NOT updated to remove the name of any file that has been deleted. If the deleted file is in the Trash you *might* be able to open it.



I have had apps not be able to open documents that have been moved to another drive. In years past you could move a file from one drive to another & the Mac OS could find it. That no longer works consistently for me. Since you are sure you have not deleted the file, try a search in Finder for the file name. A partial name will do. As you may get many results, let the choice to limit to "Name Matches:" your term & select that. Also, make sure the search is set to "This Mac" if you have more than one drive attached.



FWIW: Kayla is my new dog so it was an easy term for me to search on.


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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
117,389 points

Jun 28, 2021 8:05 AM in response to BlackCyb3rKitty

If your startup drive is being indexed by Spotlight and you had in Spotlight Preferences > Search Results, the Documents category selected, then the following may find your missing Pages document:


You can do this search in a new Finder window search field, or by using the menu bar 🔍 Spotlight panel. The following will find any Pages document created since (>) Jan 1, 2021:


kind:pages created:>01/01/2021



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Can't find an older pages document back

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