Running Pages 4 on newer (>10.14) versions of MacOS?

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Level 2

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Running Pages 4 on newer (>10.14) versions of MacOS?

Apple trashed Pages' scripting interface starting with Pages 5, and clearly has no plans to ever restore it to the previous functionality. I still daily run scripts that interact with Pages documents, including applying styles to text in Pages, which is one of many actions impossible in all versions of Pages after 4.3. Since Pages 4 is a 32-bit app, and 10.14 was the last MacOS to support 32-bit apps, all of my hardware is running 10.14. It is getting more and more difficult to use the Internet, since 10.14's Safari apparently has a wide range of anomalous behaviors, especially in relation to JavaScript, that means many web sites fail catastrophically.

Is it possible to run Pages 4 and/or other 32-bit Mac apps in some kind of "box" (virtual machine or some such) where the program (and its scripting interface) are still accessible *outside* the box? Is it possible to run Pages 4 on a Mac running MacOS 12 at all?

Mac Pro, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jan 26, 2025 05:54 PM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,118 points

Jan 27, 2025 04:36 AM in response to Dave Howell

I have macOS Mojave v10.14.6 running as a guest operating system in Parallel's Desktop Pro 20.*. This is on an Intel 27-in Core i7 iMac currently running macOS Monterey 12.7.6. That Mojave guest features iWork '09 applications including Pages '09 v4.3. Note that Parallels has stated in a recent update that support for macOS Monterey as the host operating system will be dropped in an undesignated, future release of Parallels.

You can probably install Mojave as a guest in the free VirtualBox VM, or free VMWare Fusion VM — as long as it is on Intel hardware. You will want at minimum 16 GB RAM and >= 512 GB storage on your Mac. Although my iMac has a 1 TB SSD, I store the Parallel's VM guests on an external 1 TB Crucial X8 SSD (1050 MB/s) connected to one of my Thunderbolt ports. This makes a positive difference in the guest's performance.

Once you have a Mojave guest, install the retail version of iWork '09 on it, but do not install any Pages v5 or later as that messes up your ability to run Pages '09 AppleScripts.

Support for VM software is through their respective support forums.

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Running Pages 4 on newer (>10.14) versions of MacOS?

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