Excel and Numbers

Question

Excel and Numbers

Apparently Microsoft is trying to force an update of Office, which I have been using on my iMacs for a few years. My version of Excel no longer allows me to save any documents, which makes them essentially useless. It also does not allow me to open them in Numbers, which I have read is supposed to work. I am writing to see if anyone knows how to transition my Excel files to Numbers. I have already tried dragging them to the icon or choosing to try to open the file in Numbers. They don't work. I'm hoping there is a trick I am not aware of. Somehow I think the Microsoft approach is unethical.

iMac 24″, macOS 15.2

Posted on Jan 17, 2025 12:45 PM

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Answer 1

SyAnTh

Level 1

27 points

Jan 18, 2025 8:25 PM in response to Hazel Greenberg

Have you tried the following:

open Numbers
click on “Browse”
navigate to where you stored your Excel files
click on the file you want to open

This usually imports the Excel file into Numbers.

You might get an “Import Details” screen showing you what has been affected by the import, e.g.

some fonts may be missing if the Excel file was created on another device,
some Excel formulas are not supported by Numbers - in this case the last calculated value is imported,
some formatting may not be supported - in this case it is usually removed.

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Answer 2

SGIII

Level 8

36,320 points

Jan 18, 2025 12:47 AM in response to Hazel Greenberg

What version of Excel are you using?

If your version of Excel is so old (i.e. pre 2007) that all your files have the .xls extension then Numbers will have trouble opening those. Otherwise, if your files have an .xlsx extension then just File > Open them from Numbers. You may lose some formatting, and not all Excel formulas are supported, but most of your work will transition over.

In any case it seems unlikely that Microsoft would try to prevent you from opening Excel files in another app even if that were technically possible. They're a good citizen in the Mac word. They even sell MS Office Via the Mac App Store. It works really well on the Mac.

SG

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Answer 3

Jan 18, 2025 6:42 AM in response to Hazel Greenberg

Yes, it has xlsx, and I got it about 3 or 4 years ago. Again, I have already tried File > Open in Numbers, and it does not work, which is why I came here for help. I have been using Office for Mac for many years and have never had this problem before. I didn't believe it at first, but it is the only conclusion I could come to. BTW, the same thing is true of Word. In both cases, the Save and Save As functions are grayed out in the menu list. And they just make a blunt beep sound when I try to save a document. Once you get 2 applications with the same issue, it becomes more suspicious that it's purposeful, but I'm hoping it's not true.

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Answer 4

SGIII

Level 8

36,320 points

Jan 18, 2025 9:30 AM in response to Hazel Greenberg

The Save is on the MS Office side.

The Open is on the Numbers side.

If you have old xlsx files and you can't open them in Numbers (not sure why you don't discuss the specifics of what happens when you do that other than "does not work") then it is very unlikely that MS has anything to do with that.

As for your Save being grayed out on the MS Office side, you may need to go to the MS forums for help.

SG

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Answer 5

Jan 19, 2025 8:41 AM in response to SyAnTh

I am anxious to try your solution, but I cannot find the word 'browse" anywhere. I checked all menu items and all words on the empty page that comes up when you open Numbers--twice! Where is it?

This is the app that came with my new iMac, which is only about 7 months old. So I assume it's the latest version.--14.3.

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Answer 6

gsyrba

Level 2

193 points

Jan 19, 2025 8:49 AM in response to Hazel Greenberg

Which version of Excel are you using? My version is from 2016 (9 years old) and still works fine on my iMac which is fairly new (M4 chip, latest IOS). These files were mostly created on my old iMac and a few on the new one.

If your version is at least this new, there should be a workaround to keep saving them in Excel. Check in with a Microsoft forum group before giving up.

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Answer 7

Jan 19, 2025 9:57 AM in response to FoxFifth

In order to answer this question because it seems so long ago that I tried it, I tried it again, and this time it worked. I have no explanation for this. I did exactly the same thing, as far as I know. I opened it as I would anything else--in the way you described. At any rate, I believe the problem is at a place I can work with and hope that Numbers is intuitive and not too different from Excel. I tried using Libre Office on a suggestion, but the learning curve is fairly high, at least for me. Thank you, everyone, for trying and ultimately succeeding in helping with this. I do appreciate all the suggestions.

As long as I'm writing, I did notice when the spreadsheet came up in Numbers, the type was too large and the spreadsheet too narrow. Can you set a default font size? Or do you have to change if for each document?

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Answer 8

FoxFifth

Level 10

473,019 points

Jan 19, 2025 11:00 AM in response to Hazel Greenberg

Hazel Greenberg wrote:

... At any rate, I believe the problem is at a place I can work with and hope that Numbers is intuitive and not too different from Excel. I tried using Libre Office on a suggestion, but the learning curve is fairly high, at least for me. ...

I tried switching to Numbers several years ago but found it very different from Excel. For me Libre Office was much easier.

Good luck.

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Answer 9

Jan 19, 2025 11:17 AM in response to FoxFifth

No kidding. Good to know. There was so much to read just to get started with Libre. And the manuals are long. I thought I've been using Apple products for so long, Numbers might be intuitive. But maybe not. I did try opening one spreadsheet. Aside from the large type, it looked the same and if I just add more of the same sort of information gradually, I'm hoping to be able to keep up with the ones I have already. Now if I need new ones, that may be a challenge. Will have to see. I really don't understand why Excel just all of sudden would not save documents. Maybe I should try to find Microsoft community apps like this one and ask.

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Answer 10

FoxFifth

Level 10

473,019 points

Jan 19, 2025 11:54 AM in response to Hazel Greenberg

Hazel Greenberg wrote:

... Maybe I should try to find Microsoft community apps like this one and ask.

Following is a link to the Microsoft Excel for Mac community forum: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_excel-msoffice_OfH-mso_OPMac?sort=LastReplyDate&dir=Desc&tab=All&status=all&mod=&modAge=&advFil=&postedAfter=&postedBefore=&threadType=all&isFilterExpanded=true&page=1

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Answer 11

FoxFifth

Level 10

473,019 points

Jan 17, 2025 1:28 PM in response to Hazel Greenberg

What happens (e.g., what error message) if you open the Numbers app and then use the Numbers File menu Open item to attempt to open any of the Excel files?

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Answer 12

Jan 17, 2025 1:54 PM in response to FoxFifth

There is no error message. It just does not work.

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