can't open old pages documents with new download pages

That was not necessary. The icon just links to your application, you could have had both versions.

You could also have opened from the "Recent" menu.

Peter

I just connected with Apple Support and they helped me solve this problem when the support guy used the remote feature and helped me find out how to solve it.

I opened Pages from iWork 09, which is version 4.3.

Then I opened the 09 document and hit "save." NOT "save as." When you hit "save" it automatically saves it in the most recent version of Pages.

Now the old document is saved in the new Pages. I know I should do this with all of my documents but it will take a lot of time, so I'll do it as I need them for now.

I have a lot of faith in Apple Support. If you buy an Apple Care protection plan you have access to their support for a long time with each product. I think it's 3 years.

They have solved every problem I've ever contacted them with.

You have misunderstood what Support said.

It does not matter whether you Save or Save as… so long as you save in the correct version of Pages.

Pages '08 saves in Pages '08 format.

Pages '09 saves in Pages '09 format and…

Pages 5.2 saves in Pages 5.2 format.

The problem in your case was that you probably have Pages '08 files that Pages 5.2 can't open, so Support asked you to resave them from PAges '09, which Pages 5.2 can open.

Another method would have been to Export your Pages '08 files as Word .doc/x files which all versions can open.

Peter

Thanks for the:

PeterBreis0807 wrote:

Another method would have been to Export your Pages '08 files as Word .doc/x files which all versions can open.

Very useful as I don't have Page '09 🙂

Re opening it in Pages on iCloud, that no longer works with the latest iCloud pages version.

Opening the older doc in Preview using "Open with..." in the Finder works well. Good tip.

But you do have free access to Zamzar. Upload your Pages '08 or '09 document and request conversion to Word format. In about 5 minutes, you will receive an email with a link where you can download the converted document. This isn't theory, I have tested this service with both types of documents and it works very well. Both documents opened fine in Pages v5.5.1 on Yosemite.

I opened my old Pages document in Preview, selected All, pasted it into TextEdit > Made Plain Text > then pasted into a new MS Word document. Needless to say, I won't ever use Pages again! Shame...

Preaching to the choir? 😁