How to download an earlier version of pages

MacBook, iOS 7.1.2

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If you had purchased and downloaded it from the App Store, then you should be able to find it on the Purchases page in App Store. Otherwise, you had a version distributed by DVD. You need to find that installer disc or look for one your can purchase on eBay or Amazon. Also, check that your time and date are properly set. You will have to download it on the computer where it will be used. If there is another version of Pages already installed on that computer, then put it in the Trash before trying to download or re-download.

Also, see http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20121012020512148.

Hi Kappy,

Thanks for the reply. I did buy it from the App store a long time ago and I do have it in the Purchases page, but when I go to install it, it gives me that error. It does not give me the option to download an earlier version.

Date and time are correct and I don't have another version installed.

Thanks again.

PS: I followed the link and tried their fix. And instead of that other error message, I get this one:

Pages can’t be installed on “MacOSX” because Mac OS X version 10.10.4 or later is required.

Still don't see an option for installing earlier versions.

That must be because you are trying to install a much later version of Pages. The version you may have previously downloaded might not be the one you used to have but a later version. It may well be you were using an older Pages installed from a DVD. You might check the DVDs that came with the computer when it was new. There is a Software Restore program that can be used to install any selected software that came with the computer, but if memory serves Pages, et.al. was a separately purchased product. Only the iLife apps were pre-installed. Back then Pages was part of iWork '09 purchased separately. You may still find old iWork on eBay or Amazon.

Apple only keeps the last release of the current Pages available in the OS X App Store. This supercedes previous Purchases, and there is no Apple location to obtain older Pages versions.

In the past, on a Mountain Lion (10.8) system, the installation of Pages v5 expectedly failed, but unexpectedly, the App Store detected an out of date (App Store purchased) Pages '09 application, and offered to update it, which I accepted. This feature may no longer work on Lion and Mountain Lion.

If you have an App Store purchased Pages '09, and the second paragraph no longer works, you can not update that application further. You cannot reinstall iWork '09 DVD applications from a backup either, because they sprinkle dependent libraries into the System, and will not run standalone without those libraries.

Your last option is to obtain a retail iWork '09 DVD from Amazon or Ebay resellers, and follow that installation with the Apple iWork 9.3 updater, to arrive at the last application suite versions. You must never run this updater on iWork '09 applications installed from the OS X App Store, as it will destroy them.

If you right-click on your copy of Pages '09, choose show package contents, and double-click the Contents folder. If there is a Frameworks folder within, then you have an OS X App Store sourced Pages '09.

Kappy, thanks for the response. I did purchase my copy from the App store. It was the first purchase I ever made there: September 8, 2011. $19.95.

VikingsOSX, thanks for the response. So there's just no way to gain access to an application that you already paid for? (Except buying it again?) That doesn't seem right. Or even reasonable. Wonder how many people I can scare up for a class-action lawsuit…? The least they could do is have a support page where those of us who still use their older OS's to download the applications we gave them good money for.

Did you try to install the current Pages (v5.6.2) on Lion, and did it detect your App Store version of Pages '09 in /Applications and offer to update it for you?

So there's just no way to gain access to an application that you already paid for?

Not for App Store applications that Apple has discontinued three years ago, and replaced with versions that presently require OS X 10.10.4 or later. That being said, many of us continue to use Pages '09 v4.3 on OS X El Capitan.

That doesn't seem right. Or even reasonable.

It is reasonable to Apple. Not our call, and we do not make Apple policy.

The least they could do is have a support page where those of us who still use their older OS's to download the applications we gave them good money for.

Apple still provides a download site for the various iWork '09 DVD application updaters. These updates do not install the dependent libraries that the DVD applications require, so noting that fact, they are not full application installers. Apple simply does not provide any download site for discontinued, full retail applications.

I had this issue when I wanted Pages on my iPad 4...and it was too old to download iOS 11.0. Every time I tried to download Pages, I got a note that iOS 11.0 was required.

Thankfully, after hours of Google searches, I found this gem: https://www.howtogeek.com/263568/how-to-install-older-versions-of-ios-apps-on-an -old-iphone-or-ipad/

The bottom line: Download the software you need on another, newer device. Then try it on you older device...and the App store will prompt you to accept the latest, compatible version.

This saved me! Good luck.