How to convert Pages to Word and vice versa

10 minutes read
Written By
Updated On

Pages is an Application for Mac users that comes under iWord Suite. It is quite similar to Microsoft Word which is now available for both Windows and Mac users. Thus you need to find a way using which you can make the Pages document compatible with MS Word. There also will be times when you might want to convert your Word document into Pages. 

If you are an iPhone or an iPad user who does not have access to Mac and you are trying to convert the .pages file created on your device to Word this article will suit you well.

Here in this guide, you will find the following ways on how to convert Pages to Word or how to open Pages in Windows. 

How do I Convert a Pages document to Word?

You might have created an important work document in your MacBook Pro or Air or in any other macOS laptop, but now you need to send the file to Windows users. For that, you have to convert the Pages to a Word document. In other cases, when you need to edit the Pages document using MS Word in Mac, it is necessary for you to change the file format to access the file. 

Take a glance at the tips and tricks that can help you quickly convert Pages to Word and vice versa.

Convert Pages Document to Word in Pages App for Mac

Converting the Pages Document into a word file on Mac will allow you to send it to Windows users and will also allow you to open it in MS Word on Mac itself. If you want to open a Pages file in Microsoft Word, you need to convert Pages document into a readable format for MS Word, i.e. convert Pages to .docx or .doc.  

Follow the below-mentioned steps to turn a Pages Document into Word:

  • Open the Pages Document via Pages App.
  • Choose File and then click on Export To > Word.
  • In the Export Your Document window, you can actually specify whether you want to export the Pages Document as .docx or .doc. 
  • Click on Next to continue. 
  • In the next window, you will see the name of the Word file in the box Save as and the location of the file under the Where box. You can change both according to your requirement. 
  • Finally, click on Export

So now you can easily open the word document that you have converted from the .pages format. 

How do I transfer a Pages document to Google Docs?

If you are looking to transfer a Pages document to Google Docs. You can do it by uploading the file using the below-mentioned steps: 

  • Convert the Page document to Word using the Pages App given above. 
  • Now, once the Pages files are converted into .docx, open Google Drive. In Google Drive click on New > File Upload. Then select the .docx file which you just converted from .pages. Click Open.
  • This will create a document with the same name in the Google Docs format. 

Convert Pages to Word on iPad and iPhone using Pages App

If you are not having access to a Mac laptop right now, but need to turn a Pages file to Word, then you can do it using the below steps on your iPad or iPhone.  

Follow the below-mentioned steps to turn a Pages Document into Word on iPad or iPhone:

  • Open the desired Pages file by tapping on it and click on the More button (three dots on the top right). 
  • Click on Export. And then choose a format which will be Word here. 
  • Then the device will ask you through which mode you would like to share the word file like messages, email, etc or you can even Save to Files. Save to Files will save the document locally i.e on your device. 

How do I convert Pages to Word in iCloud or Windows?  

For any Mac user, it becomes difficult to open the Pages document on Windows due to file compatibility issues. But using the iCloud account, one can convert the Pages document to Word Online and effortlessly access them on Windows.

Note: If you do not own an iCloud account then scroll down to the next method to convert Pages to Word without the need for an iCloud account. 

Follow the below-mentioned steps to convert Pages to Word on Windows using iCloud:

  • Open the web browser that is installed on your PC and go to iCloud.com. Log in to your iCloud account with your Apple ID Credentials.  
  • Then on the iCloud homepage click on Pages
  • Under the Pages app, all the Pages documents will be available. But if the Pages document is stored on your PC, you can upload it to iCloud using the Upload button on the right top corner. 
  • Once you click on the Upload button, click on Browse and then select the desired .pages file and click on Open.
    Note: If you have lost your documents that need to be converted to Word files due to any data loss scenario. You can easily recover them using Remo Recover Mac with simple clicks. This data recovery tool is compatible with all the versions of macOS including the latest version of macOS Big Sur.  
  • Once the file is uploaded, click on the three dots > click on Download a Copy.
  • Then it will give you a window naming Choose a download format. In this window, you have to select Word as the file format.
  • The file will download in .docx format and you can view the file after clicking on Show in Folder

Open Apple Pages Documents in Windows 10 | Changing File Extension

If you don’t have access to a Mac or do not have an Apple ID, then this method will help you in opening a Pages Document in Windows. When you try to open a Pages document directly in Microsoft Word, it will show you a dialogue box saying: 

We’re sorry. We can’t open .pages because we found a problem with its contents.

Or “Word experienced an error trying to open the file.”

The below hack for opening the Pages document on Windows is by changing the .pages extension to .zip file format since Pages documents are similar to the compressed files. 

NOTE: Before you start with the below steps, it is suggested to take a backup for the Pages File to avoid the risk of data loss. 

  • Make your file extensions visible on Windows. Go to Folder Options > View > Uncheck the box saying Hide Extensions for known file types.
  • Right-click on the Pages file and click on Rename. Rename the file with a .zip extension and click on save
  • While saving Windows will show you a dialogue box saying “ If you change a file name extension, the file might become unusable.” Don’t worry about it as you have a backup, click on Yes
  • Now you can extract the contents of the ZIP file using 7 ZIP or any other free tool. 
  • After the extraction, you can open the largest JPG(image) file to view the 1st page of the document. Similarly, there will be other JPG files representing the next pages of the document.

The drawback of this method is that you won’t be able to edit the document as it will be in image format. You can just view the contents of the document. 

How to Convert Word Document to Pages on Mac?

You can open any Word document that you might have downloaded online or received via email on Mac without the MS Word program installed on it. The Pages App on your Mac computer automatically converts Word files to pages documents by removing the need to manually convert them to open. Find here how to import Microsoft Word documents to automatically open them on Mac. 

Follow the Steps to Open a Word Document on Mac in Pages App: 

  • Launch the Pages Application.
  • Then navigate to the Word file and click on Open
  • The word file will automatically convert itself into Pages. 
  • If you want to modify the document, then after editing, save the file on your desktop. Now the edited document will be saved as a Pages file and note that the changes you made to the file won’t reflect on the original Word document. 
  • You can again export the Pages document to a Word file using the Pages App. 

Recommendation: With the increasing popularity and usage of the Microsoft Word program, we can say that today, it is installed on almost every Windows or Mac system. As you tend to edit Word files, there is always a chance of Word file corruption due to various interruptions like system shutdown or power surge issues. However, with the help of an essential free tool like Remo Repair Word, you can quickly recover and repair your damaged Word files with ease.

About the Author: Molly Owen

Molly is the Lead Technical Specialist with distinguished knowledge and understanding of Mac computers and operating systems. Being a veteran photographer and video recovery specialist, Molly’s expertise in video formats and file repair has helped restore a lot of videos and cherished memories of users. As a technical specialist, she also believes in learning and…