How to Open .pages Extension Files on Your Computer
If you are using a Mac computer, you know that Pages is Apple’s word processor app similar to Microsoft Word on Windows. By default, Pages documents are saved on your computer as a Pages format (with “.pages” extension). The extension is typically invisible for the Mac users, but if you send a Pages file to a Windows PC the things are a little different. Windows operating system shows the .pages extension but does not include an app that can open this kind of file. So, the Pages documents are unreadable on the Windows PCs. And, if you have ever sent a .pages file on a Windows computer you know how frustrating this scenario might be.
However, in today’s tech world almost everything is doable, you just need to find the right way. This rule is also valid for our today’s case. Now it may seem that opening .pages files on your Windows PC is an impossible task, but check the rest of the article, and for less than 5 minutes you will able to open and edit .pages files on your Windows PC.
How To Open .pages Files on a Windows Computer
This is a simple method that you can use for reading .pages files on a Windows PC. It only allows viewing the files and not editing. Here are the steps.
- Create a copy of the .pages file on your Windows PC. For example, if your file’s name is FileName.pages, make another one called Appuals.pages.
- Right-click on the copy file (Appuals.pages) and choose the Rename option from the menu.
- Delete the .pages extension and type “.zip” So, your file’s name will be appuals.zip.
- Open the zip-file you’ve just created (appuals.zip), and you will see a couple of files and folders in there. (QuickLook folder, buildBersionHistory.plist, index.xml)
- Open the QuickLook folder and search for any PDF file and/or JPG images with the same name as the .pages document, or named Preview.
- Both (PDF and JPG files) contain the content you want to view or print.
- Open the PDF file to view the document and print it. (The PDF should contain your file’s complete content)
You probably have a PDF reader on your Windows PC. And, in case you don’t have one, you can get a free PDF reader from the internet. Furthermore, if you have Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can use it to save the PDF file as a Word Document and you can also use Adobe Acrobat Pro to combine PDF files.
This is the simplest method that you can use for viewing .pages files on your Windows PC. After renaming the .pages file with a .zip extension, you can even extract the file to a folder and get the PDF file. Remember to always search for the PDF file in the QuickLook folder.
If you can’t find the PDF file in the QuickLook folder, it means the Pages version used for creating the document does not support QuickLook. That’s why it does not create a QuickLook folder. If you face this kind of scenario, try the following method.
How to Edit Pages Files on a Windows Computer
If you want to edit a .pages file on your Windows Computer, you will need to save the file from the Pages app in a different format. Here are the steps.
- Open the Pages app on your Mac
- Click on File.
- Scroll down and search for the Export option, and click on it.
- Click OK.
- Select the format you prefer. (In this case that would be the Word format)
- Choose
- Save your file, and later you can open it with Microsoft Word on your Windows PC.
Keep in mind that the best practice when editing a .pages file on a Windows PC is to open the file in Pages and save it in a Word format. That way, your file is fully formatted for Word, and it can be easily edited.
No Access to a Mac Computer?
Many people do not have access to a Mac computer, and if you are one of them we also got you covered. You can use iCloud to open .pages files and export them in Word format (.doc files). Here is what you should do in detail.
- Go to icloud.com and log in with your Apple ID. If you don’t have an Apple ID, feel free to create one, it will not take more than 2 minutes.
Note: You will have to be signed up for an iCloud account. - After you logged in with your account, select Pages.
- Drag and drop your .pages file to iCloud Pages on your browser or choose the Upload Document icon on the top bar of your screen.
- Once the document is uploaded, right-click on it and select Download a copy.
- Choose the format you like (Word format).
- Save the document to your Windows PC.
Note: You can also use this method for opening .pages documents on a Mac computer without iWork installed.
Open .pages Files Using Google Docs
Another way for opening .pages files on your Windows PC is by using Google Docs. And, if you prefer using Google services this may be the right method for you.
- Go to your Google (Sign up if you do not have one)
- After you signed in, go to Google Docs.
- Click on the folder icon for uploading.
- Drag and Drop your .pages file to the window, or click the button for selecting files from your computer.
- After you have uploaded the .pages document, the message will appear, telling you that the document cannot be previewed.
- Click on the CloudConvert button below the message. If you haven’t connected the CloudConverter app to your Google account, click on the Connect more apps button and search for the CloudConverter
- When the CloudConvertor opens up, select which file type you want to convert your document.
- Next, make sure you have the box “Save file to my Google Drive” checked if you want to keep the file in your Google Drive.
- Click on the button Start Conversion.
- When the process finishes, click on the Show file button, and you can see your converted file.
From there, you can save it to your Windows PC memory and edit it just like any other Word (.doc) file.
Conclusion
Having an opportunity to view and edit different files across various platforms can be inevitable in some situations. That is the case when you need to open .pages documents on Windows PCs. I hope this article will help you in dealing with this kind of problem. Feel free to use the method that fits you the best and share with us if you know any other trick for viewing and editing .pages documents on a Windows PC.
