Apple Pages app won't load (beachball) - too many files in list ?

[iTundra]

Pages will not finish loading and just gives me a beachball. This began yesterday and does not appear to be a MacOS or Pages update problem. I've forced quit - no luck. Rebooted MacOS - no luck. Deleted .plist - no luck.

I typically have 20 or more (or many more) files open so I'm wondering if one of these documents is a problem or the overall number or combined size is and so opening pages without it trying to automatically open all of the files from my last session might work?

Does anyone know what file the previous files list is kept in? Or how to open pages WITHOUT opening prior files?

Thanks,

 

[Fishrrman]

"how to open pages WITHOUT opening prior files?"

This may or may not help.

I suggest you delete any Pages ".plist" files (preference files).
I don't know for sure, but it's possible these preference files may "store" the "saved state" when you last quit Pages (so they "remember" what files to open the next time you launch Pages).
Deleting these may cause Pages to "forget" the previously-opened files.

Of course, when you delete the preferences, it will also remove ALL previously-designated preferences you have set while running Pages.

So...
Do this at your own risk.

Where to find the .plist files:
I see them in:
private/var/db/receipts (on my boot volume).

They are named:
com.apple.pkg.Pages8.plist
com.apple.pkg.Pages10.plist
(I believe the number "8" or "10" refers to the version of Pages you are using)

There's also a file:
com.apple.iWork.Pages.plist

If it was me, I'd try getting moving these to the trash (your password may be needed), then emptying the trash.
Then I'd do A COMPLETE REBOOT and open Pages again.

I realize that you ARE NOT "me".
So... proceed at your own risk.

A bit of advice for the future:
DO NOT keep many or ANY "open files" between one app quit and another.
Close 'em up and open again next time.
Works for me.

 

[iTundra]

Thanks.

The only pkg.Pages I found is pages8 which hadn't been modified since 2018. I deleted everything here: https://nektony.com/how-to/uninstall-pages-on-mac along w/ pages, emptied trash, rebooted, redownloaded pages, and IT STILL TRIED LOADING PRIOR FILES! Argh!

I did apple/recent items/clear menu. Nothing.

Somewhere there's a file w/ the prior files list.

 

[chown33]

To launch an app without having it reopen its prior windows, hold the Shift key while launching the app. See here:

Prevent apps and windows from reopening on Mac - Apple Support

Apps and their windows might automatically reopen when you log in to your Mac or open each app. Here's how to control this behavior.

support.apple.com

Find the word "Shift" on that page.

After the app has launched without its prior windows, you can Quit the app and it should remember the "No windows" state for its next launch. If it doesn't, hold down the Option key and choose the Quit item from the Pages menu (its wording should change to indicate it won't keep windows).

 

[iTundra]

Thanks. Holding down shift did not seem to work w/ Pages.

I spent considerable time on the phone w/ 3 increasingly higher level folks at Apple with no resolution. We tried all kinds of deleting this file and that file but Pages continued to try to open prior files (a few are PW protected so I'd get the pop-up to enter the PW).

I ended up copying my entire pages directory to another disk and taking it offline so that the contents could not be found. Then deleted the files from the original pages directory and emptied the trash. With no files to be found Pages opened successfully and upon closing retained no memory of previous files so I was able to then copy the directory back to its original location and proceed w/ life.

I've no idea if the issue was a single bad file (my primary suspicion) that it didn't like or the high number of files.