Pages files gone after iOS 11 update

I experienced a similar issue with Numbers files which were only stored locally on my iPad Air after updating to iOS 11.1.1. The files appeared to be there in the list when viewed through Numbers and through the Files app, but when you selected a file it would not open. When I attempted to create copy of the file, a message appeared that the file could not be found. I checked the files in Pages and they seemed to open without issue.

I thought all was lost too, but because the Numbers file names were visible I thought I would attempt to access them from my computer. This is what I did. . .

1. Connected my iPad to my Windows PC. When iTunes opened and started the sync process I cancelled it immediately (just in case I had to restore from the last backup)
2. Select the iPad icon in the top bar, beneath the Player controls..
3. Select File Sharing from below the Settings menu.
   
   
4. Select Numbers from the list of Apps. If your files are still on your device, they will appear in the list of Numbers documents.
5. Select all of your documents. Click "Save to..." at the bottom of the list. Create a folder on your computer and click "Select Folder" to save the files. You'll see the status of the files being copied appear at in the status bar of iTunes.
6. When the copying process is complete locate the folder on your computer and open it using file explorer.
7. Create copies of the files you want to open on your iPad. Rename them with the word "Copy" added to the file name. (this steps appears to be critical, I tried to replace the original file on the iPad by copying back the same file without renaming it and the file disappeared from the list of Numbers files on my iPad, even though it still appears in the list of Numbers Documents on the iPad when I look at it through iTunes.)
8. Go back to iTunes and select "Add File...". Select the copies you just created. Click Open. They will be transferred to your iPad.
9. Open Numbers on your iPad and select one of the copied files. It should open. Once you confirm it has opened you can delete the one that would not open.

I am assuming that if you follow the same procedure for your missing Pages files it will work, but let me know whether or not it does.

While it is frustrating that iOS 11 has this bug of the disappearing files, at least with this work-around, you won't loose all your hard work :-) You can access the files now, without having to wait for Apple to discover the problem and issue a solution.

One last thought, if you don't have a computer to connect to. . .find a friend who does, or visit an Apple store and ask them if you can use a computer to recover your files that were lost with their recent update. Remember to be nice, a soft answer turns away wrath.

IOS 11 FILES APP ISSUES

NOTE I have ample unused storage space in my iCloud and when online have high speed internet with a strong wifi signal. All operatng systems and apps are fully up to date.

ISSUE ONE........OFFLINE ACCESSIBILITY OF ICLOUD FILES

With IOS 10 on my iPad and iPhone (and iMac with Sierra) I could:

Be offline and open my PAGES and NUMBERS files stored in iCloud as many times as desired. If I altered (edited) any of those files as soon as I went back online the edited (most up to date version) of that file would be uploaded to iCloud to become the latest stored version of that file. This is afundamental point of iCloud.

However, with IOS 11 I cannot do the above:

When I am offline I can only open a file such as Pages or NUMBERS document once. When I close the file there is a note underneath it’s title saying, ‘download error’ or sometimes ‘upload error’ to the right there is a picture of a cloud with an exclaimation symbol in it. The file will then refuse to open again. Sometimes after half an hour or so and still offline some of these files will reopen.

Copying these iCloud files to ON MY IPAD solved the problem of only being able to open the files once when offline. I could open and close these files offline as many times as desired. But any alterations (edits) made to these files do not upload and update the original iCloud file once back online which defeats the purpose of iCloud.

With High Sierra OS on my iMac iCloud files behave like they always have on and offline.

The NOTES app, although it uses iCLOUD does not have this offline issue.

ISSUE TWO.......IOS 11 GREYED OUT ICLOUD FILES

Often I open a folder in iCloud or ON MY IPAD to find all of the files greyed out and unable to be opened. This happens on and off line. After a short time time I will return to the folder to find the files sitting there normally and able to be opened.

I know that I f your iPad or iPhone does not have an app that can open a file then it will be greyed out, but these files I am having problem with are NUMBERS, PAGES, PDFs.

AN OBSERVATION

With IOS 10 when you commanded a file to open it would open instantly but with IOS 11, when online and command a file to open the please wait icon appears and it takes a few seconds for the file to load. It is as if on IOS 10 the file opened straight from the iPads memory but in IOS 11 the files always download from the cloud each time you command them to open.

Same problem here.

That’ll teach me to check online for update issues before I update IOS.

so Apple, any response? I have 20+ documents that I can’t access on Pages after updating my iPad iOS. This is the first update that’s really annoyed and aggravated me because I need those documents and I foolishly thought they were safe to store on my iPad.

Figured out how to use maildrop to send large files, so the diagnostics that the iWork's team requested is on its way.

As stated in my earlier reply, I did as they suggested to re-upload the files. Today, I rechecked, and it seems as if those I thought I'd deleted are still there. See this screen shot

I seem to have copies of several documents, one with the original creation date and one with the date I re-uploaded the documents. And yes, I selected "Replace" for all of them. The old one will not open, the new one does, but just to completely confuse the issue, some of the documents that have not had the appended number also open, but one copy will simply open, another copy opens a COPY of the one that was clicked on. I have yet to figure out the common denominator in the ones that replicate and the ones which do not. I do hope that it doesn't take long to fix this.

Hi. Have you tried the recovery method already posted in this thread, link: Re: Pages files gone after iOS 11 update? It works for some files.

This is just a user-to-user help forum. You can let Apple know by posting at this link: Feedback - iPad - Apple.

Check out my reply to a similar problem here:

Re: No Pages Folder after update In “on my iphone” after 11.0 update

I have been contacted by aple’s iWork team. I will be following up with their diagnostics tools and sending the needed information to them today about what is going on. So, yes, they are aware. Yes, they are trying to find the bugs, and I expect will have a fix, hopefully, in the very near future.

In the meantime, this is what they suggest to gain access to your files.

"If the files are stored on your device, then they may be repaired by syncing them to iTunes on a Mac or PC, then reimporting them to your iOS device. Below are instructions for the two most recent versions of iTunes.

iTunes 12.6

1. Connect the iOS device to the computer and choose to trust the computer, if necessary.
2. Click on the iOS Device icon in the iTunes toolbar.
3. Click on Apps in the iTunes sidebar, then scroll down to the File Sharing section.
4. Click on the iWork app to see the documents stored on the device.
5. Drag one of the affected files from iTunes File Sharing to the Desktop or to another folder on the computer.
6. Drag the item back into iTunes File Sharing and click “Replace” when prompted.
7. Tap on the file on the iPad to open.
8. A prompt will appear: “This [document] may look different on your iOS device.” Choose Open or Open a Copy.

iTunes 12.7

1. Connect the iOS device to the computer and choose to trust the computer, if necessary.
2. Click on the iOS Device icon in the iTunes toolbar.
3. Click on File Sharing in iTunes sidebar, then click on the iWork app to see the documents stored on the device.
4. Drag one of the affected files from iTunes File Sharing to the Desktop or to another folder on the computer.
5. Drag the item back into iTunes File Sharing and click “Replace” when prompted.
6. Tap on the file on the iPad to open.
7. A prompt will appear: “This [document] may look different on your iOS device.” Choose Open or Open a Copy."

• I had this problem on iPhone6. Clicking the Pages icon would show the items all greyed out and unable to open.
• The solution is to not use Pages in this way.
• Instead click and open 'Files' and from the Browse menu select 'On My iPhone' then click on the Pages icon. All the items should now be accessible and can be viewed.
• Just double check the iPhone 'Settings', scroll down to 'Pages' and have 'Document Storage' set to 'On My iPhone' if it is still greyed out. Works for me however I have the 'Document Storage' set up.

Kintara 8-)

Since updating to the new ios 11 my Pages app refuses to open some of my documents.

All that shows on the document icon is an orange Pages pen.

Is there anything I can do to save these precious documents or are they lost forever?

My Pages documents have disappeared from both iPhone 6s and iPad 4th generation. I am using iOS 11.0.2. after opening Pages on both devices, the new “Files” app appears. I have to scrounge around to find the right place to acc my files, which requires some time and work. As of right now, I must find “ on my iPhone” and ”on my iPad” to get to my Pages documents.

Just chiming in here. I have a couple of Pages files created in 2016, and stored locally "On my iPad". I do not use iCloud Drive, so they are not in iCloud. I cannot open them, and if I try to delete them in Files, they are "not found". I believe the iWork apps updated for iOS 11 use a different storage format, so they cannot access the older files. This is rather inconvenient.

I think I found mine.

I went to the files app, and it said there were zero docs in my iCloud and so much space available. Then I noticed the locations back arrow at the top and clicked that, and there was an option to select my iPhone. I located mine there.

Hope that helps anyone else who came searching for an answer to this!

This issue of not being able to open my Pages documents (documents, which by the way, were created only days earlier with Pages On my iPad!) was just discovered yesterday. Obviously the update broke something. Time for a fix, Apple.

Since I don’t sync through iCloud, I use iTunes, I know this is an iOS Pages issue. Although I cannot open my files on my iPad, I have discovered that when my iPad is cabled to my MacBook, I can drag the files from the lower "File sharing" window into a folder on my MacBook. They open fine on the MacBook. Not sure what the procedure might be on a PC, but there may be a comparable way to access them.

My next step will be to delete the Pages app, reinstall, then they uploading a file to see if it opens. Wish me luck. I’ll post results.

Hey guys, I’ve been having this problem and found a workaround. You have to use local storage; the update automatically puts Pages Docs in ICloud, and you have to take them off if you want all your docs to be visible.

So Settings>Pages>Storage, and turn off ICloud Storage, and use IPad only. Worked for me.

Glad this worked for you, but I use only local storage, & only sync through iTunes, not iCloud. I did find that the iOS update turned on some iCloud connection by default. Although I never set up for my apps or documents to use iCloud storage, I’m wondering if there is a bug that did that as a default, and broke my access to locally stored files.

I see in settings > storage, where they have an option to "offload app." Mine is not set to that. I wonder if that is where the problem comes from, but until my documents are safely offloaded to my computer, not just as an iPad backup, but as stand-alone files in a separate folder, I’ll not chance this setting. Sounds as if it is using iCloud to handle my file access, and that is not for me.