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  1. Child of God
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Long story, but after my computer was running too slowly with El Capitan, I used an old Time Machine backup to revert to Mavericks. Problem is, while it does run more smoothly now, there are some applications I can’t use now because of the outdated system. So now I’m thinking of giving El Capitan one more shot (worst case I may need to erase my system and do a clean install, it sounds like), or at least Yosemite. The problem is I was told I should install it rather than go back to a Time Machine backup, and I can’t find a way to install El Capitan now. When I go to the App Store I only find High Sierra (I know my computer shouldn’t be able to handle that). I found a link on a site taking me to an El Capitan install page on the App Store, but for some reason it’s telling me it can’t be installed on my computer. Any suggestions?
    "They will walk after the LORD, He will roar like a lion; indeed He will roar and His sons will come trembling from the west." - Hosea 11:10
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  2. Explorer Case's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Middle Earth
    Search Comp PM
    Apple says you should be able to use El Capitan on e.g. Mac mini models from early 2009 or later. If the link that Apple provides doesn’t work for you [image]:
    If you have previously downloaded any version of a previous OS through the App Store, then that should be marked/mentioned in App Store.app > Purchased. This is linked to your Apple ID. The Purchased tab has Open buttons for any installed App Store apps, and Install buttons and Download buttons for installing/re-installing others, including OS X installers. [image]
    The copy that you can download this way will be the latest point release (10.11.6 for El Capitan), but without the later security updates. So check for updates in the App Store again after installing a new OS, to get the latest tweaks. The downloaded OS X installer will be in your /Applications folder (you may copy it to a safe back-up location for future use, if you prefer that to re-downloading, as it will be deleted after a successful install).
    Alternatively, you could re-install the OS via “macOS Recovery”, but only to the previously installed OS or the newest compatible OS.

    These are the official ways to obtain copies of a previous OS. The physical Apple Stores won’t provide copies anymore (as they did with Lion in 2011). You could copy an installer from someone else (nothing unique about it), but that requires a new level of trust on file integrity (Is the file really what it seems to be?).
    Last edited by Case; 13th Nov 2017 at 06:58.
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  3. Child of God
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Thanks. Got it to work.

    Another strange issue has surfaced, though. Before updated I wasn’t able to open my Pages documents. But now even after upgrading to El Capitan it’s still telling me it can’t open my documents, even though I made them using El Capitan, and it tells me I need to upgrade to the latest operating system. But I went to the App Store and I have installed all of the updates for El Capitan now. All that would be left would be to upgrade to High Sierra. So what’s the deal? Why can’t I view my Pages documents anymore? I used to be able to do that with El Capitan.
    "They will walk after the LORD, He will roar like a lion; indeed He will roar and His sons will come trembling from the west." - Hosea 11:10
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  4. Explorer Case's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Middle Earth
    Search Comp PM
    I don’t use Pages myself, although I have it installed. I presume you have Pages 5.x (5.6.2?), as Pages 6.x probably abandoned older OSes.
    Have you synced these Pages documents with online services (iCloud, DropBox, etc) in the timeframe between the working state and non-working state?
    Have you synced these Pages documents with an automated backup service in the timeframe between the working state and non-working state?
    Google Docs is supposed to be able to open Pages documents. Perhaps try emailing such a document to your gmail account?
    Is it just the old files? Can you make new documents in Pages and open them later?
    I think there were file format differences with iWorks ’05 (initial release) and iWorks ’09 (Pages 4.0) and iWorks ’13 (Pages 5.0). Could it be that you have Page 4.x and 5.x both installed, and you try to open a Pages 5 document and it tries to open in Pages 4.x?
    If you save/copy such a non-working Pages document on your iCloud Drive in a Pages folder, then you should be able to browse it in a web interface on iCloud.com. That should also provide some export possibilities: Send a copy … (Pages/Pdf/Word/ePub) … Compose email with new doc as attachment.
    Alll this assuming the documents themselves are alright. If they’re corrupted, then maybe they’re gone forever.
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