Pages No Permission to Save?!?

Question

Level 1

5 points

Pages No Permission to Save?!?

My MacBook Pro just developed a problem with the Pages app. Now when I try to save a Pages document, a warning pops up saying, "The document ___ could not be saved. The file is locked. Do you want to save your changes to it anyway?"

Then when I attempt to "Save Anyway," I get another warning popping up that says, "You don't have permission to save the file ______ in the folder ____. To view or change permissions, select the item in the Finder and choose File > Get Info."

Then when I press the "OK" button, the title at the top of the document has this added to it: " -- Not Saved" with a bubble below it that says, "The document could not be autosaved. You don't have permission."

Then when I follow their suggestion to Get Info, I can see clearly that in the bottom box, next to my Name, my Privilege is "Read & Write." This is the only Privilege mentioned, not the "Permission to Save."

Any idea how I can give myself "permission to save?" (Failing that, from whom do I need to get permission?)

Thanks for any help here!

P.S. The Pages app works just fine on my iPhone!

[Edited by Moderator]

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Nov 13, 2023 6:03 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

northerndoc

Level 1

5 points

Dec 14, 2023 8:24 PM in response to BillHov

I have the exact same situation. You described it perfectly BillHov.

I suspect this is not all that rare. If you share this experience, please chime in so Apple can get the message.

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Answer 2

Apr 18, 2024 3:28 PM in response to VikingOSX

it's a new problem that came up a little over a year ago. It's 100% an Apple problem and started after an OS update. It happens ONLY with the apple programs (pages, numbers, preview) if you use NON APPLE programs like OpenOffice(which is a freeware) it doesn't have the same problem. and it's been consistent through the last couple updates and across different machines, several iMacs, a MacBook and a couple minis.

Happens regardless of the folder one tries to save it to. Happens when I save to desktop. happens if I try to save to another computer on the network. if I try to save to drive or iCloud. if I try to save to external device. SOMETIMES if you tell it to duplicate(what used to be save as) it will let you do it and then just delete the old file (but that seems dumb and I'd rather just not use apple programs than do that stupidness).

When you "get info" it always says it's NOT locked, even though the error is telling you it is. AND user has read and write permissions.

SO, the best solution I've come up with is to use 3rd party programs since apple can't seem to get its own programs to function on their computers.

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Answer 3

Dec 15, 2023 5:12 AM in response to BillHov

Generalities won't solve this. What operating system and Pages version are you using on your Mac?

Did you use File menu : Save… or option+File menu : Save As, or changed the filename from the Title bar?

Where are you attempting to save this Pages document?

A folder in your home directory
A folder on your Mac outside of your home directory
A mounted USB drive
1. What formatting?
2. Read-only?
iCloud Drive
Google Drive
One Drive
DropBox
Third-party cloud service
Windows file share
Linux SMB share
Mounted Third-party Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Mounted NFS share

I have been using Pages for a very long time across multiple operating systems and Pages versions for over 14 years and not once have I encountered the issue that you report. I either save the Pages document to my home directory, iCloud Drive, and only very occasionally to my mounted Synology NAS share or an FAT32/exFAT formatted thumb drive.

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Answer 4

Feb 14, 2024 10:35 AM in response to BillHov

I have been dealing with the same issue today. After reading this thread and changing my permissions; What I have discovered is that you cannot save the document if you use a template, to a folder on your desktop. You have to save the document in the Pages application. Each time you open pages it will come up.

I am using an imac.

I hope this is useful.

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Answer 5

BillHov Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 14, 2024 11:13 AM in response to grey3ralphie

Thanks, grey3ralphie! I tried creating a new pages document - and it worked!

But I'm still wondering about my already-created pages documents. I don't seem to be able to move or export them to the pages app ...

Appreciate your help!

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Answer 6

Apr 10, 2024 4:44 AM in response to BillHov

Yes! Same problem. Every Pages Document (except newly created ones). The "Locked" Box is UNCHECKED, the Permissions are "Read & Write" but Pages Says "You Do Not Have Permissions" and "This Document Is Locked." HOW CAN I UNLOCK SOMETHING THAT IS ALREADY UNLOCKED? HOW CAN I CHANGE PERMISSIONS WHEN IT SHOWS THAT I ALREADY HAVE CHANGED PERMISSIONS?

I ran disk utility first aid, and no problem. I restart.

THE PROBLEM IS WITH PAGES.

Running Sonoma 14.4.1 on a 2020 MacBook Pro.

Pages Version 14.0

I'm using ALL CAPS because of how few voices here are reporting this.

Thank you grey3ralphie! Thank you BillHov!

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Answer 7

Dec 15, 2023 9:31 AM in response to BillHov

Open a Finder Window and in the sidebar, click once on the Pages application icon and then press option+cmd+i. That will open an information panel where the version number is shown. Beats launching Pages to check its About panel.

Can you save the document to your Desktop, a specific folder on your Desktop or similarly, your Documents folder? Have you in any way changes permissions for your home directory, or that your home directory is actually on an external drive?

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Answer 8

Apr 10, 2024 5:31 AM in response to BJBarbara

Understand that neither Apple, nor any Apple product team participates in these fellow-user supported, public communities. The Pages product team simply will not see your post, so using capitals is just "shouting" at other users. That is why the Pages application menu has a feedback menu item and that goes directly to the Pages product team.

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Answer 9

Apr 10, 2024 6:59 AM in response to BJBarbara

The operating system is sufficiently designed to protect your Mac from malware that there is no need for add-on anti-virus, or any so-called Mac cleaning, or management software. Years of posts in the communities reflect on the adversities these categories of unnecessary software have on normal application and operating system behavior. Any such software should be removed per vendor's uninstall directions.

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