Unable to fix disappearing documents, crashing Pages and Numbers in iMac

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Level 1

60 points

Unable to fix disappearing documents, crashing Pages and Numbers in iMac

At least that is what I think it is.

The problem is I can be READING a document while no touching anything on the computer and the document suddenly disappears. A check of the dock does not show Pages or Numbers as being active, no little balck dot, along with any minimized documents going disappearing as well. What is aggrevating is that it is now happening several times a day.

I have checked all the relevant settings and nothing unusual seems apparent.

Since Pages and Numbers are part of the OS, what I have been told, and if this is a hack there is little I can do about it without destroying a lot of documents and data as I am sure this is 'backed up' on my eDrive for Time Machine as without some method to restore the data SINGLY it would probably restore whatever is going on as well.

This has been going on over several OS upgrades of Sequoia but do not remember it happening under any previous OS.

Present configuration: Sequoia version 18.5 (20621.2.5.11.8) (copy paste), Dock on left side, All remote aspects turned off, only sharing is Bluetooth and Printer.

Is there any way to get that analysis without using Terminal?

WGB

p.s. Just noticed an oddity but it is in Community. I have entered several other discussion with sequoia as the OS of use but when I was doing the selections this time it was way back on Sanoma.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Crashing but no analysis

iMac 24″, macOS 15.4

Posted on Jul 22, 2025 08:12 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,046 points

Jul 22, 2025 11:12 AM in response to Sparkgapper

Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are not part of the operating system, they are installed separately from the Mac App Store. Sequoia is version 15.5 and it is iOS that is presently at 18.5.

You should be using Pages v14.4 with Sequoia v15.5 and older versions of Pages (or Numbers) may indeed crash without warning as they were not designed for newer versions of macOS. Check your Pages version and confirm that it is v14.4. If not, visit the Mac App Store, search for Pages, and update it.

Microsoft's OneDrive is for Microsoft documents and not Pages, Numbers, or Keynote documents. If I recall correctly, items copied to OneDrive are encrypted by Microsoft and you need the current (and free) Microsoft OneDrive application on macOS to decrypt documents so they can be accessed by applications on macOS. Otherwise, Pages will throw a fit attempting to deal with an encrypted document.

Once you have confirmed that you have the correct version of Pages, and that you are decrypting any Pages documents accessed locally on your Mac, not directly on OneDrive, then you may want to press and hold the shift key while launching Pages to prevent it from accessing its last saved execution state, and that may be enough to stop the crashing condition.

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Answer 2

Sparkgapper Author

Level 1

60 points

Jul 23, 2025 08:40 AM in response to VikingOSX

I guess I made an assumpotion that is very dated as I have been with Apple since '92 with an old IIGS prior along with a Coleco Adam immulator in '84. Things change over time while someting the mind mixes them disproportionately to there real happenings.

I have that version installed, v14.4, and thought that may be the reason for the dropouts.

Do not understand about 'one drive' as everything I have was purchased from Apple direct. Maybe I am using the wrong termanoloty instead of "SolidStateDrive" in one of my 'fuzzy' periods, medical memory problems.

Will try that last lateer but need to get going for CardioPulmonary Rehap following double heart surgery, pacemaker and valve replacement, that were done with the newest technology and both non invasive.

WGB

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Answer 3

Sparkgapper Author

Level 1

60 points

Aug 28, 2025 02:57 PM in response to Sparkgapper

This is not starting to become extremely irritating, be reading along or typing along and Pages crashes, my take, but actuallly seems to be something is closing out pages as there is not the normal crash analysis to be handled.

AND, it even transferred over to 15.6 when I upgraded last. As for pages, supposedly the latest is 14.4 so that is up to date as well.

Any Ideas?

WGB

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Answer 4

Sparkgapper Author

Level 1

60 points

Sep 2, 2025 12:47 PM in response to Sparkgapper

Here's another anomolie. Whenever I put the computer to sleep as when I have a dr appointment and come back the bottom two 'in cue on the dock' show correct document title but everything above that shows the title of the second bottom document.

wgb

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