How to Recover Deleted/Unsaved Pages Document on a Mac

In 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.

Choosing the Most Suitable Method to Recover Pages Document on a Mac

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.

How to Recover Deleted or Lost Pages Document on Mac

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.

Method 1: Recover a Lost Pages Document on Mac From the Trash

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.

1. Open the Trash by clicking on the Trash can icon.
2. Scroll through the folder to locate the file you want to recover.
3. Right-click on the file and select Put Back to restore the item to its original location.

Method 2: Recover Deleted Pages Documents Using Data Recovery 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.

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.

Choosing a data recovery solution

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.

How to recover deleted Pages documents with Disk Drill

Follow these steps to use Disk Drill to restore deleted Pages files that can’t be restored with a backup or the Trash.

1. Download Disk Drill from the Cleverfiles website and install it. If your documents are saved on your Mac drive, download Disk Drill on an external storage device and install it there. You can do so by running the installer (from the storage device) until you’re prompted to drag the Disk Drill icon to the Applications folder. Instead, drag it to the icon of your external drive on your Desktop.
2. Launch Disk Drill and select the drive where the lost Pages files were stored (if they were stored on your Mac, choose “Apple SSD.” Then, click Search for lost data.
3. Once Disk Drill is done scanning your drive, click Review found items.
4. Click Documents in the left sidebar to filter the scan results. You can also type “pages.” in the search tool so Disk Drill only shows found files with the .pages extension. Then, expand the Deleted or lost and Reconstructed sections, which show the files Disk Drill found using different recovery techniques. It’s best to browse both of them to be more thorough.
5. Make sure to preview your documents by hovering your point pointer beside a file and clicking the eye button that appears. Then, mark the Pages files you want to restore and click Recover.
6. Choose where you want Disk Drill to save your recovered documents. Then, select a location on a drive other than the one you’re recovering (e.g. if you’re restoring the Pages files from your Mac drive, choose the storage device you connected in step 1). Then, click Next to start the recovery process.

Method 3: Using Time Machine to Recover a Deleted Pages Document

Time Machine is a built-in backup tool on macOS. Once you set it up, it continues to work in the background, updating your backup files whenever there are changes. This provides users access to previous versions or “snapshots” of their files and folders.

For the best results, make sure you have your Time Machine drive on hand. But even if you don’t, Time Machine has a useful feature where it still creates local backups in the absence of the Time Machine drive. It stores copies of your files on your Mac for 24 hours after any changes are made.

We’ll cover both scenarios in the guides below.

Restore Your Pages Document from Your Time Machine Drive

To restore your Pages document from a Time Machine backup drive:

1. Connect your Time Machine backup to your Mac. Then, open Finder and navigate to the folder where your lost Pages documents were stored.
2. On the Apple menu bar, click the Time Machine button > Browse Time Machine backups.
3. Use the arrows on the right to browse through previous versions of the folder until you find the snapshots of your Pages file. Select them (click + drag for multiple files) and click Restore.

Restore Your Pages Document from Local Time Machine Backups

To restore your local snapshots of your Pages document directly from your Mac:

1. Open Finder and navigate to the folder where your Pages documents were stored before deletion.
2. Click the Time Machine button > Browse Time Machine backups.
3. Notice that my Time Machine drive is no longer listed in the Finder sidebar because I disconnected it. You can still the arrows on the right to browse through the folder’s version history until you find the local snapshots of your Pages file. Select them (click + drag for multiple files) and click Restore.

Method 4: Use the Revert To Option to Recover a Lost Pages Document

When you save a file in Pages, the program saves it as a new version. Over time, you will accrue many versions of a file as it is modified and saved. This fact can be extremely helpful if you make extensive changes to a document and then decide you need to get back to an earlier version.

Use the following steps to go back to an earlier version of a Pages document.

1. Open the current version of the document in Pages.
2. Click on the File Menu and choose the Revert To option.
3. Choose to recover the Last Saved or Last Opened file.
4. You can also Browse All Versions. You will be presented with a screen that allows you to scroll through the various versions of the file.
5. Select the version you want and click the Restore button.

How to Recover Unsaved Pages Document on Mac

This section is dedicated to the various methods for recovering unsaved Pages documents on a Mac. It’s for users whose Pages app malfunctioned or simply closed before the document could be saved.

We simulated these conditions multiple times (making small changes to cover all scenarios) and came up with 4 methods to restore unsaved Pages documents.

Method 1: Locate Disappeared Pages Document Recovery with Finder

You may be able to locate an unsaved Pages document using the Mac Finder application. Try using the following procedure to use Finder to search for your lost document.

1. Open Finder and navigate to the File Menu tab at the top of the window.
2. Open the File Menu and select the Find option.
3. Click on This Mac in the search bar.
4. Select Kind is Document.
5. Use the + button to add more parameters, like Last opened date. Additionally, type .pages in the search field.
6. Scroll through the list and search for potential Pages documents. Use the date and time to narrow your search.
7. If you locate an item that may be your lost Pages document, drag and drop it on the Pages icon. The items will open if they are indeed Pages files. You can also try dropping the files on the TextEdit icon if they don’t open in Pages.

Method 2: Recover an Unsaved Pages Document with Auto Recovery

You can take advantage of auto recovery if your Mac’s Autosave feature is turned on. When the feature is active, files are automatically saved when you close an application. You are not prompted to save the file unless you have turned off this operating system feature. A nice explanation of how to turn off autosave if you wish is available on this page.

With Autosave turned on, you can’t accidentally forget to save your Pages doc when you close the app. Autosave also periodically saves the file and is responsible for creating new versions whenever you manually save a file. Accessing an unsaved file should be as simple as opening the file in Pages, which should present you with the more recently updated document.

You can also use the Revert To feature of Pages as described in an earlier section of this article. This feature allows you to access all of the previously saved versions of your document and recover whichever one you want.

Method 3: Search the Temp Folder for Unsaved Pages Documents

If your computer crashes or Pages terminates unexpectedly, you might be able to rescue data from your Mac’s Temp folder. Here’s an overview of how to view the contents of the Temp folder.

1. Open the Terminal application.
2. Type the following command: echo $TMPDIR. The output of the command is the pathname to the TEMP folder.
3. Use this command to view its contents: open $TMPDIR.
4. A Finder window will be displayed allowing you to view the files in TMPDIR.
5. Search through the files and see if your Pages file is there. If so, attempt to open it in Pages.

Method 4: Recover Deleted Pages Documents from iCloud

Files stored on your iCloud Drive are backed up to the cloud. You can save your Pages docs to your iCloud Drive, and then recover them from iCloud if they are deleted. Consult this Apple help page if you need some assistance in setting up your iCloud Drive.

Follow these steps to recover deleted Pages files on your Mac.

1. Log into iCloud.com and click iCloud Drive.
2. Select the Recently Deleted folder in the last sidebar. If your Pages file is there, click the 3 dots beside it and click Recover. If it’s not, continue to step 3.
3. Return to your iCloud homepage. Then, scroll to the bottom and click Data Recovery.
4. Click Restore Files.
5. Mark the boxes beside the Pages you want to recover and click Restore.

FAQ

Conclusion

As long as you have not overwritten the deleted Pages document, it can be recovered from the Trash or with data recovery software. Backups will be necessary if the file was overwritten. In the case of unsaved Pages files, we have described multiple methods of recovering the most recently saved version of the file.

We hope this information helps you recover your lost Pages files. We strongly suggest you start backing up your files to provide another recovery option when things go wrong. Most data recovery apps like Disk Drill offer a free trial that will scan your disk and report on the recoverable data. It’s certainly worth a try.