Hello,
I've previously purchased Apple Pages and Numbers for use on an iMac running El Capitan. Now I've upgraded my macbook pro to El Capitan, and would like to upgrade these programs, but at the App Store I'm only offered a newer version still, which requires Sierra. How do I get at the versions I need? Thanks, Robert
MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)
I was in a similar boat w/ Numbers, and found this thread after a search. The fact that the App Store on a Yosemite system won't offer a compatible version of Numbers, instead insisting on Sierra, is infuriating and unfriendly. If you have access to 2 systems, you might be able to do what I did: on another system w/ Sierra, I "purchased" Numbers to add it to my App Store account. Then after installing on that system, I went back to Purchases on my Yosemite machine, clicked Install, and only THEN did it offer to install the earlier, compatible version.
Hope this helps someone trying to do the same thing...
Thx,
Fred
This is similar to what I've suggested since Pages 5 came out for those who wanted the iWork '09 apps. As you said, you do need access to two systems. The second system can be on another Mac or an external drive you can boot from. This can work with any version of OS X from Lion or newer & will get you the latest versions of the apps for that OS. You could even do it on multiple OSes by booting into different drives. Snow Leopard won't work even though the Mac App Store is available for 10.6.6 or newer.
"If any version of the iWork apps are installed on that older Mac, compress them & delete the originals. Launch the Mac App Store & log in with the Apple ID you used to purchase the new versions then click on the 'install' buttons under the iWork apps. You will get a message that you can't install the new version on this Mac but it will offer to download the previous version for you. Voilá, you have the self-contained apps that you can copy to another Mac."
Have you tried clicking the icon in the Mac App Store to see what happens? In the past the Mac App Store will tell you that version won't run on your OS & offer to download the last compatible version. I don't think that has changed but I don't have a Mac running El Capitan to try.
I believe that you can click on the "Purchased" tab at the top and see all of you previous purchases including older versions of apps and even older Mac OSs.
Hello Peggy, Thanks for your interest.
On the App Store 'Purchased Page' there seem to be two things I can do regarding Pages, and the same two for Numbers. In a column on the right, some previously purchased apps have a button labeled 'DOWNLOAD', and some have a button labeled 'INSTALL'. But for Pages and Numbers the button is labeled 'OPEN'. When I press either, it causes the existing, older version, already installed on the computer, to open. Specifically, in the case of Pages, version 4.3. I'm supposing that the version I use on my iMac, 5.6.2 which I upgraded to when I upgraded the OS on that machine to El Capitan, would be more appropriate.
The other choice is that one can click on the name 'Pages', or its icon. Then I'm taken to a page describing the newest version, 6.0, which requires the Sierra OS. On that page there is an 'Update' button. When pressed, this causes a small wheel to spin near the left edge of the window's grey title bar, apparently indefinitely. The same thing happens with Numbers. This may be just as well, since these windows only seems to deal with version 6.0 (or 4.0 for numbers), and give no hint of a way to access other versions.
So, still stuck, any other idea how to move forward? Thanks
Specifically, in the case of Pages, version 4.3. I'm supposing that the version I use on my iMac, 5.6.2 which I upgraded to when I upgraded the OS on that machine to El Capitan, would be more appropriate.
Stick with what works. Pages 4.3 is by far the best version. There were 110+ features that didn't make it into the "new & improved, rewritten from the ground up” Pages 5. Some have returned with the updates & there are some new features that are worthwhile, but there are still 100+ features missing. Pages 6 has only added the collaboration features. Much the same applies to Numbers 3 & 4.
If you do want to use Pages 5.6.2 & Numbers 3.6.2 & have access to those versions on your previous Mac or a backup (Time Machine or clone), you can just copy them over to the MacBook Pro. You will need to enter your Mac App Store ID & password the first time you launch the apps.
Peggy's advice about Pages '09 (updated to v4.3) is sound.
The last time that I received the gift of an older Pages update from the OS X App Store was on a Mountain Lion system after Mavericks and Pages v5 were released. It told me that I could not install Pages v5 on Mountain Lion, and then asked if I would like to update my Pages '09 application (from 4.2 to 4.3).
I have not experienced this benevolent offering of an older version of Pages when a newer version exists in the App Store since. There were several posts in the Pages for Mac community from those still on Mavericks, that had not updated to Pages v5.2.2, before Apple released Yosemite, and the Pages v5.5 requirement for it. Those on Mavericks with Pages versions older than v5.2.2 were marooned at their current version.
Pages 5.6.2, Numbers 3.6.2, and Keynote 6.6.2 required OS X 10.10.4+ or El Capitan. Now that Apple has released new major versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote; and upped their requirement to macOS Sierra, I suspect that no one will be able to access any previous versions of these applications, regardless of past purchase history.
Hello Peggy,
Yes, I'm aware that the new versions are not exactly improvements. However, I have now become accustomed to using them, I don't seem to have run across anything missing that I can't live without, I'd like to keep my applications, and their documents, as consistent as I can between my two computers, and I suspect that in at least some ways the newer versions are more compatible with the newer operating system. So, I would, with some reluctance, like to install the newer versions.
I'd certainly thought about trying to simply drag and drop - but I wonder if it would work. Most programs install lots of other bits and pieces. I've just done a sort of test using the App Cleaner application. Dragging Pages to the App Cleaner window indicates that in addition to the main App element, there are 12 ancillary parts. Similarly, I find 10 ancillary parts for Numbers. And I know that App Cleaner does not always find every piece. I know that some of the pieces would be automatically generated when I started using the applications - but I wonder if there are other, possibly critical parts that would not.
Any ideas about this?
Thanks.
Lucky for you if you don't miss those 110+ missing features.
The Mac App Store apps are "self-contained" (I believe it's called "sandboxing") & don't install bits all over the place. I've done the drag & drop on many occasions in the last few years.
Don't, under any circumstances, use a app removal program like App Cleaner or App Zapper. They are known to remove vital elements that really have nothing to do with the app they are supposedly removing & can render your system unstable or worse unusable.
I have a similar issue. I'm trying to upgrade a 2009 iMac running Yosemite to a newer version of pages(has iWork '09 installed, but needs a more recent version to open documents made on a newer machine also running Yosemite). However, if I select update it does nothing, just sits there with the gear spinning. App store says the version is for 10.12, obviously this machine will never run that, so how do I access an older version of Pages?
How do I download pages for el capitan? Only the sierra version is available at app store.
