Pages 5.1, tried everything, file won't open. Need it to open or my MA is gone

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RicardoQz Author

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Pages 5.1, tried everything, file won't open. Need it to open or my MA is gone

Ok.. so I created a document using Pages like 1 month ago and saved it on iCloud...

Then I started typing... and typing... and typing... (and saving obviously).

Everything was OK until a couple of hours ago - and the I panicked...

The file didn't open... Around 60 pages gone...

Tried everything and the darn thing always says "[NAME] can't be opened"

I have no idea if I created the file using Pages 5 or 5.1... right now I have Pages 5.1 because I'm guessing it auto-updated when it got released.

I took the file off iCloud, I have it now on my Desktop - still won't open.

Created several copies and started messing with the Package Contents - still won't open.

Uploaded it again to iCloud - still won't open.

Took it off iCloud (again), erased all my files from iCloud (using the Systems Preferences) - still won't open.

Sent a copy to my iPad, updated my iPad's Pages, tried to open the file - still won't open.

Uninstalled Pages, re-installed it again - still won't open.

To be honest I really don't mind re-typing the entire thing... therefore, is there anyway that I can (somehow) open the thing or export it to PDF or JPEG or whatever?????... I just don't wanna do the entire analysis from scratch.

Or is anybody there that can help - maybe you can somehow open the file, export it to PDF and email me the PDF...???

// Help :'(

Cheers

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), Pages 5.1

Posted on Feb 21, 2014 9:49 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 21, 2014 10:59 PM in response to RicardoQz

No consolation but this is exactly why commonsense precludes working in Pages and iCloud.

iCloud multiplies the chances of something going wrong and being synced with every other version.

Do you have Time Machine? That is probably your only hope to get a reasonably recent version that is salvagable.

The Pages 5 format is bloated, impenetrable and constantly changing to be yet another incompatible version.

There are tricks to get something out of the Pages '09 files but none that I know of for Pages 5.

Peter

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Answer 2

RicardoQz Author

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Feb 21, 2014 11:08 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Peter:

I know, "commonsense" should be... commonsense...

But when Uni says "You have 2 months to finish your Dissertation" the last thing on my mind was "Oh, yeah - I should not upload it to iCloud"... (a bit of tongue and cheek there).

Anyway... So, basically you are telling me that there is no way to fix things until Apple fixes Pages 5.1, right?

(And even if they fix the problems I'm guessing my file is simply "corrupted"?)

Cheers,

Rick

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Answer 3

Feb 21, 2014 11:24 PM in response to RicardoQz

Sadly Apple has probably as little idea of what to do about such failures as us.

The Pages 5 file format is fiendishly complicated and I strongly suspect is not doing everything it is supposed to synch smoothly between multiple versions, network protocols and devices.

As a Studio Manager I studiously avoid over-complexity and multiple handling at all costs.

I certainly do not put all my eggs in one dubiously supported basket.

If you manage to salvage something I recommend you get it out of Pages.

LibreOffice looks the best bet at the moment. But whatever you do keep the constituent parts separate for reassembly: ie text, graphics, charts and links.

Peter

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Answer 4

Feb 21, 2014 11:26 PM in response to RicardoQz

You are absolutely certain that you are using Pages 5.1 to try and open it?

Because anything earlier, even Pages 5.01, won't.

Peter

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Answer 5

RicardoQz Author

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Feb 21, 2014 11:35 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Yup... Uninstalled Pages and re-installed it and I'm sure I have now Pages 5.1...

And about your previous answer... Yup, I know I did something stupid... But again, when someone says "Type or die"... well, there is nothing I can do apart from focusing on typing hahaha

Anyway.. No worries.. I'm guessing I will have to start from scratch... 😟

Thanks for your comments.

Cheers

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Answer 6

Jeff Shenk

Level 4

2,993 points

Feb 22, 2014 4:12 AM in response to RicardoQz

It would be a long shot, but have you tried QuickLooking the file? (Select the file in the Finder and hit the Space bar.) It is unlikely that that will work if Pages can't open it, but if it does work it might at least help when retyping the thing.

It isn't too difficult to open a Pages 5.1 document package to get to the preview, but unlike Pages '09, which had a PDF preview of the entire document, Pages 5.1 just has a .jpg preview of the first page, so that doesn't help much.

In addition to Peter's comments about document security, for an important document (which this seems to be) it would be a good idea to make periodic copies of the file, so that if the main copy does become corrupt, you have something to fall back to. Apple's Versions system won't work for this, because it requires a document that can be opened in order to have access to the older versions.

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Answer 7

RicardoQz Author

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Feb 22, 2014 2:57 PM in response to Jeff Shenk

Hey Jeff,

Yeah, tried everything... Nothing worked...

I obviously panicked, which is why I tried everything under the sun... but everything is cool now...

(truly amazing what a proper sleep can do ... you can go from: "$%&/()=?=)(/&%$%&/" to "whatever" )

I normally have backups (for example, I have a PSD which is backed up in 9 different places)... but as I said, there was no time to think "Oh, yeah, Pages is gonna become unstable within the month" or something.

Anyway... Thanks Jeff and Peter, at least you gave me some peace of mind.

Cheers

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Answer 8

Feb 22, 2014 5:20 PM in response to Jeff Shenk

Let's not forget about Preview on Mavericks. Opens and displays multi-page, Pages v5.1 documents.

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Answer 9

RicardoQz Author

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Feb 22, 2014 5:30 PM in response to VikingOSX

Hey VikingOSX,

Thanks for the suggestion - I forgot to mention that I had also tried that and it says "The file [NAME] could not be opened because it is empty"

So, again... No idea how to fix it...

Pages works fine.. I started a new file, saved it on my Desktop, and I haven't had any further problems (I only have 3 pages and no images/graphs/etc)... so maybe iCloud couldn't handle a 6MB document or I don't know... I'm not an IT person...

There should be an App for this kind of stuff - I would gladly buy it... An App that could just go inside a .pages document and read all the metadata or whatever and produce a simple .txt file...

I would call it "Crash, Burn and Survive"

So, any IT guys out there wanna make money? Help idiots like me hahaha

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Answer 10

Feb 22, 2014 7:13 PM in response to RicardoQz

Check the actual file size, if it is zero then it has gone to kaka. Or it is an alias or something else.

Peter

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Answer 11

RicardoQz Author

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Feb 22, 2014 7:25 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Hey Peter,

The file's size is still 5.9 MB... When I open it using the "show package contents" there is a folder named "data".. inside that folder I can find all the images that I included in the file...

However, when adding up all the files individual weights I get around 4MB....

So, there are around 2MB of stuff somewhere inside the "package"... I'm hoping that those 2MB are all the "whatever" files that contain the actual text...

Anyway... As this discussion is public I would like to invite IT people to think about what I said in my previous post... I honestly would pay .. I don't know.. $25, $50, $100 USD on the App Store if there was an App that would do just that...

I mean... seriously.. how many people have lost months of work because of stupid buggy releases?

In my case, I don't mind re-formatting the text, adding all the images and tables.. that's not my problem... my problem is: I lost the analysis...

Anyway... I'm rambling.. It's 3:23 AM...

Hopefully someone will come up with something

Cheers

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Answer 12

Feb 22, 2014 7:44 PM in response to RicardoQz

Click on my blue name and email me the file.

No promises but I'll see what I can do.

Peter

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Answer 13

RicardoQz Author

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Feb 22, 2014 7:47 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

OK... Thanks.. will do now

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Answer 14

Feb 22, 2014 11:15 PM in response to RicardoQz

Thanks Ricardo

I got the file. It is unopenable in Pages 5.1.

I opened the package and did a bit of research on the Net as to the problems/solutions (basically none) for the .iwa format.

I tried to disassemble and reassemble the package but it still wouldn't open.

1. I take it you are fine with the images which I had no trouble opening.

2. The preview file is just the cover as 3 sizes of .jpg

3. I was able to get into the Document.iwa file inside the Index.zip and recognised snippets of Spanish and numerical bits probably from your tables/charts. If you want to do the same, and might be able to recognise some of it, use TextWrangler or similar Texteditor.

I couldn't find much in the Tables .iwa files or other files.

You didn't by any chance password (encrypt) the document?

Peter

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Answer 15

RicardoQz Author

Level 1

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Feb 22, 2014 11:28 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Hey Peter,

I´m glad to hear you got the file.

1. Indeed, I had no problems with the images - I know they are there.

2. Yup...

3. I will look into that later and see if I can salvage some info..

Nope, I didn´t password-protect the fle.

If it can´t be opened then it can´t be opened... It´s ok.. I might be able to get more time to finish it thanks to this convo - i.e. I can just simply show the file to my supervisor (even if it doesn´t open) as well as this convo and let him know that really knowledgable people tried to help me and it didnt work...

So yeah.. everything is cool

Thank you anyway

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