lost Pages files on ipad in ios11

[sjleworthy]

sorry if this is the wrong forum, but....

installed ios11 on my ipad pro 1st gen 12 inch yesterday. (did and itunes backup first).

all seems to have been a smooth process, other than a fair few Pages files dont open. the file name is there, but there's nothing in them and they wont open.

any idea how to retrieve these individual files without a restore?

 

[Wreckus]

sorry if this is the wrong forum, but....

installed ios11 on my ipad pro 1st gen 12 inch yesterday. (did and itunes backup first).

all seems to have been a smooth process, other than a fair few Pages files dont open. the file name is there, but there's nothing in them and they wont open.

any idea how to retrieve these individual files without a restore?

If you haven’t already, try opening them direct from the icloud or files app.

 

[sjleworthy]

i dont use icloud, and the same is in the files app - file headers or names, but no content.

 

[Wreckus]

Do you use any cloud services like Google Drive or MS OneDrive?

If not, i’m Not sure unless you can do anything in iTunes on your pc if you use Itunes to backup your ipad.

 

[sjleworthy]

i dont use any cloud services for backups. just local pc for itunes backups.

i've seen 3rd party apps that you can extract individual files from the backups, but not Pages or Numbers files

 

[Wreckus]

Not sure if this will help you, I found this in Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH23543?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

 

[sjleworthy]

unfortunately no help

 

[Wreckus]

unfortunately no help

Unless you use a third party program to try to find & retrieve the lost pages documents (found this one but not sure how uptodate it is (http://www.iphone-ipad-recovery.com/recover-deleted-files-from-iphone-ipad-ipod.html) or use itunes (https://support.apple.com/kb/PH3567?locale=en_US), or if anyone else has any ideas, those documents may be gone unfortunately.

 

[sjleworthy]

thanks Wreckus

I've now tried several recovery applications. all do a good job, but none seem to deal with Numbers/Pages files. I'd have thought these would be obvious file types to extract.

i had this issue last time i updated a major ios - always Pages files are the issue. old or new, it doesn't discriminate.

 

[Wreckus]

thanks Wreckus

I've now tried several recovery applications. all do a good job, but none seem to deal with Numbers/Pages files. I'd have thought these would be obvious file types to extract.

i had this issue last time i updated a major ios - always Pages files are the issue. old or new, it doesn't discriminate.

No problem. Sucks that this keeps on happening to you.

 

[sjleworthy]

I suppose the obvious other option is a restore from backup. I’d prefer not to do this as i’ve been using my ipad for a day or 2 adding data to it.

 

[Wreckus]

I suppose the obvious other option is a restore from backup. I’d prefer not to do this as i’ve been using my ipad for a day or 2 adding data to it.

You can; However, there is the risk that restore won’t bring those files back as well.

 

[sjleworthy]

Thats true. The question is i suppose do the files not backup correctly, or not restore correctly. Or both.

 

[Wreckus]

Thats true. The question is i suppose do the files not backup correctly, or not restore correctly. Or both.

My guess is that they didn’t back up correctly or not at all. Hence why they aren’t available when you did the restore. Which also leads me to believe that when you don’t have a proper backup or cloud service in place, the pages documents are deeply tied to the actual pages app. Which leads me to my next question, when you did the restore, did you have the re-download the pages app? Or was it immediately available once the restore was complete.

 

[sjleworthy]

My guess is that they didn’t back up correctly or not at all. Hence why they aren’t available when you did the restore. Which also leads me to believe that when you don’t have a proper backup or cloud service in place, the pages documents are deeply tied to the actual pages app. Which leads me to my next question, when you did the restore, did you have the re-download the pages app? Or was it immediately available once the restore was complete.

I havent done a restore. I backed up through itunes, then updated the ios from 10 to 11. Now missing files.

I tried icloud backup a year or so back, but all i had was duplicate and copies of everything appear on my ipad - 2 each of all contacts, 2 each of all diary entries, 2 each of files etc etc. Stupidly annoying. So never use it. I just use itunes backup, which is a bit frightning to suspect might be dodgy.

My best solution before ios upgrade in the future might be to zip up and email copies of all files to myself as extra security.

 

[masotime]

Are your iTunes backups encrypted? Non-encrypted backups don’t save user data if I remember correctly.

 

[sjleworthy]

Are your iTunes backups encrypted? Non-encrypted backups don’t save user data if I remember correctly.

they must be as 90% of my user data gets saved. only the odd few files dont save. old or new files, it has no logic. quite random which wont be saved. but it's only Pages that really seam to be hit and miss.

 

[masotime]

they must be as 90% of my user data gets saved. only the odd few files dont save. old or new files, it has no logic. quite random which wont be saved. but it's only Pages that really seam to be hit and miss.

I believe you, but just to be sure, when you connect your iPad to your desktop, is the checkbox below selected?

https://www.****************/images/tips/Encrypt-iPhone-backup.png

 

[sjleworthy]

right.

no, that isnt ticked.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Are your iTunes backups encrypted? Non-encrypted backups don’t save user data if I remember correctly.

Non-encrypted backups don't save specific user data - health data, saved passwords, website history, and wifi settings. https://support.apple.com/HT205220 Pages documents ought to be part of any iTunes backup.

 

[masotime]

right.

no, that isnt ticked.

Hmmm... Although the description in the screenshot says "account passwords and Health data" - perhaps Pages is weird that it classifies documents under that. Maybe worth a try, but at this point it's a little late. Still, if you have the time, it might be worth an experiment to see if it backs up and restores properly as an encrypted backup. It's also good to encrypt your backups anyway
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Non-encrypted backups don't save specific user data - health data, saved passwords, website history, and wifi settings. https://support.apple.com/HT205220 Pages documents ought to be part of any iTunes backup.

Yes fair enough, but still worth a try I think. Personally encryption gives me peace of mind knowing that even if the data is somehow lost or accidentally uploaded to the cloud, it's inaccessible without a password.

 

[sjleworthy]

so in other words, no reason why not to use encrypted backup as standard really.

do encrypted backups save more than non-encrypted as it seams, or does it loose other data that non-encrypted saves?

 

[masotime]

so in other words, no reason why not to use encrypted backup as standard really.

do encrypted backups save more than non-encrypted as it seams, or does it loose other data that non-encrypted saves?

Encrypted backups definitely save more than non-encrypted, and don't lose anything that unencrypted ones do. There's only the inconvenience that you have to set and remember a password, which is probably why it's not the default.

 

[sjleworthy]

Thanks a lot fellers!

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Encrypted backups definitely save more than non-encrypted, and don't lose anything that unencrypted ones do. There's only the inconvenience that you have to set and remember a password, which is probably why it's not the default.

Exactly. Unlike most others kinds of forgotten passwords, if you forget an iTunes backup password, there's no password reset, no way to restore from the backup.

This is one of the reasons an iCloud backup is superior - there are ways to reset a forgotten iCloud password.