Pages → PDF is the quickest way to hand a Mac document to someone on Windows: the words, page size, headers and footnotes arrive intact, while Apple fonts, contents pages and text wrapped around photos are where it drifts.
From real runs
| Element | Result | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Body text | Kept | Body text in all 11 unlocked test documents came through as selectable text, from Pages '09 files up to one saved by Pages 14.5, and a Czech handout kept all of its accented letters. |
| Page size | Kept | A4, US Letter and A5 documents came back at 595 × 842, 612 × 792 and 420 × 595 points, so the PDF prints on the paper the author chose. |
| Headers, footers, page numbers and footnotes | Kept | A two-page report kept its running header, its footer with page numbers 1 and 2, and all three footnotes at the foot of the right pages. |
| Fonts | Changed | Helvetica, Helvetica Neue, Georgia and Garamond are not on our servers, so Noto and Liberation faces stand in. In one report several Helvetica paragraphs came out in a serif substitute. |
| Photos and wrapped text | Changed | Pictures keep their size, but text no longer flows around them: on an iPad handout the map moved from beside the opening paragraph to above the heading. |
| Tables | Changed | Cell text is all there, but ruled borders disappear and header shading is patchy; in one 3 × 4 table the middle header label did not show at all. |
| Table of contents | Lost | A Pages 13 document's automatic contents page came out blank apart from a small placeholder box; the headings it listed are still on their own pages. |
| Password-protected documents | Lost | Locked Pages files are encrypted inside, so they cannot be read; we stop with a message rather than return an empty PDF. |
Body text in all 11 unlocked test documents came through as selectable text, from Pages '09 files up to one saved by Pages 14.5, and a Czech handout kept all of its accented letters.
A4, US Letter and A5 documents came back at 595 × 842, 612 × 792 and 420 × 595 points, so the PDF prints on the paper the author chose.
A two-page report kept its running header, its footer with page numbers 1 and 2, and all three footnotes at the foot of the right pages.
Helvetica, Helvetica Neue, Georgia and Garamond are not on our servers, so Noto and Liberation faces stand in. In one report several Helvetica paragraphs came out in a serif substitute.
Pictures keep their size, but text no longer flows around them: on an iPad handout the map moved from beside the opening paragraph to above the heading.
Cell text is all there, but ruled borders disappear and header shading is patchy; in one 3 × 4 table the middle header label did not show at all.
A Pages 13 document's automatic contents page came out blank apart from a small placeholder box; the headings it listed are still on their own pages.
Locked Pages files are encrypted inside, so they cannot be read; we stop with a message rather than return an empty PDF.
We converted our Apple Pages sample (232 KB) with Office engine on 2026-10-20. It took 912 ms and produced a 34 KB PDF file, 85% smaller than the input. The engine raised 1 warning, listed below.
Input · sample.pages · 232 KB
ZIP with 26 parts
Output · sample.pdf · 34 KB
PDF 1.6, 1 page, selectable text (LiberationMono, LiberationSans, NotoSans-Bold, NotoSans-Regular), 0 image objects
LibreOffice
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf --outdir out report.pagesLibreOffice reads both the old and the current Pages formats. Install the document's fonts first, and expect the contents page and table borders to go missing as described above.
Pages (Mac, iPhone, iPad or iCloud.com)
File → Export To → PDF (iCloud.com: Download a Copy → PDF)Apple renders it, so it is exact. The iCloud.com version runs in a browser on Windows with a free Apple Account.
The HTTP API and the MCP server run the exact engine this page uses (Office engine); the response carries the same warnings the web converter shows. Check support first with GET /api/v1/pairs?from=pages&to=pdf.
curl -X POST https://filetypeconverters.com/api/v1/convert \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FTC_API_KEY" \
-F "file=@input.pages" -F "from=pages" -F "to=pdf" \
--output output.pdfWindows has no Pages app and Word cannot read the format. A PDF opens on any computer or phone; if you also need to edit the text, convert to DOCX or sign in to the free Pages app at iCloud.com.
Pages stores its contents list as a live field that is rebuilt from the headings. Our office engine reads the headings but not that field, so the page is left with a small placeholder box. Every heading is still in the PDF on its own page.
Yes. The test set ran from Pages '09 to documents saved by Pages 13.1, 14.4 and 14.5 on the Mac, plus Pages for iPad and Pages on iCloud.com, and every unlocked file opened.
Mac system fonts such as Helvetica Neue are licensed to Apple devices, so we lay the document out with the closest open fonts. Line breaks can move by a word or two, and a long document can end on a different page.