After upgrade to Sonoma, opening of PAGES docs is VERY slow

One last straw… press and hold the shift key while launching Pages. Then open any document and observe the document opening time. The shift key approach prevents Pages from using its last execution state, and maybe a miracle will happen by sidestepping it.

Creating a new user is simple but migrating your existing user data to the new user is H*LL owing to specific current permissions and ownership. I would avoid that at all costs as it will be prohibitively expensive in time and profanity.

Another approach, assuming you have backed up any custom Pages templates from that com.apple.iWork.Pages container location, would be quit Pages, and then move the preceding Pages container folder to the Desktop, and let Pages recreate that container hierarchy the next time Pages is launched. I usually recommend this as the very last approach paying attention to ensuring you have a backup of any custom (My Templates) templates.

Update to Sonoma v14.7.1. This is on your System Settings > General > Software Update panel. The first entry will likely be the current version of Sequoia v15, but as you scroll down on that panel, you will see a hyperlink stating another update is available… When you click that link, you are presented with entries for the current version of Sonoma 14.7.1 (as of this post date), and probably Safari 18.1 too. Only these will be updated without an upgrade to Sequoia. That process may clear out System caches, update frameworks, and rebuild certain system databases that both the operating system and Pages reference.

Once you have done the first paragraph. Try the same Pages document, and any other random document to determine if slow loading continues.

Update: So Apple called me back and have confirmed that the engineers are aware from multiple people that this is an issue. It will be fixed in a Sonoma update, so I would suggest avoiding any workarounds or DIY solutions if you can wait. They say typically a fix for something like this would take around 10 days to implement and release an OS update for. That's not a guarantee, however. Hope this helps.

Quit Pages. Move the /Users/yourname/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iWork.Pages.plist file to your Desktop. Right-click on that same document that has been slow to load, open in Pages and see if there is any improvement.

I upgraded Sonoma to 14.7.3 today. The problem of the Pages is gone. The Pages open instantly.

I have a very busy couple of days ahead, so will not be trying it until probably Tueday, but wanted to share this from a poster called 'FirstPost' on LogicProHelp.com as it may be the solution we have been waiting for.

Hello, this was the first match I found confirming I wasn't the only one who met with problems upgrading from 13.7..1 to 14.7.1. I'm not even a Logic Pro user, but I thought it might help to share the solution I've found out at last. If you can't or don't want to upgrade to Sequoia, you can fix the missing recent items (and several other weird issues) resetting your user keychain. I did and everything works now. I had only to re-enter Gmail accounts passwords. Of course you must have a backup...

A few references:

https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/764435

"Failed to retrieve app-scope key"… | Apple Developer Forums

https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/765433

As the Apple support article is a bit laconic IMHO, I followed this link to reset my keychain:

https://macpaw.com/how-to/reset-keychain-mac

The above article is sponsored but basically reliable. Just one caveat about toggling off iCloud Keychain. As Jeff Johnson (the developr of StopTheMadness) reports

By the way, toggling off "Sync this Mac" caused System Settings to hang and eventually crash the preference pane

That's what happened to me too, but following onscreen directions I could easily update my ID Apple settings (this process was not responding).

As a last step I had to restart into secure boot to have recent items back in place.

Hope it helps. I was on the verge of erasing and install from scratch...

It’s definitely A solution, but not the only one. If you wish to stay on Sonoma for now, unsync the iCloud back-up of your keychain, reset your keychain and then re-sync from iCloud to restore your passwords etc. Worked perfectly for me and I have yet to hear of anyone who also tried it that it didn’t work for.

Pages v14.2 requires macOS Sonoma or later. Verify that the M2 Mac user has updated Pages to v14.2 as running an older version of Pages on a newer operating system may introduce issues including degraded application performance.

If that M2 Mac is slow to open Pages and is also running any anti-virus application, or the user has run any so-called "Mac Cleaning" application, both should be uninstalled entirely per the vendor's instruction followed by a reboot. Some cleaning applications remove valid files with collateral damage.

The M2 Mac should be booted into Safe Boot mode, then determine if the same Pages document load time changes for the better. If it does, then there is some third-party software that is not loaded during Safe Boot, that is interfering with Pages when one reboots that M2 Mac normally.

Many thanks Fraxis 2007. On 5 Jan 2025 I upgraded from Verdana to Sonoma 14.7.2, avoiding Sequoia until all updated Logic Pro plug-ins are available. After the update I was experiencing the exact same issues as the Author of this post. In addition Logic Pro was slow to load plug-ins and to Save.

Your suggestion to reset the user keychain fixed the problem.

I still use 1Password7 and was wondering if its presence may have caused a corruption with keychain during the OS upgrade. However I don't really care what caused the problem, only that it's fixed. Thanks again!

Finally gave in and did a wipe and clean install of Sonoma 12.7.3. So far everything back to normal and running good.

Verify that you have Safari 18.1.1 installed on Sonoma. Might make a difference…

On that Air, and In Safari Settings > Extensions panel, if you have any extensions enabled, temporarily disable them. Also, verify that you have [√] Show features for web developers selected on the Advanced panel. And, that on the General panel, you do not have Open "safe" files after downloading selected. Quit Safari.

Press and hold the shift key while re-launching Safari. Once opened to a blank screen, press option+cmd+E to clear your cache, and Safari menu > Clear History… > [ All history ] and click Clear History. That disposes of any cookies too.

Now, download a file in Safari and then double-click on the completed download ↓⃝ panel. Does it open in Preview?

As for the console (and log) messages… they are written by the macOS product team for their consumption and deliver very little meaning to the rest of us. A good source of eyestrain, and questions. I no longer bother with them anymore. You might see something from Pages or Safari but it is unlikely.

Last evening, I upgraded my 2021 16-in MBP M1 Pro 32 GB from Ventura 13.7.1 to Sonoma v14.7.1. It appeared to be a normal upgrade. Pages was updated from v14.1 to v14.2. Opening the same 179-page document now took about a minute when it used to open in a fraction of that time in Pages v14.1 on Ventura, or Pages v14.2 with Sonoma v14.7.1 on my older M2 Mini Pro.

Hopefully, there will be a Sonoma v14.7.2, and/or Pages update released this month that corrects this lethargy.

I never select Safari Settings > General > [ ] Open "safe" files after downloading, and yet my double click of the toolbar ↓⃝ downloaded items still opens a PDF in Preview.

With a last Time Machine backup completed, you might consider booting that M2 Mac into Recovery mode, and reinstalling the Sonoma v14.7.1 operating system.