Lost pages documents

Question

Level 1

15 points

Lost pages documents

I Just opened pages on my iPad to discover that all my documents are gone, including some pretty important ones. Has anyone else experienced this? is there a known recovery options?

iPad, iOS 8.3

Posted on Jul 26, 2015 9:01 AM

Reply

Answer 1

May 4, 2017 7:42 AM in response to wrigjef

similar experience.

yesterday about 40 documents in pages.Today none.

spoke to Apple - nothing in I cloud.

will send copies to I tunes or something in future and maybe point out a hard copy of the documents.

defeats the whole purpose.

and now getting message that auto save is not operating on the pages app?

From a novice user

Reply

Answer 2

norm123

Community Specialist

Jul 28, 2015 7:38 AM in response to wrigjef

Hello wrigjef,
Sorry to hear that you are not seeing your documents in Pages for your iPad, but let's see if we can help find them.
If you are using iCloud, ensure that iCloud is turned on for Pages as if it was turned off. This would explain why you do not see any of your documents in Pages. Start with the link below to walk you through ensure that Pages is setup with iCloud.
Use iCloud with Pages
http://help.apple.com/pages/ipad/2.5/#/tan79be8e93
Also if the documents were deleted while you were using iCloud, you can recover documents by going to iCloud.com on a computer. Once you log on, navigate to Settings > Data & Security and browse the Recover Documents tab to recovery any deleted documents. For more information, take a look at the next article.
iCloud Drive FAQ
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201104
Lastly, if you did not use iCloud and the documents were stored locally on your iPad, then you will need to rely on the back up that you would have in iTunes. If you have a recent back up of when the documents were on it, take a look at the link below to walk you through that restore process. Keep in mind that the back up will replace the contents of what is currently on your iPad.
Restore your device from an iCloud or iTunes backup
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204184
Take it easy

Reply

Answer 3

wrigjef Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:02 AM in response to norm123

I ended up calling apple support and finally determined that I did not have an icloud back-up. Our only resort was to plug it in and restore off of a month old itunes back-up (better then nothing). Before performing that restore, the tech had me perform a full icloud back-up then a new itunes backup. It was only after I had hit the button that I realized that we had just overwritten the month old back-up (that had the documents) with a new one (that did not have the documents). The tech then made sure that I had icloud back-up turned on for the future then rather sheepishly but very politely ended the call.

Reply

Answer 4

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:05 AM in response to wrigjef

If you also have a computer connected to iCloud and you back that up your Pages documents will be in that backup.

Reply

Answer 5

wrigjef Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:07 AM in response to Csound1

Nope. I lost them.

Reply

Answer 6

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:08 AM in response to wrigjef

Lost what, your computer?

Reply

Answer 7

wrigjef Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:29 AM in response to Csound1

Lost the documents. Pages on the computer was not synced with pages on the ipad till we made a change in settings after the documents were already gone. Since the documents never were on pages on the computer, they were not in my time machine back-up either. We looked everywhere my documents gone. Unless there is a super secret trash can hidden on the ipad, they are gone. since I do not recall ever deleting them myself (a couple of them were pretty important), my best guess is that they were erased when an update happened, I have it set to run updates automattically). My hardware, imac and ipad are just fine. I'm trying to do my best to re-create the documents but, eventhough I think we have addressed similar future inncidents, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be in pages.

Reply

Answer 8

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:32 AM in response to wrigjef

There is no super secret trash, either you preserve your documents by backing them up or you don't, You chose not to, possibly not the best decision.

Reply

Answer 9

wrigjef Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:37 AM in response to Csound1

Ya I wish every "decision" I made was a well thought out educated one. I think you might be on to something though if mistakes are bad decisions then accidents would be as well. Just imagine traffic accidents are really just bad driving decisions.

Reply

Answer 10

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:39 AM in response to wrigjef

Yes, I agree with that last statement.

Reconsider your backup strategy going forward lest this happen again.

Reply

Answer 11

wrigjef Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:41 AM in response to Csound1

Assuming you are from Apple, it might be good to reconsider the default settings on pages and to be more careful about pushing updates that delete content

Reply

Answer 12

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:43 AM in response to wrigjef

Making assumptions got you to this place, and this last assumption of yours is also incorrect.

Carry on as you are, it's your data to lose.

Reply

Answer 13

Demo

Level 10

166,494 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:49 AM in response to wrigjef

Remember something about using iCloud only with any of the compatible apps. If you delete the documents on ANY device - whether by accident or intentionally - the documents are gone. If you download the files to the Mac and then delete them anywhere, you will still have the files on the Mac and if you backup with Time Machine, they will be in those backups as well.

Please take this in the spirit in which it is intended. NEVER rely solely on any cloud solution for backups. Make sure that you have copies of your important files, photos, etc. on your Mac and also on another backup drive.

Reply

Answer 14

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:54 AM in response to Demo

It is important to realize that documents only stored in one location have no backup, and if that location is online ....... recovery will be extremely unlikely.

Apple provide some of the best backup tools in the business, if only people used them.

Reply

Answer 15

Demo

Level 10

166,494 points

Jul 28, 2015 9:01 AM in response to Csound1

Csound1 wrote:

It is important to realize that documents only stored in one location have no backup, and if that location is online ....... recovery will be extremely unlikely.

Apple provide some of the best backup tools in the business, if only people used them.

I understand, I have the tools and I do use them.

Reply