Pages (5.5) crashes when opening a Word (.docx) file created in Word. This seems to be related to the presence of comments and tracked changes, though short (2p) test documents created in Word on a PC seem to work. Have others experienced this, and is there a fix? This is happening on a MacBook Air running Yosemite.
Using the OS X App Store, update your Pages v5.5 to v5.5.3. Then, retest opening that Word document. Apple added more Word 2013 compatibility into Pages since v5.5.
Thanks. I have Pages 5.5.3 already, so couldn't do what was suggested.
More info: I'm using an existing Word .docx file created by multiple authors on multiple platforms. When I turn off Track Changes and save a short portion (up to 6 pp) of the marked-up Word file (on a PC), Pages (OS Yosemite) can open the file successfully and the markings are visible.
But going longer than ~6 pp causes a crash.
Advice welcome. I will lose access to the PC shortly, so need a workaround. A way to cut up the .docx into shorter pieces, without using Word, would be welcome.
There is possibly some Word content in that .docx that Pages v5.5.3 does not know how to translate into internal .pages format. I suggest that you download the free LibreOffice, and open your .docx in LibreOffice Writer. There is far better Word support in LibreOffice (Writer) than in Pages v5.5.3. You are still not working in the native Word .docx format, but LibreOffice is purposely designed to be an MS Office replacement. There is no provision for opening Pages documents.
After you install LibreOffice (drag/drop), open a new Finder window, and locate the LibreOffice icon in Applications. Launch it, and choose open. OS X will then verify the application, and subsequent launches will not prompt you. The individual LibreOffice applications have documentation that was written in LibreOffice Writer.
Progress: thanks.
I've downloaded LibreOffice and opened the .docx with it. The comments and edits show up, though the visualization is a bit off. (The page numbers are jammed up against the text.) I can edit the LibreOffice version, and can see the revisions tracked.
When I close the document, it saves as a .odt file. This cannot be opened by Pages (and neither can the other formats available on LibreOffice). When I move the file to a PC, MS Word does open the .odt file. But now the changes I've made are not tracked: they simply appear as text.
So we are closer, but not there yet. My coauthors (who use Word) will not be able to see the changes I've made as tracked.
I'm wondering if the original problem can be approached from another direction: since short .docx documents (up to ~5 pp) can be opened in Pages, including the markups, perhaps the crashing is due to a buffer overflowing. Is there a way to modify Pages so that the problematic buffer is larger? Surely I am not the first person to have experienced this problem. Does Apple pay attention to this discussion forum, or is there another way I can seek help from them?
Thanks again for your assistance. It was certainly interesting to learn about LibreOffice.
LibreOffice offers several Save/Save As document formats including .doc, .docx, and its default open document format (.odt). I just opened a .docx, and when I chose Save As…, the same filename was offered, and the default file type was Microsoft Word 2007/2010/2013 XML (.docx). Therefore, you should be able to save in .docx format and share with other Word (or Pages) users.
In the LibreOffice Preferences, the Load/Save General category has a selection box (bottom of the panel) where you can change the default Save format from ODF to the above Microsoft .docx format.
And if the monochrome toolbar gets you down, the LibreOffice Preferences : LibreOffice : View lets you change the icon style and view. I set mine to Tango to add some modest color toolbar icons back.
OK, good. Thanks again!
Pages crashes opening .docx
