Uninstall Pages on Mac
Save open documents, confirm local files open, and check that iCloud documents have synced. For an independent backup, download complete files before copying them outside iCloud. Moving a document that is still syncing can change its cloud copy. Pages comes from the Mac App Store; Apple's iWork apps are free there, so you can download Pages again later from your App Store purchases.
Remove the app
Quit Pages and move it from Applications to the Trash. On the App Store the app can be named Pages Creator Studio; it is the same app with the bundle id com.apple.Pages. Removing the app does not delete documents saved in your folders or in the Pages folder of iCloud Drive.
Where Pages keeps its data
In Finder, press Shift + Command + G and open each location that exists.
| Location | What it holds | What to do |
|---|---|---|
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Pages |
The app's sandboxed data and settings; it can also hold unsaved work | Check for unsaved documents first, then remove it with the app |
~/Library/Application Scripts/com.apple.Pages |
Scripts folder for the app | Remove it with the app |
~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.iWork |
Data shared by Pages, Numbers and Keynote | Keep it while Numbers or Keynote is installed |
| Pages folder in iCloud Drive | Your documents | Keep it; it is not app data |
Deleting group.com.apple.iWork because you removed one app can affect the other two.
Check the result
Run these read-only commands in Terminal:
pgrep -il Pages
mdfind "kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier == 'com.apple.Pages'"
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Containers/com.apple.Pages" "$HOME/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.iWork"
No output from pgrep means Pages is not running. No output from mdfind means Spotlight finds no remaining copy of the app; a path in the output is a copy still on disk. For ls, "No such file or directory" means the folder is gone. The iWork group should still be listed if Numbers or Keynote is installed.
Finally, check the documents you kept and confirm that Numbers and Keynote still work.
If a document remains but will not open
Determine whether it is still an iCloud placeholder or you no longer have Pages or a compatible reader. Download the complete document and open an independent backup before uninstalling; a Finder placeholder alone may be hard to recover after changing sync setup. Keep the original Pages file for future editing, not just a PDF export.
What Mole lists
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Pages and ~/Library/Application Scripts/com.apple.Pages are selected by default. Mole does not list ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.iWork, because Pages, Numbers and Keynote share it, and it does not touch documents in iCloud Drive.
What this test covered
A live uninstall of the App Store app, version 15.3.1, with a development build of Mole 1.15. The app, its container and its Application Scripts went to the Trash; the shared iWork group stayed. Pages