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Exporting to docx from Pages gives png files

Exporting in Sequoia (latest) from Pages to Word gives png files from every page that is used in the Pages file. No docx is created.

Posted on Oct 16, 2024 9:51 AM

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16 replies

Oct 17, 2024 7:41 AM in response to ontop

One last attempt to fix this. Boot your Mac into Safe Boot mode and using a new blank document, enter some arbitrary text and then export to Word and save the document to your Desktop. Does it still generate a PNG image instead of a Word document? Then reboot normally.


After the reboot, does Pages export to Word DOCX as it should, or still PNG? If it is saved to Word .docx in Safe Boot mode, but resorts to saving in PNG after a normal reboot, then you have a third-party application installed that is interfering with Pages.


Let me know how this turns out.





Oct 17, 2024 6:52 AM in response to ontop

When I export to Word and click Save… I automatically get an Untitled.docx as the save candidate name. Even if I change that to your "test export to word" without an extension, and save it to an arbitrary folder on my Desktop, the result is a single "test export to word" document (without extension), but it does appear as the following in the Finder:



So, whatever is causing your Export To > Word > Save… process to generate PNG images is beyond my ability to duplicate here with a U.S. English Pages v14.2.


Another test, try Export To > Word > Save with the same name but this time, to your Desktop. Does it save as a Word document as shown above?

Oct 16, 2024 10:09 AM in response to ontop

Not happening for me with Pages v14.2 on Sequoia v15.0.1 or Pages v14.2 on iPadOS 18.0.1. The Export menu is very concise in having a Word or Images category on macOS and only one of these results in Images. You click the Save… button and the document name ends with .docx, not png. You click the Send a Copy button and select Mail and a Word document is attached to a Mail compose window.


On iPadOS, you select the document name and the resulting menu offers Export > Word. Once you select Word, a Share dialog appears where you can tap Save to Files menu item with your saving location, the filename, and by tapping a final save on that dialog. A Word document results.


Or… as in the preceding paragraph, you choose Export > Word and tap the Apple Mail icon on the Sharing panel, and the Word document is attached to a Mail compose window.

Oct 17, 2024 10:38 AM in response to VikingOSX

Rebooted in safe mode (checked it in system pref), Pages exports no docx.

Rebooted again normally: Pages saves no docx.

I even tried to set back an older version of Pages 13.x via Time Machine: no docx.

The export Word interface must be corrupted somehow on generic level, not in Pages specific.

Thanks for your help.

Oct 17, 2024 10:55 AM in response to ontop

All you can do now is use the Pages Application menu > Provide Pages Feedback and that will go directly to the Pages product team. Type that in English, not in Dutch, please. State the version of macOS, Pages, and your Dutch locale. Succinctly explain that Pages will only export Word as PNG images in normal and safe boot mode. If the Pages product team wants more information, they will likely contact you first by email to verify that it is okay to continue an email conversation and additional information. They may not respond at all due to feedback volume.


If your Pages document is simply just text, then you can launch the free LibreOffice 24.8.2 and choose its File menu > Open file chooser to select the Pages document and open it as it won't be on the Finder Open With menu. Then you File menu > Save As… and select Word 2010 - 365 Document (.docx). Just did that with an 8-page Pages document.



Oct 21, 2024 4:18 AM in response to VikingOSX

Dear VikingOSX,


I had contact with Apple Support. We talked for 2,5 hours and tried all sort of things. The last action the nice and well equipped with knowledge guy was to repair permissions and reinstall MacOS. Because this takes a long time we ended that call. I repaired permissions and reinstalled MacOS but my MacBook did not acknowledge my name, my account or my password. I was left alone with the feared forever spinning wheel.


I started up from an older backup and erased the Mac's harddrive, installed Sequoia and migrated stuff. After this I tried to do what started all this: export a file to Word from Pages. A docx was created. It took me a full day but I'm cured ;-) Thanks for your help, this post is just to inform you of course.

Exporting to docx from Pages gives png files

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