How to open .pages files on a computer without iWork

Here’s a problem I’ve encountered at work a few times: You are given a .pages file, but can’t open it because you don’t have iWork’s Pages installed.

What is iWork or Pages?
Apple’s Pages application is part of the iWork software suite for Mac. It is meant to compete with Microsoft Office Word. Pages can open word “.docx or .doc” files, but Word can’t open Pages’ “.pages” files.

How to work around this problem:
Luckily, a PDF of each document is embedded within the file, and we can extract that PDF file with a little work.

From a PC:

Step 1: save the file somewhere on the computer, such as the desktop. In this example, “resume” is the filename, and “.pages” is the file extension.

Step 2: change the file extension from “.pages” to “.zip”. This will cause the icon to change appearance.

Step 3: Double click the icon, and extract the .zip file.

Step 4: Once extracted, a folder will be created with the same name as the .pages document. In my case, the folder is called “resume”. Open the folder.

This is what you will see:

 

Step 5: Open the QuickLook folder, and inside you will find a PDF of the original file. You can print the PDF, copy and paste the text in it, or do whatever else you want with it!

From a Mac (this way is easier)

Step 1: save the file somewhere on the computer, such as the desktop. In this example, “resume” is the filename, and “.pages” is the file extension.

Step 2: Right click the file, and select Get Info. Under name and extension, change the file extension from “.pages” to “.zip”. This will cause the icon to change appearance.

Step 3: You now have a .zip file. Double click it, and it should unzip, creating a new folder with the same name as the document.

Step 4: Open this folder, and you should see another folder inside called “QuickLook”.

Step 5: Open the QuickLook folder, and inside you will find a PDF of the original file. You can print the PDF, copy and paste the text in it.

Not the most elegant process, but its better than nothing.

Collected :)