Setting pages to open .doc files by default

I have iWork '08 but not MS Word on my MBP. When I get an e-mail attachment that is a .doc file (or an .xls file), I need to save it to the desktop and then open it with Pages or Numbers. Same with old Word files--I can't just open them in Pages by double clicking. Is there a way that I can tell Pages to open these files by default?

I'm not trying to race you, just get it right.
There was a smiley, whas it not clear enough
Don't worry against Safari.
At this time, when I am on ebay, one feature is broken from Safari but happily, it works under Firefox. Alas, in Firefox an other feature force the Mac to quit (under ebay) with a dialog which I never saw before:
a black pane saying, in different languages, "you must restart the machine".
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE lundi 13 octobre 2008 15:59:56)

Similar Messages

How do I make Pages my default program for opening doc files

Currently TextEdit is the default program to open doc files that I download from emails. Now that I've installed iWork 08 I would like Pages to be the default program. Thanks!

Right-click any .DOC file and select Get Info. Then choose Pages as the open with application and select "Change For All. Pages is now your default app for .DOCs.

Choosing Default Program for Opening .doc files

Hi all,
A couple of days ago I somehow managed to change my default program for opening .doc files to Pages and I would rather use Microsoft Word as the default. I dont know how I ended up changing this default, but I would like to know how to put the default back to MS Word.
Thanks for any help!

Choose any one of the files you want to change. Then, command-i to "Get Info". Open the disclosure triangle under "Open With" choose "Microsoft Word" then click on "Change All".
-mj
[email protected]

Problem with opening doc. files in pages '09

Hello, can anybody help me, ever since i installed " snow leopard" v10.6.2, pages '09 doesn't open doc. files ( word ) anymore.
Even documents produced in pages en ""saved as" a word document can't be opened again.
Keep receiving pop up whit message " can not be opened"
Yves
Message was edited by: deschutter

You need to manually install the 10.6.2 "Combo" version, there were problems with just using the regular update.
See:
http://www.freeforum101.com/iworktipsntrick/viewtopic.php?t=153&mforum=iworktips ntrick
Peter

Can't open doc. files in pages

Ever since I upgraded to Snow Leopard, Pages won't let me open doc files.
Is there a way I can fix this?
Also...I was just thinking about upgrading to the newer iLife09.
Would that be a better thing to do running Snow Leopard and what not?
And if I do upgrade to iLife09, I'll still be able to open iLife08 documents.
Thanks
-Nathan Rojas

Nathan Rojas wrote:
Ever since I upgraded to Snow Leopard, Pages won't let me open doc files.
Is there a way I can fix this?
Also...I was just thinking about upgrading to the newer iLife09.
Would that be a better thing to do running Snow Leopard and what not?
And if I do upgrade to iLife09, I'll still be able to open iLife08 documents.
Thanks
-Nathan Rojas
iLife & iWork are two separate software packages/suites sold by Apple. I do believe you mean iWork '08.
Many users are finding problems with the iWork apps in Snow Leopard due to not having the latest updates as of the September 28 installed. For iWork '08 that is Pages 3.0.3 & Numbers 1.0.3. For iWork '09 it's Pages 4.0.2 & Numbers 2.0.2. iWork '09 has since had update 3. I don't use Keynote, but it should also be updated. If you're not running the latest versions & Software Update says your software is up to date, make sure the applications are where the installer initially put them. The updaters are very picky. If the location is not where the updater is programmed to look or if the folder doesn't have the name the updater looks for, it will not work. The applications cannot be renamed or moved. They must be in the iWork '08 or iWork '09 folder in Applications. That iWork folder must be named iWork '08 or iWork '09. If it doesn't have the '08 or '09 Software Update won't find them & the updaters won't work.

Pages app freezes when trying to open .doc file

Hello everyone!
Recently I faced the problem with opening .doc files originally created in Word for Windows in Pages. If the .doc file contains any table, Pages app constantly freezes trying to open it so I have to Force quit it. It happened with few documents containing tables. If the .doc file contains no tables everything works OK.
I've tried to open files created in Word 2003 and 2007 for Windows. My iWork's version is 4.0.3 (766).
Can anyone help me please?

Hi Old-cockatoo
Welcome to the forum.
Try altering the format/ing of the original file and see what may be the cause. e.g. Try saving to .rtf.
Check if there are unsupported features in the Word tables, such as rotated text in cells or a rotated page. Essentially look for variances that could trigger the problem.
Also look for alternatives to Pages:
http://www.freeforum101.com/iworktipsntrick/viewtopic.php?t=47&mforum=iworktipsn trick
Pages is not a full substitute for MsWord despite what Apple suggests, implies, hints, intimates, signals, presupposes, infers, signals, says indirectly, gives you to understand… but doesn't actually say if you read the fine print.
Peter

Can't open .doc files in Pages with Snow Leopard

I just installed Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Pages can no longer open .doc files. I receive the error message: "The document “XXX.doc” couldn’t be opened."
(Operating with iWork 09)
Help?

Welcome to Apple Discussions
But now I don't have the option "save as" word document as I used to before I installed the update for snow leopard. It only lets me save as iwork '06 or '05.
That's Pages 3/iWork '08. You may have both iWork '08 & '09 on your Mac & '08 has opened. You can have more than one version, I have three, but you'll need to find a way to identify each one. I have changed the icons for two of the versions & have aliases to each in a folder where I added the version number. This way I can know which one I'm opening & they look different in my Dock. Do not add a version number to the actual application, the updaters then won't find them. (Can you tell I like changing icons? )

Opening .doc files in pages

Someone has sent me a .doc word file and when i right click 'open in pages' a window is displayed reading 'the file format is invalid'. It's strange because this has never happened before and we haven't done anything different to what we normally do regarding opening .doc files etc.
It doesn't open in text edit either. Does anyone have any work around? Free word software anywhere on the internet?
Really need some help with this, hours of work has gone into this file we can't open!! And now it might be lost!
Cheers,
Jamie McIntyre

moviemaniac2 wrote:
Really need some help with this, hours of work has gone into this file we can't open!! And now it might be lost!
The simple soluce would be to ask the author for a document using a format which you will be able to read.
A message which I like to send is: +"Your xyz.doc document is not recognized as a standard format on my machine so it was deliberately deleted. If you wish that I read it's contents, use an other format. Don't try with PowerPoint, it would be trashed too."+
Is it too complicated?
My guess is that the document uses the most recent .doc format. If I'm right, as thisformat was not defined when Pages 3 was built, the described behavior is not surprising.
I don't know the details of this file format.
You may send it to my mailbox, I will be glad to look at its internals. (the readable contents is not what I'm interested to.
Click my blue name to get my mailbox address.
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE jeudi 19 juin 2008 16:37:53)

Problem opening .doc files in pages/.xls files in numbers...

My hard drive recently failed and has been replaced. Since the new hard drive was installed, I am unable to open .doc files with pages or .xls files with numbers. I never had this problem before.

I have I-work 09 [Pages 4.0 (727)]
This is the same version I had before (I think) -- At the Apple Store they used a new I-Work disc to install it onto the new hard drive.
I hope someone can help with this!
Thank you!

Installed iWork '09 on MacBook running OSX 10.7.2 and Pages won't open .doc files. Why?

I just recently installed iWork '09 on MacBook running OSX 10.7.2 and Pages won't open .doc files.
I did a search looking for a solution in the forums and here are the actions I've taken:
1) Made sure the files were't read/write protected.
2) Restarted the computer.
3) Made sure all the program files were in the correct folder.
4) Reinstalled the program.
Pages won't read .doc files that were originally Pages files and exported as .docs
It also won't read .doc files that were created using a relatively recent version of Office.
Does anyone have any idea what's going on?
Please help.

If it's a doc created with the late Office 2011, it's not really surprising.
The importer embedded in iWork application was delivered in january 2009 and didn't evolve.
For this reason, it's unaware of new features delivered with Office 2011.
Better try with LibreOffice.
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) vendredi 3 février 2012
iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 12 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.2
My Box account is : http://www.box.com/s/00qnssoyeq2xvc22ra4k

I created a file yesterday in Pages version 5.1. Today when I went to open the file a box popped up saying that I needed a newer version pf Pages to open the file. Any thoughts??

I created a file yesterday in Pages Version 5.1. Today I went back to open that file and a box popped up saying I need a newer version of Pages to open that file. Any thoughts??

You have 2 versions of Pages on your Mac.
Pages 5.2 is in your Applications folder.
Pages '09/'08 is in your Applications/iWork folder.
You are alternately opening the wrong versions.
Pages '09/'08 can not open Pages 5 files and you will get the warning that you need a newer version.
Pages 5.2 can open Pages '09 files but may damage/alter them. It can not open Pages '08 files at all.
Older versions of Pages 5 can not open files from later versions of Pages 5.
Once opened and saved in Pages 5 the Pages '09 files can not be opened in Pages '09.
Anything that is saved to iCloud and opened in a newer version of Pages is also converted to Pages 5 files.
All Pages files no matter what version and incompatibility have the same extension .pages.
Pages 5 files are now only compatible with themselves on a very restricted set of hardware, software and Operating Systems and will not transfer correctly on any other server software than iCloud.
Apple has removed almost 100 features from Pages 5 and added many bugs:
http://www.freeforum101.com/iworktipsntrick/viewforum.php?f=22&sid=3527487677f0c 6fa05b6297cd00f8eb9&mforum=iworktipsntrick
Peter

I can't open .doc files attached to the mail.

After upgrading to the last version (31.6.00); I cannot open .doc files.
I use Open Office 4.1.1.
No problem with .xls or .pdf files. But neither the attachments in my sent mails nor the attachments in incoming mails type .doc can be opened by clicking on them. I have to first save to the computer than open the file which takes too much time.
In the attachment you can see the error message.
Here is the translation of the message:
- Top window: File cannot be saved as an unknown error occured. Please retry.
- Second window - below filename: Error - source mailbox

Very interesting. It was written for doc type files: "OpenOffice Writer (defined)". (I made a translation maybe it is "default" in English version). Then i make it use another program and choose "Open Office Writer". Now it says OpeOffice Writer but no definer (or default) and it is working. Thank you very much Gnospen.

When I try to open a document from my file on Mac OS X the following message appears, with the Bluetooth logo: 'SELECT A BLUETOOTH DEVICE ....Select a device to send file ...' I then have to go to the source of the document, e.g. Pages, to open the file.

When I try to open a document from my file on Mac OS X the following message appears, with the Bluetooth logo: 'SELECT A BLUETOOTH DEVICE ....Select a device to send file ...' I then have to go to the source of the document, (e.g. Pages), to open the file. Please could someone help?

The Get Info dialog should look something like this:
The "Change All" button should be at the bottom of the "Open With" section. This is how it appears in Snow Leopard. Other OSX versions many be slightly different.
If something is changing the setting back to something else you may have a deeper problem than I am able to help you with. What is appearing in the Open with area before you correct it?
If the problem is still persisting, instead of double clicking on the file to open it, try right or control clicking and then select Open With and choose the proper app from the list.

Easily opening .Doc files

I use AppleWorks 6.2.4 for virtually all word processing/spreadsheet needs on my iBook. However, my only complaint is how painful it is to open .doc files. At first, if I had a .doc file visible in my Finder, it has a logo of a white sheet of paper. If I double-clicked on it, Finder would tell me that it couldn't find an application to open the file, and would not give me the option to choose.
The only way I found to open them is to
1. Launch AppleWorks.
2. Click File > Open.
3. In the File Format drop-down menu, scroll ALL THE WAY down to "Word Win 97, 2000 [MacLink AW]"
4. Navigate to and select the .doc file...... at which point the MacLink Plus conversion progress meter appears, and viola. open.
This is all fine and dandy, but I thought "this has to be easier. Why can't I just double-click on the dang file in the Finder?"
So, I found a control panel called File Exchange that looked promising. Under the PC Exchange tab, I looked for the PC Extension called "doc." The application selected for it was "AppleWorks," but the logo was a picture of a hand on a piece of paper. So, I highlighted it, and chose "change." In the next window, I selected AppleWorks 6 (with the actual logo next to it." I then clicked "OK."
Now, each time I open a .doc file by double-clicking on it in the finder, it opens an AppleWorks speadsheet, with some jibberish in the first cell -- that's it.
The old method of opening it is still successful -- I've finaggled with the File Exchange control panel, on virtually every setting I could come up with, and nothing seems to work.
Any ideas?

Hi, sopranojam85 -
In the File Exchange control panel, the PC Exchange tab info governs what happens to a file that is imported to the machine, i.e., one that is either downloaded or is copied from another (usually temporary) volume. The info on the File Translation tab is used when handling files already on the drive. When a file does not have a Creator code that matches a program available to the OS, it looks in File Translation for a match, and uses that if so instructed by you - you can set File Translation to not display a choice if there is only one possibility.
The term "Word Win 97, 2000 MacLink AW" indicates you have the version of MacLink that came bundled with AppleWorks.
I'm running the same version of AppleWorks as you are, however I have added the commercial version, MacLinkPlus Deluxe, which provides a broader range of file translation capability with AppleWorks. It still won't provide a direct double-click-and-open function, because I have more than one choice (AW 5 as well as AW 6), but when I do double-click a .doc file the File Translation intercept window opens and offers me the choice of AppleWorks 6 with MLP translation.
Using the Open menu item within AppleWorks 6, if I let the Format pulldown menu stay at "AppleWorks", a .doc file will not be displayed in the scrolling list; but if I change the Format pulldown to "All Available", it does display .doc file types - this is a lot faster than scrolling down a long ways.
The method I actually use for most non-AW file types is to keep an alias to AW6 on the desktop, then drop the non-AW6 file onto the alias - this works pretty much the same as the result of using an Open command within the application, and works even if AW6 has not yet been started up.
Note - sometimes an alias to AppleWorks 6 won't work quite right. This is a result of the AW6 program (the one you see) actually being an "application program package", or Package, which is indicated by the ".app" suffix on the AW6 name ("AppleWorks 6.app").
A Package is a specialized folder - it looks like a program, and acts like one when you double-click on it; but it's actaully a folder. Typically, in that folder are more than one version of the program (for example - one for OS 9, and one for OSX), plus additional support files.
Although Finder understands packages, sometimes it screws up - especially when dropping a file onto an alias to the package. What happens then is that Finder, for some reason, treats it as a folder alias, and dutifully deposits the dropped file into the folder - into the package itself.
Such files are recoverable - quite easily, too. To open the package, with the program not running and Contextual Menus active, Control-click on the package (the program itself, not the alias) - one of the items that will appear in the contextual menu that opens is Show Package Contents. Select it, and the package will turn into a folder, which opens automatically. Retrieve your "lost" files - just drag them out onto the desktop.
While you're there, locate the OS 9 version of the program (in AW6 it is in a sub-folder in Contents named MacOS Classic), and make a new alias of it. Then replace the alias you've been using (which is actually an alias to the package, and not to the program) with the new one. Doing so should prevent a recurrence of the problem.
Once you've done what you need to, close the .app folder - its icon should have a small image of a brown parcel (a "package") superimposed on it. Control-click on that folder and select "Hide Package Contents" from the contextual menu.

Opening .doc files with wrong program

Hi *,
first I've installed open office. A few month later I installed micorsoft office. After that I converted all office files. Everything was working fine. Now my mac forgot to open .doc files with ms word, he chooses oo word. I do'nt have these problems with .xls files.
Where are the global settings that I can tell my mac to open .doc files with ms word (I will not use "open with" each time;-)
Thanks in advance
Michael
Message was edited by: MichaelLudt

Select the file. Do a "Get-Info" from the File menu. (command-I). In the drop down menu "open with" select the program and then confirm you want all files like these to open with that program.

Setting pages to open .doc files by default

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