Is Scrivener compatible with Apple Pages 5.5 on Yosemite? The files I import are appearing as what looks like small images that are neither legible or editable.
TIA
Nope. In a stunning display of hubris, Apple doesn’t provide any way to import from Pages, nor any tools to export to Pages format. You have to save your Pages document as RTF or Word format to get it to import into Scrivener, otherwise it will just sit there in your project as an unreadable file that you can “open with external editor” if you like, but will not interact with Scrivener directly.
Indeed, as Robert says, the .pages file format is closed and private - Apple does not publish the specifications, and nor do they provide any Cocoa importers or exporters for the format (as they do with RTF, .docx and other formats). This means that it’s not possible for third party programs to support the format directly. Pages has superb .docx support, though, so, again as Robert says, the solution is to export from Pages in Word format and import the resulting .docx file.
All the best,
Keith
I don’t have Word. I don’t have several hundred dollars for Word. Today, I am really upset, having worked through most of the tutorial AND the “For Dummies”–becoming more and more excited about writing my book on Scrivener–only to come to the “Okay, now we’re ready to import!..Not so fast, Mac owners…” When saving (exporting) documents to text, even with Word, formatting disappears entirely, leaving a mess of words.
What can I do???
Did I mention that I’m distraught?
Ever so grateful,
Kate
Export what you’ve got from Pages as a .docx file**, then import that file directly into Scrivener. You don’t have to have Word. I haven’t had Word on any of my Macs since Microsoft decided that Word 5.1a should be replaced by a port of the Windows Word 6 … well over 10 years ago. In fact, the only Microsoft product I’ve had on my Macs for the last 10 years is Skype … and that’s because Microsoft purchased it long after I had started using it!
And when you compile your text, compile it to .docx and import that into Pages — if that’s what you prefer to use; personally, I prefer .rtf and Nisus Writer Pro — and again, Word itself doesn’t come into it.
The point is just that Pages can open and export .docx files and Scrivener can import and export .docx files; so .docx is merely a kind of currency that can be used between them.
Hope that helps.
Mr X
** Use the menu <File » Export to » Word>.
Edited to include ** comment!
Thank you SO MUCH! I wish I could repay you.
Or open Pages.
Press CMD A to select all the text.
Press CMD C to copy all the text.
Open Scrivener and select a document.
Press CMD V to paste all the text.
This method loses bolds and italics, but it is quick and it provides clean text without any formatting detritus (especially if you select the option to paste and match style).
Install one of the open source work alikes for Microsoft Office. In the past I used LibreOffice or OpenOffice.org. (These days I don’t bother with either as I use Scrivener for everything.)
If you have to used Pages then export your text in Word format and import the file into Scrivener.
Thanks, Brian and Reepicheep!
Thanks not necessary, but gratefully received! 
Rain-check taken on repayment! 
It’s so easy for us old lags to respond to appeals for help without thinking that what’s obvious to us is not necessarily obvious to the person who needs the help — otherwise they wouldn’t be asking! — and so leave out some of the fine print.
Mr X