you need a newer version of pages to open this document

I'm having the same problem and I do not have the new version of pages - I have 4.3. Suddenly files I've already worked with won't open. I get the same message someone posted a screen shot of - "you need a newer version of pages to open this file"! It doesn't make any sense because I'm trying to open the file with the same version of Pages that made the file to begin with, and it hasn't been opened by a newer pages ever because I don't have a newer version!

Nevermind - I'm just confused. I do have 5.1 and the system was trying to open files with 4.3 that had been saved by 5.1.

How many times have we heard that?

In one case it took 20 posts to get the O.P. to actually look in the folder we told him to look in.

Peter

If you are trying to open a saved 5.1 file, there is little point in trying to open it with 4.3 (which seems to be being suggested in another post) as the file format is completely different: .iwa v. xml (iwa = iWorks archive, which contains data split into small chunks suited to streaming).

The consensus seems to be that it is very difficult to open .iwa files in anything other than the application that created it and get a useable document.

During the brief time that I had 5.1, I got the same warnings about needing a newer version, even though the file was a new one created by 5.1 moments before!

I do have old and new Numbers (which gives an option of working on a copy of an "old" Numbers file). The new Numbers also gave the "newer version needed" message, because, I think, the old version was still in the dock. Removing it seemed to end the messages.

If you have 4.3 in your dock, drag its icon off onto the screen to remove it (this won't do anything to the Application file).

Other options to try:

dragging the file onto the 5.1 icon to open it;

opening using the the File>Open menu in 5.1;

right click the file and use "open with..." ;

make sure that the file type is showing Pages 5.1 in "File info";

Barry.

Ditto here on the 5.1 update message. It makes me want to spit in Pages eye when it does this.

Oddly, I have no problem with Numbers 3.1.

I am using it and Pages 5.1 on an iPad Air (iOS7) and Mac Mini Late 2010 (Mavericks 10.9.1.)

Numbers 3.1... no problem.

Pages 5.1... Grrrr!

It acts like a preferences issue. However, when I access preferences in the User Library unlike CS4, 5, 6, and CC or any other application where when the preferences are corrupt I discard them and relaunch the app. There are no preferences in the User Library. I checked in the Pages application Packages and I decided not to goof in there. Still this burns my bisquets!

Apple, fix it.

This is the solution to the vexing problem of the 'need a newer version of Pages...' roadblock.

Simply drag the offending (and unopening) document to the Pages 5.1 icon (the new orange icon) in the dock, and it opens - Presto!

I have no Pages 5.1 installed. There is of course no new orange icon anywhere except where Apple want to put it.

Does this mean, I have no choice but to buy Pages 5.1 ?

Thanks for your suggestion. I got hoodwinked by Apple in that apparently the upgrades to Pages I had downloaded, was actually the new 5.1 Application and did not realize that. I did not pay for it, and so got really quite a surprise when it showed up in my Applications folder. Putting it in the dock and dragging old 4.3 or documents to that, allowed me to open them and work with them. At no time did Apple explain what they were doing, and so obviously messed up me and many others. I am still wondering as to why and how I got selected to get a free copy of 5.1. It was also very misleading by Apple whenever I wanted to open and previous Pages document to direct me to the online store to buy and new version of Pages.

The thread has a lot of info for people that have multiple Pages apps in their computers, but has not addressed when there is only one application installed. Right now I have 5.2 and I get the error message as well. I'm also up to date on the OS with 10.9.2.

This has happened to two computers at our office. Does anyone know if this is somehow associated with Dropbox? I've got another computer that opens it fine (was created using it) and came home and opened the file with that error message.

This is unacceptable as you all can attest...got important documents to work on.

world machine

Re: you need a newer version of pages to open this document

Mar 7, 2014 3:08 PM ( in response to Ribowler)

This is the solution to the vexing problem of the 'need a newer version of Pages...' roadblock.

Simply drag the offending (and unopening) document to the Pages 5.1 icon (the new orange icon) in the dock, and it opens - Presto!

Didn't work for me unfortunately.

If you have been researching this here, you should have come across the file format problems with 3rd party servers such as GMail, Amazon, DropBox etc.

Basically Apple's cross platform file formats are complex, obscure zipped packages and are being misread by the 3rd party software as far as we can tell.

It is a real problem knowing what exactly is going on because this is a rolling beta and Apple's constant changes to both their software and file formats take time to reveal any pattern, let alone for sure bugs.

Peter

This is GARBAGE. I have both versions on my computer, and I get the "You need a newer version..." error even when I try to open documents created and edited solely with the new version of pages. I even went through and reset the default "Open With" program and I still get the error message. I've been using Apple products since Jaguar and know what I'm doing...I don't have time to struggle with this kind of crap.

I'm not that stupid - I know how to open a file with a specific app.

I suspect the problem in this awkward new file-format. If you save the file on a NAS, CloudService or anything other than a native Mac or the iCloud it just breaks the File/Folder-Structure of this c@ap pages-file-format!

Apple is not able to provide file-formats that actually work in the real world of mixed systems…

Another notch downward for Apple software engineers. A Pages file I created on one of several Apple devices I own will not open. A week doesn't go by that I don't have to upgrade some piece of Apple software or install a new operating system (we've run out of animals, now we're onto beaches) in order to open a simple document file. I can't think of one meaningful improvement to any of Apple's core software products in the past 5 years, but I can name several downgrades (Ical, anyone?). ANY Pages document created EVER should open without having to go through the hassle of upgrading EVERY Apple product when you open it. People that hated Microsoft flocked to Apple for this very reason 10 years ago, and now we're back where we started.

not for me either!

i was working on a document when all of a sudden it said: unable to autosave. Then Pages crashed and I was not able to open the document anymore, also getting the message "You need a newer version of Pages to open this document".

I only have Pages 5.2 installed, running 10.9.2.

I need the content of the document for an exam tomorrow, does anyone know a workaround?? Can I somehow get the content of the document?