There is no Data Loss!

Basically, any Pages file that has been modified and seemingly "overwritten" can be easily restored to its pre-5.0 state within Pages 5 by clicking File > Revert to > Browse All Versions and then selecting the previous version, clicking Restore and then closing Pages 5.0 without saving. That allows you to open the file in Pages '09 and delete Pages 5. Now everything is back to normal and you can continue using '09 until the feature set is restored.

I'm hoping people will continue to explore and verify this, but I've tried it myself and a few others have verified its validity. I started a thread yesterday but it quickly got buried in the swathes of complaints.

robogobo wrote:

Great! Hopefully this means everyone can get back to their old files and continue working in '09 until the feature set is restored to 5.0. Now we can all stop clamoring about Apple intentionally damaging users' work. I was 1000% sure that wasn't the case. After "Save As" was depricated, Autosave and Version History are part of a normal workflow (except for those who rejected the whole idea of auto save - but Apple didn't), which explains why files were not explicitly duplicated with the upgrade and no warning was issued.

Does this work for you, Peter? If so I hope you can see the value of actually using the product before jumping on the bashing bandwagon.

Karabuni wrote:

Seems to work - I've unplugged the external disk as well as turning off Time Machine. Old versions are there, and not only that, when the restored file is loaded into 5, it looks the same as it did in 4.3., whereas if just the latest one is opened, layout is, er, not right.

The "unrestored" file has layout errors, whereas, the "restored" one still looks OK when reopened, even after making a few changes. This might not be the case if a "removed" feature has been used, such as linked text boxes - they are there but not linked.

You will not be able to open this file in 4.3 if you make changes, as robogobo also said.

So, are the earlier versions inside the new one? Word docs have all sorts of old stuff inside if you open them in BBEdit, especially if the author has used an earlier letter to someone else as a template, and altered the text. Having looked at a 4.3 xml file there isn't any changed/deleted text or other obvious stored changes. So they must be somewhere else, I suppose.

The 5 files are zipped .iwa, and I haven't found anything that the system will allow to open them (unidentified developer).

robogobo wrote:

Could someone please verify this? Basically it would mean the transition from 4.3 to 5 is at least non destructive and we're dealing with a loss of features here but no data loss.

robogobo wrote:

Browse All Versions:

Now I hadn't tried this before, but it was on my todo list. When I first noticed problems with files opened in Pages 5.0, I was simply restoring files from Time Machine in order to get back to the original version for 4.3, thinking it was necessary for version history. But correct me if I'm wrong, Time Machine isn't necessary for browsing documents version history. Is that right? I just tested it and it seems to work with my Time Machine disk disconnected. Can someone verify this?

I just opened an old 4.3 document in 5.0, made some changes, saved and closed it. Then I tried to open it in 4.3 and of course it wouldnt open. So I opened it again in 5.0, went to File > Revert to > Browse All Versions and it opened up the interface, which looks like Time Machine (I always assumed it was) but I think it's not. Anyway, I went back to the old version, hit restore and then closed it without saving. I can now open it again in 4.3 in its original state!

Did everyone already know this? If it's true, then there isn't any permanent damage being done, and everything can be reverted to originals from within5.0. I think this is great news.