How to open Microsoft Word documents in Apple Pages on a Mac

Roman Loyola

If you use Microsoft Word on your Mac, you can save the documents you create and open them in Pages, Apple’s word processor. It’s a handy feature to use in case you can’t access Microsoft’s apps.

Every Mac comes with Apple’s iWork apps: Pages (word processor), Numbers (spreadsheet), and Keynote (presentations). And these apps can import Office documents. Here’s how you can open Word documents in Pages, as well as export Pages documents for use in Word.

How to import Microsoft Word documents into Apple Pages

This procedure works with .docx and .doc file formats. You can also import .rtf and .txt files.

  1. Launch Pages (it’s in the Applications folder of your Mac).
  2. In the window that automatically opens when you launch the app, navigate to the location of your Word file. For example, if it’s in Documents, click on the Documents folder in the left sidebar. (You can also click on the File menu and select Open, then navigate to your document.)pages open file
  3. Once you’ve located your file, select it and click Open.word import in progess
  4. A window may appear, explaining any changes that were made during the import process. The more complicate your Word document (formatting, tables, image placement, etc.), the higher the possibility that a change had to be made. The simpler the document, the more your file will resemble what you created in Word.
  5. That’s it. The Word file should open in Pages.

Before you start working on your document, look it over carefully. Formatting may have changed and you may have to fix it. There’s always a chance that so much happened during the import that you can’t use your document.

How to export Apple Pages files as Microsoft Word documents

If you’ve been working in Pages and will eventually return to Word, you can export your document as a Word file. Here’s how.

  1. In Pages, click on the File menu and move your cursor to “Export to”.
  2. A pop-up menu will appear. Select Word.pages export to word
  3. In the Export Your Document window that appears next, you can opt to include a summary worksheet and require a password. Click on the Advanced Options, and you can select between .docx and .doc file formats. Click Next when you have finished selecting your options.pages export your document
  4. Choose where you want to save the file and name it.
  5. When you click Export, this will save the file.