Want to highlight a helpful answer? Upvote!

Did someone help you, or did an answer or User Tip resolve your issue? Upvote by selecting the upvote arrow. Your feedback helps others! Learn more about when to upvote >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: Extatica
Extatica Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

How to prevent pages from overriding MSWord .docx

I NEVER use Pages. I have 1000s of MSWord .docx in my Macbook Pro, OS X El Capitan, v 10.11.6.


Suddenly, when I open a .docx from my Finder (or via a search), it converts to .Pages. How do I prevent this? (quitting Pages does not work)


Now, I have to take a couple of extra steps to open each and every word doc, as I can't do it from the Finder.


When I do a search, it's worse. To open a .docx after a search, I have to separately go into Word > open, and follow the path to doc from the prior search, because if I just open it via the search with Word open (and Pages closed), it's converted to Pages anyway.


This is a total pain in the *** and feels like Big Brother is controlling my computer!


Can you help?

MacBook Pro, iOS 10, OS X El Capitan, v 10.11.6

Posted on Mar 2, 2018 6:24 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: iEvan 3.0
iEvan 3.0
User level: Level 3
977 points

Posted on Mar 2, 2018 7:38 PM

In defence of Pages, it didn't cost anything and works great. I find it way better laid out and organised than Word. It doesn't overwrite .docx files but instead converts them on opening, leaving the original, and if you ever want to save the document, it then asks where you want to save it (as a .pages file).


Anyways, if you are happy to pay for Word, it's easy to make sure Word documents open in Word by default when you double-click them.

  1. First, go find a Word document. Any one will do.
  2. Control-click this document and choose Get Info.
  3. In the tall, narrow window that appears, look for Open with: and expand this triangle.
  4. In the popup menu, select Word.app (browse to the app with Other if necessary).
  5. Click Change All to apply this to all .docx documents.


Hope this helps!

View in context

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: iEvan 3.0
iEvan 3.0
User level: Level 3
977 points

Mar 2, 2018 7:38 PM in response to Extatica

In defence of Pages, it didn't cost anything and works great. I find it way better laid out and organised than Word. It doesn't overwrite .docx files but instead converts them on opening, leaving the original, and if you ever want to save the document, it then asks where you want to save it (as a .pages file).


Anyways, if you are happy to pay for Word, it's easy to make sure Word documents open in Word by default when you double-click them.

  1. First, go find a Word document. Any one will do.
  2. Control-click this document and choose Get Info.
  3. In the tall, narrow window that appears, look for Open with: and expand this triangle.
  4. In the popup menu, select Word.app (browse to the app with Other if necessary).
  5. Click Change All to apply this to all .docx documents.


Hope this helps!

Reply

How to prevent pages from overriding MSWord .docx

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.
Learn more Sign up