If you’re working on a Pages document on your Mac and accidentally made a mistake that you want to undo, it can be frustrating. Luckily, there is a feature on macOS that allows you to revert a file to a previous version. In this blog, we will guide you through the process of reverting a file on a Mac using the Pages application as an example.
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Recognizing the Issue Suppose you made some changes to the cover of your Pages document the previous evening, but forgot to revert it before saving and quitting the application.
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Reverting to the Latest Saved Version When you open the document again, you might instinctively try to undo the change using the standard
cmd-Z
shortcut, but it won’t work because it only functions within the current session. To revert to the last saved version, follow these steps:- Open the Pages application on your Mac.
- Go to the “File” menu at the top-left corner of the screen.
- Select “Revert To” from the dropdown menu.
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Exploring All Versions If you want to explore all the available versions of the document, instead of just reverting to the latest saved version, follow these steps:
- Open the Pages application on your Mac.
- Go to the “File” menu at the top-left corner of the screen.
- Select “Revert To” and then click on “Browse All Versions…” on the submenu.
This will take you to the Time Machine view of that specific file, where you can see a timeline of all the previous saved versions.
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Selecting a Previous Version In the Time Machine view, you can navigate through the timeline and select the version you want to revert to.
- Use the timeline on the right side of the screen to scroll through the versions.
- Each version is represented by a document thumbnail.
- Click on the thumbnail of the version you want to revert to.
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Reverting to the Chosen Version Once you have selected the desired version, you can revert the file to that specific state.
- Click on the “Restore” button at the bottom of the screen.
- The document will be reverted to the selected version, and any changes made after that version will be discarded.
By following these steps, you can easily revert a file to a previous version using the “Revert To” feature in macOS. This method is not limited to Pages; many other non-Apple applications that use documents, like MindNode and Numbers, also offer the same functionality.
Tags: Mac, Pages, reverting files, Time Machine view