How to open Pages files in Windows

Pages is Apple’s answer to Microsoft Word but it’s only available on Macs. What do you do then when a Mac user sends you a Pages document and you want to open it in Windows? Don’t worry, there are three very simple solutions:

1. Use WinZip or WinRAR

If you can’t contact the sender, you can use WinZip or WinRAR to read the file. Change the name of the .Pages file to .Zip. Unzip the package with WinZip or WinRAR and you’ll see a file named “Preview.pdf”. You’ll be able to read the contents of the document in this PDF file. However, you won’t be able to edit it unless you use a PDF unlocker and editing program such as PDF-XChange-Viewer.

2. Use Google Docs

Google Docs is incredibly flexible nowadays when it comes to opening file formats including .Pages files. Just click the “Upload” option in the top left corner of Google Docs and you can open the file immediately.

3. Ask the sender to export the file to a different format.

In Pages, go to “File”, “Export” and then select the format you’d like to export to. Currently Pages supports exporting to PDF, Word, RTF and Plain Text. Most recently Apple have also added the ePub format for eBooks. You’ll then be able to open any of these formats in Windows: