pages and numbers disappeared after wiping computer for sale to another person

If you previously installed Pages, Numbers, or Keynote since Oct 2013 from the Mac App Store, then you can get the last compatible versions (11.1) from the Mac App Store again, provided you sign in with the same Apple ID as you did previously.

In 2014 and for some time later, Apple would bundle (not part of the operating system) these applications with new Mac purchases and I believe one had to sign into the Mac App Store and "activate" each application before using it. That may further be the qualification to the first sentence, or not.

On macOS Catalina, launch the Mac App Store and sign in with your Apple ID (unless your and your husband are sharing the same ID). Press cmd+0 (zero) to open the Purchased panel, and if your luck is still holding out, you will see each of these applications on that panel with an adjacent download symbol:

which indicates that you can install the application. Click that icon and a dialog will appear asking if you want to install the last compatible version of that application for macOS Catalina. Click OK and the installation will proceed.

I do not have an Mac App Store recovery scenario for the circumstance where Apple pre-installed the applications in that purchase timeframe and they are not tied to your Apple ID.

If you have these applications backed up on a previous Catalina Time Machine drive, then possibly you can restore the individual applications to the current Catalina /Applications folder:

• Turn off Time Machine in System Preferences > Time Machine
  • Eject the current Time Machine drive
• Connect the old Catalina Time Machine backup drive
  • In the Finder Favorites sidebar, select Applications and then launch the Time Machine application in that folder.
    • On the Time Machine Finder-like window, switch to Applications and then move your mouse pointer over the time increments on the right-side of the screen. Click on some of these and see if Pages or Numbers appears in the visible Applications window.
    • When either application appears, press option+cmd+i to open an information panel and see if it is version 11.1 of either application. If both applications appear and are v11.1, press the cmd-key and click both applications to select them and then click the Restore button. They should end up on your Mac in the /Applications folder.

If none of this works, then I recommend contacting Apple Support for a possible solution they may have where they pre-installed the applications and they are not associated with your Apple ID.

If the current operating system is Ventura or later, you can get the current (v13.2) versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote from the Mac App Store. If you have installed these applications previously, you can sign into the Mac App Store using the identical Apple ID, and then for Mojave and later (e.g. Catalina -> Monterey) press cmd+0 (zero) to see the Purchased panel. If the applications are there, you can install the last compatible version available for your operating system. See my post above. There is no other means to install these applications on a version of macOS older than (currently) Ventura.

Pamela,

Pages v11.1 is 642.6 MB and Numbers v11.1 is 579 MB. How you could have wiped that Air with a 120 GB drive, reinstalled the operating system, and ended up with only 25.4 MB of remaining storage is a mystery to me, and is why you don't have sufficient storage to restore either Pages or Numbers until you liberate more storage.

That 25.4 MB available storage is barely enough to let you run the operating system and once that storage is consumed, the Mac will no longer boot without wiping it again and requiring a clean install.

If you have items in the Trash, empty them.

Click that Manage… button and wait until all of the spinning updates are done on each category. Click Review Files in the Reduce Clutter section of that panel. That will show you by descending size, Large files, downloads, etc. which may reveal big things you can remove to free more storage.

Or, you can schedule time with the nearest Apple Store, or Apple Certified Service Center to do this for you. Something is not right about the process you appear to be using to arrive at that critical storage level.

I have same issue, but mine is the result of an Apple Service center doing a transfer of files from new computer to old one. Old one no longer has Pages, Numbers, or Keynote any longer and says new version will not load. Thank you Apple Service Center

And see if they can facilitate your installing Pages and Numbers v11.1 for Catalina, too… 😎

Good luck.