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

SGIII

Level 8

36,314 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 2

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 3

SGIII

Level 8

36,314 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 4

FoxFifth

Level 10

472,995 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 5

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

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

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