help...Numbers spreadsheet now in pdf format

Hello dbottomley,

We'd like to go over what you are noticing together.

Do you use Numbers with iCloud or any other devices?

Use iCloud with Numbers on Mac and try the steps under:

Tips for managing spreadsheets across devices

While we can't speculate on why this has happened, it may have been an accident.

Make sure to review:

Export to other file formats in Numbers on Mac

We hope this helps.

Cheers.

dbottomley,

If you are using Time Machine, you can use the steps below to restore a file:

1. On your Mac, open a window for the item you want to restore.

For example, to recover a file you accidentally deleted from your Documents folder, open the Documents folder.

If you’re missing an item from the desktop, you don’t need to open a window.

2. Use Launchpad to view and open apps on Mac and open Time Machine. A message may appear while your Mac connects to the backup disk.

You can also open Time Machine by clicking the Time Machine icon  in the menu bar, then choosing Enter Time Machine. If the Time Machine icon isn’t in the menu bar, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Time Machine , then select “Show Time Machine in menu bar.”

3. Use the arrows and timeline to browse the local snapshots and backups.

If you see a pulsing light to semi-dark gray tick mark, it represents a backup that’s still loading or validating on the backup disk.

4. Select one or more items you want to restore (these can include folders or your entire disk), then click Restore.

Restored items return to their original location. For example, if an item was in the Documents folder, it’s returned to the Documents folder.

You can also find those steps in this resource: Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac

If you aren't able to restore that file, you'll want to reach out to Apple Support: Contact Apple Support They'd be in the best position to look into this further.

Take care.

Are they really pdf files or has the file extension somehow gotten changed? Try changing the file extension of one of them back to the Numbers. Then try to open with numbers.

Show or hide filename extensions on Mac - Apple Atbalsts (LV)

I do not believe it is possible to "save" a Numbers document as a PDF and have the PDF replace the original Numbers document. Exporting to PDF or printing it to PDF creates a new PDF file, leaving the actual Numbers document alone. I do not know what has happened to your Numbers document or why it is showing you an older version that you cannot open. I don't use iCloud for document storage. My assumption is that gray means the file you see the name of is not synced with the device. That's not the version you really want anyway.

Is it possible you saved your more recent version somewhere else; not in iCloud or not in that particular folder in iCloud? Have you tried searching your hard drive or browsing through other folders in iCloud? Or maybe the latest changes were made on a different device and are saved there?