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How to Get iWork for Free on OS X Yosemite

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Apple announced last year that its iWork suite of apps, which consists of Keynote, Pages and Numbers, would come free with any new Mac that you buy. Previously, these apps were $20 a piece. However, current Mac users with older Macs aren’t able to take advantage of that deal, seeing as how the company is only making iWork free for new Macs bought after yesterday. Here’s how to get iWork for free either way.

It turns out, there’s a clever loophole that allows older Macs to get the iWork suite of apps for free. It does require a little bit of elbow grease — certainly more effort than just downloading and installing the apps, but it may be worth it for some users who have been wanting the apps for some time.

iWork is free for users who purchased a new Mac computer on or after October 1, 2013 or a new iOS device on or after September 1, 2013. If you’re running an older Mac that you bought before this date, you’ll have to pony up the $60 that it requires to buy and download all three apps.

iwork-suite-mac

However, I bought my Mac after October 1, 2013 last year, yet the App Store still shows that I need to pay the $20 for each app. We’re not sure if this is a bug or what, but here’s a neat little trick will get you the iWork suite for free, as long as you’re willing to do a bit of work to get it.

How to Get iWork for Free

To get iWork on older Macs that previously don’t have iWork installed, follow the simple steps below. However, before you begin, make sure that app installation permissions are properly set: Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and allow apps downloaded from Everywhere.

  1. Visit this Softpedia link to download a free trial of iWork ’09.
  2. Click Download, and then click External Mirror 1.
  3. Double-click on the downloaded file. This will open up a window with a couple of files inside.

Screenshot-2013-10-23-12.04.56

  1. Double-click Install iWork ’09 Trial and follow the installation instructions.
  2. After installation, close out the install windows and wait a few minutes for your Mac to recognize the newly-installed apps.
  3. Next, open up the App Store app and click on the Updates tab at the top. You should see updates for Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
  4. If you don’t see updates for these apps yet, close out of the App Store and wait a few minutes before opening it back up. You simply just need to give the App Store some time of recognize that you have iWork installed. If the App Store still doesn’t show updates for the three apps, try opening and running any one of the apps, and then go back to the App Store.

Once you see updates for these three apps appear, simply just click Update next to each one to download the latest versions. After that’s done, you’ll have the new version of iWork installed on your older Mac without spending a dime.

You’ll end up with two copies of each application (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers). Simply delete the old versions and you’ll now only have the newer versions to enjoy.

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. Amb

    12/12/2014 at 12:58 am

    it says

    “This update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or cancelled.”

  2. MIKESHOUTS (@mikeshouts)

    12/25/2014 at 5:08 am

    Thanks a gazillion. It works like a charm! A note though. If can’t find the updates, try restarting the Mac.

  3. Chris Raman

    03/21/2015 at 5:13 pm

    Thank you for helping me download software that despite my request to Apple having purchased a system last year wanted to charge me the full amount for software that should have come with the updated computer.

  4. James Zhao

    05/26/2015 at 1:50 pm

    Thanks, it worked for me! I have a late 2011 MBP with Yosemite. Within like 3 minutes after installing the iWork 09 trial package, I could find updates available in my App Store.

    If your’s doesn’t work, make sure you followed the instruction:
    1. You have to set your system language to English.
    2. You have to allow apps downloaded from everywhere.
    3. Don’t open iWork apps before you update them.
    4. If you waited for a while and still can’t see the iWork apps updates, try restarting your Mac.

    • yqzhou

      07/26/2015 at 12:24 am

      Thanks, it worked for me! 2014 rMBP with Yosemite

  5. Dave

    11/23/2015 at 5:37 am

    Worked for me (Nov 2015) on Yosemite (planning to update OS X to El Capitan soon — what happened to the ‘cats’?) … Side note: All the trial versions were installed in a sub-folder (iWorks ’09). The updates were in Applications folder.

  6. M

    01/03/2016 at 4:54 pm

    When attempting to open the download and install, got an error reading: “Safari can’t open the file “iWork09Trial.dmg” because no available application can open it”. No version of iWork has ever been installed on this computer. Am I SOL?

  7. M

    01/03/2016 at 4:57 pm

    Running El Capitan btw

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