Pages conversion problem

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Level 1

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Pages conversion problem

I converted a Pages document to Word and sent it to a Gmail address. It was received as a DAT file which couldn't be opened. Can anyone suggest a solution?

iPad Air, iOS 8.1

Posted on Feb 24, 2015 3:50 AM

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Answer 1

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Feb 25, 2015 11:42 AM in response to GwenBD

I came across your post while looking for a solution to my own problem. Using the most recent version of iOS (8.1.3) and the most recent version of Pages (whatever that is) I used the share button (the document with an arrow pointing up) and selected send a copy chose Word. It exported a Word document properly named (test.docx) and put it into a Mail document. I sent it to my google email address, received it, and opened it.

I can't tell you want went wrong but at least I can tell you it worked for me. Can you follow my steps and see the document in an email message? Is it properly named?

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Answer 2

GwenBD Author

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Feb 25, 2015 1:01 PM in response to dwb

Thank you for your reply. Did you look at your received email using Outlook or did you log in to your Googlemail account?

I did exactly the same as you and sent the email with attached .docx document to my Gmail address on my laptop. It arrived in my inbox with the attachment as a DAT file that I couldn't open or save. When I sent it back to the iPad it was received as the .docx file. I then logged in to my Gmail account on the laptop and had a .docx attachment on the email. It looks like it could possibly be an issue with Gmail and Outlook and the handling of .docx files. I have looked everywhere for an answer to the problem but couldn't find anything.

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Answer 3

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Feb 25, 2015 1:07 PM in response to GwenBD

You may have hit on the problem. I accessed the sent file online via my browser, not using Outlook - which I don’t use anyway. At work we’ve seen both the Mac and Windows version of Outlook do some odd things with files sent via the Mac and/or to gmail accounts. If you are going to send files like this to other users you might want to add a message to download from the browser.

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Answer 4

GwenBD Author

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Feb 25, 2015 1:14 PM in response to dwb

I agree. It's not something I would normally want to do thank goodness but it is a bit of a nuisance.

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Answer 5

GwenBD Author

Level 1

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Feb 26, 2015 4:03 AM in response to GwenBD

I believe I have solved the problem! After playing around a bit with my document I have found that it is received as a Word document as long as the title of the document is no longer than 59 characters (incl spaces). Longer than this and the document is received as a DAT file. My original document title contained 65 characters.

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