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Written by Robert Agar Robert Agar Staff Writer • 49 articles Robert Agar, a staff writer at Handy Recovery, specializes in data recovery and data management topics, with a particular affinity for macOS and iOS. He played a key role in the founding of our team and project back in 2017, and is notably responsible for authoring much of the initial content that graced our website. Robert brings over 30 years of experience in data storage, security, compliance, backup, and recovery to the Handy Recovery team. LinkedIn Edited by Alejandro Santos Alejandro Santos Staff Writer • 55 articles Alejandro Santos is a staff writer for Handy Recovery Advisor, covering a broad range of topics with a particular focus on data loss issues on macOS and data management for Apple devices. Alejandro joined the team at the end of 2021, and since then, he has continually been scaling new heights and refining his skills as a technical writer and data specialist. LinkedIn Approved by Andrey Vasilyev Andrey Vasilyev Editor Andrey Vasilyev is an Editorial Advisor for Handy Recovery. Andrey is a software engineer expert with extensive expertise in data recovery, computer forensics, and data litigation. Andrey brings over 12 years of experience in software development, database administration, and hardware repair to the team. LinkedIn
Need personalized advice? Share your issue and get tips from others in our community section. Table of ContentsIn this article, we are going to show you how to recover deleted Pages documents on your Mac or MacBook. As Apple’s main word processing solution, many individuals use the program to create documents, some of which are very important. Everything is great until a user fails to save a file or one gets accidentally deleted.
Based on our Google Ads research, more than 58% of users encounter unexpected loss or accidental deletion of their Pages files. With that in mind, we prioritized the methods that help users recover deleted Pages documents. However, we also covered methods that can get back previous versions of unsaved Pages files.
Oleksandr Medvediev Junior Content Strategist, Handy RecoveryFortunately, multiple methods enable you to recover lost Pages documents on your Mac. With any luck, one of these techniques will enable you to get your documents back safely. Read on and find out which one will work for your situation.
I have recently deleted the Pages document in question.
Check the Mac Trash bin for a quick and easy recovery. (Jump to solution!)
I can’t find my Pages document.
Try using Finder to locate your Pages files. (Jump to solution!)
I have accidentally permanently deleted an important Pages document.
Data recovery software can recover these files. (Jump to solution!)
My Pages app froze and did not save my Pages document.
Use the autosave or Revert To feature to get the most recent version of the file. (Jump to solution!)
A virus wiped out all of my Pages documents. Help!
Data recovery software or a backup should be able to recover your files. (Jump to data recovery software section | Jump to backup recovery section)
My Mac crashed and I did not save my Pages document.
Use the autosave or Revert To feature to get the most recent version of the file. (Jump to solution!)
My Pages document disappeared.
Try using Finder to locate your Pages file. (Jump to solution!)
I want to restore an earlier version of a Pages document on my Mac.
You can use a backup or the Revert To feature of Pages. (Jump to backup recovery section | Jump to Revert To section)
My Pages documents on my iCloud Drive have disappeared.
Use the iCloud recovery procedure to get them back. (Jump to solution!)
To write this guide, we recreated different data loss scenarios by deleting Pages documents with different conditions. We successfully tested 4 methods to recover them; each method is best suited for different conditions, such as whether you have a backup or a previous save (or no failsafe at all). We also arranged them in order of ease if you want to opt for the simpler tasks to begin with.
Ease of Implementation
Files not manually emptied from Trash, or auto-deleted after 30 days
Recently deleted Pages documents
Your Mac has a built-in feature that can help recover recently deleted files and folders. The Mac Trash bin is a special folder that temporarily stores items deleted from your computer. Use the following simple procedure to see if your deleted Pages file can be recovered from the Trash.
Files are retained in the Trash bin until you manually empty it or until files are automatically deleted. You can use Finder’s Preferences to set the Trash to delete items after 30 days. More information on how to use the Trash bin efficiently can be found on this Apple support page.
Ease of Implementation
Data recovery software, avoid overwriting files on storage device
Deleted Pages documents not in Trash or backup
Moderate to Difficult (depends on software)
Data recovery software can help get back deleted Pages documents that have not been backed up and are no longer available in the Trash. Before we describe this recovery method, let’s look at how it works and why it needs to be carried out promptly after discovering you have lost a file.
IMPORTANT: Data recovery software needs to be used quickly after the data loss occurs to avoid overwriting or corrupting the desired files. When the Mac operating system deletes an item, it is not immediately physically removed from the storage device. The logical links that make the file accessible are deleted and the space the item occupied is marked as available for reuse by the system.
Each time you use the storage device that contained the deleted Pages document, you risk overwriting it with new data. For this reason, you need to stop using the device until the recovery process is complete. This includes not using the device for the download or installation of the data recovery tool.
There are many data recovery solutions to choose from. We direct you to our review of the best options available for Mac. It provides a variety of products that can help you recover lost Pages documents.
We are going to use Disk Drill in our example of recovering deleted Pages files with software. We like it for several reasons including its nice interface, recovery capabilities, and additional data protection tools.
Our favorite feature (which we’ll be showcasing in this guide) is the preview tool, which displays a working preview of almost any common file, including Pages documents. Using the preview tool, you can check each page of your document to ensure the content is intact. Being able to preview a file is also a reliable indication that it can be recovered.
You are invited to read our full review of Disk Drill for more information on this excellent recovery solution.
Follow these steps to use Disk Drill to restore deleted Pages files that can’t be restored with a backup or the Trash.
Basic version of the Disk Drill for Mac doesn’t offer free data recovery. However, you can scan, backup, and preview your data for free, which is great for knowing whether or not your data is recoverable.
