Can’t find the actual file of Pages document anywhere

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Level 1

4 points

Can’t find the actual file of Pages document anywhere

I can see my Pages document when I search with Spotlight or right-click on the Pages app in the Dock, but I can’t find the actual file anywhere. I’ve checked the trash and searched everywhere, but it’s just not there… I'm 100% sure that I didn't delete it myself, and I don’t recall if I uploaded it to iCloud. Is there any way to locate the file and retrieve??

*Search in spotlight

*right click of pages app in dock

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

MacBook Air, macOS 14.5

Posted on Oct 26, 2024 8:55 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 27, 2024 6:26 AM in response to HyeseungPark

If you can find the Pages document in Spotlight, then arrow down to the appropriate filename and press cmd+R to open a Finder window with that Pages document selected. To help further identify the file location, select the Finder's View menu > Show Page Bar. That will show you the path to the selected document at the bottom of the Finder Window.

While in Spotlight you can select the Pages document as you did in the previous paragraph and without using cmd+R, you simply press return to open it in Pages.

Without Spotlight, and if you have already set System Settings > Control Center pane > Recent Documents, applications, and servers to a selected number, then when you launch Pages, its Open Recent menu may also show the file name.

If you are only interested in Pages documents the following would narrow your search results in Spotlight:

kind:pages name:2023

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Answer 2

HyeseungPark Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 4, 2024 10:20 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks for replying :)

When I tried the first method, searching in Spotlight and arrow down to it and select and press Cmd + R, while other existing files directs to the finder where folder is located, but the one that Im looking for doesn't directs me to finder.

Also increasing Recent Documents, applications, and servers to 50 and relaunch Pages, didn't showed one that Im looking for .

Is it really just deleted file showing up for no reason? :(

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Answer 3

Nov 5, 2024 4:59 AM in response to HyeseungPark

The Open Recent sub-meu in Pages is only adjusted by the documents that you open and close. It is not updated when a document is deleted as it is just a stack of previously opened file names and does not check for their existence.

Your search results are also governed by what Search Result categories you have selected in System Settings > Spotlight (you need Folders and Documents categories selected to find Pages documents). You also need a current Spotlight indexing. At the bottom of that Spotlight panel, click on Search Privacy… If your Macintosh HD is still in that panel, no Spotlight indexing will have occurred, so remove it [-]. If your Macintosh HD is not on that Privacy panel, drag and drop it on it, wait 10 seconds, and then select and remove [-] it. That will start the Spotlight indexing processes. No Spotlight search can be performed while indexing. If you launch the Spotlight Tool 🔍 from the menu bar, you will see the indexing progress.

When Spotlight indexing has ended, reissue that Spotlight search I provided on Oct 27 above. Pages documents that match that search criteria will show a Pages icon, not Google Chrome.

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