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Does Pages in El Capitan Auto Save?

I was working on a document in Pages. Several hours of work. I can't remember if I had saved it. I think I have always been able to find a doc when I re-opened the program before.


I thought Pages had an auto-save.


In looking through Apple discussions I can't find anything more recent than 2011 and Lion discussing this?


I've done a search with Spotlight for an untitled doc but no success.


Any suggestions / information?


I realize that not saving was careless....

Posted on Jul 29, 2016 2:12 PM

Reply
7 replies

Nov 19, 2017 9:57 AM in response to shrumpkin

If you are referring to the hidden Pages Autosave directory path that I mentioned in an earlier post above, you really don't need to be concerned with that location. Pretend that it does not exist.


Save a blank Pages v6.3.1 document to your Desktop. Then, add any default blue shape. Watch the Pages document icon on the Desktop update in about 2 - 8 seconds. That is autosave working.

Jul 29, 2016 2:53 PM in response to Bobolink

When you start a new document in Pages v5, the first thing that you should do is save it with a more intelligent name than “Untitled.pages.” After this initial save, then Pages v5 autosave is activated, and your document is saved about every 10 seconds (local drive) depending on if there were changes or not. Autosave to iCloud Drive does not require much longer time lapse, though this will vary with the network connection between you and Apple servers.


While you are working on an unsaved Pages "Untitled.pages" document, it is stored in the following location as a "Unsaved Pages Document.pages”:


~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iWork.Pages/Data/Library/Autosave Information


In the Finder, you can press shift+command+G and copy/paste that preceding path into the associated Go to Folder dialog. That will let you look in this folder to see if your file information is there.


If you quit Pages before this file is formally saved by you to a normal filesystem location, it will vanish. If Pages were to crash, then this temporary file may not be purged, could be undamaged, and possibly openable.

Jul 29, 2016 2:54 PM in response to VikingOSX

This is so interesting. I followed the path and I'm sure the document is there. It shows a 7.4 MB doc. However, I get a message when trying to open it that it can not be opened "for some reason". Big smile. As I recall, Pages crashed while I was working on it....opened back up at the time with no problem but may have corrupted the file. I've been getting crashes since I recently updated to El Capitan.


Anyway, this is extremely valuable information and I appreciate and will save the information. I will be very careful in the future. Thank you very much.

Jul 29, 2016 3:40 PM in response to Bobolink

Your only potential recourse is to hold down the shift key while launching Pages, and then try to open that document again. Because a crash occurred, the document most likely is corrupted, and useless.


Maybe its time to clear out System caches, and temporary files, rebuild the font database, and scan your drive for errors. You can do all of that automatically by booting into Safe Boot mode. Reboot normally, and afterwards, try opening that document one more time. See if your El Capitan stability improves after a Safe Boot.


You should not be running any form of anti-virus, or any so-called Mac Cleaner applications, as the former is unnecessary (no viruses on the Mac), and the cleaner apps are all to frequently too aggressive and remove important parts of applications and the OS. The Mac has its own security processes running behind the scenes, and the anti-virus software interferes with it, causing pandemonium.


There is an increasing volume of malware being written for the Mac, and I use the free version of this anti-malware application myself without any association, or compensation from the vendor.

Does Pages in El Capitan Auto Save?

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