IWork Numbers and Documents to Go

Question

IWork Numbers and Documents to Go

I have a Blackberry and am trying to use a spreadsheet with it. I used to do it with my Palm and HanDBase, it worked great, but it is not compatible with the BB.
When I transfer the Numbers file and try to open I get an "Internal Error Has Occurred (2004)"I have no idea what this means. Here's what DataViz says.

"You said the files are created in iWork; this seems to be the issue. Other apps that save in MS Office formats can do things slightly differently than Office itself, which our app may not always handle properly. After resaving your file in MS Office, it worked on the handheld. Sorry for the inconvenience".

Does this make sense? If so, anyone know of an app for Blackberry that will handle a Numers SS?
Thanks

iMac 20 in., Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Oct 17, 2009 2:50 AM

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Answer 1

Badunit

Level 7

25,664 points

Oct 17, 2009 3:38 AM in response to Stuart Goldberg

If I understand correctly, you are exporting a spreadsheet to xls format and trying to open it with Documents to Go but ithat application will not open the file. But if you open it in Excel and re-save from Excel, Documents to Go is able to open the Excel created xls file.

The response from DataViz is probably true but not very helpful. It is not usual for an export to another format to be slightly different than a file made by the native application (i.e., Excel) . And it is not unusual for a non-native application (such as Documents to go) to have problems importing files from the native application or files made by other non-native application. Reverse engineering only gets you so far.

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Answer 2

Badunit

Level 7

25,664 points

Oct 17, 2009 4:05 AM in response to Stuart Goldberg

If you are interested in viewing, but not editing, have you tried exporting to PDF instead?

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Answer 3

Oct 17, 2009 4:53 PM in response to Badunit

I don't have Office. DataViz said they were able to get it to open in Docs to Go it they opened in Office and resave. See above quote from DataViz. Interestingly, I have two other spreadsheets saved the same way in iWork and they open fine. All threes spreadsheets are really databases, just data, no calculations or functions.

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Answer 4

Badunit

Level 7

25,664 points

Oct 17, 2009 5:34 PM in response to Stuart Goldberg

Does your version of Documents to go include PDFs to Go or do you have another PDF reader for your Blackberry? Do you need to edit the file on your Blackberry or just view it?

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Answer 5

Oct 18, 2009 6:44 AM in response to Badunit

No just PDF, XLS, and Docs. I find it strange that my other 2 files work. I had a problem at at some point and had to do a find and replace, I think to remove ¶"s. I'll see if my old post is around. I'm wondering if there's something in my SS that shouldn't be since the others work

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Answer 6

Oct 29, 2009 4:14 AM in response to Stuart Goldberg

DataViz has convinced me that Numbers does something slightly different to an exported xls files that causes them not to open in Sheets to Go. It only happens in some files (I have 2 others that work just fine, they said this is not uncommon?). I get "an Internal Error (2004)". I emailed them my file and they said they imported it in Office, saved it, and it worked. I don't want to spend $150 to use this file. Does anyone know of a another spreadsheet program that is less expensive that I might try? I'm not jumping ship, I'm happy with iWork with this one exception. I just need to uses this file on my Blackberry.

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Answer 7

Oct 29, 2009 5:19 AM in response to Stuart Goldberg

Stuart Goldberg wrote:
Does anyone know of a another spreadsheet program that is less expensive that I might try?

Stuart,

You can check out OpenOffice.org and neoOffice.org - both free and compatible with MSOffice according to most reports.

Jerry

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Answer 8

Oct 30, 2009 3:08 AM in response to Jerrold Green1

Thanks for the help. It worked which confirms there is something wrong with Numbers. DataViz said there was, but iWork would deny it. I didn't believe it but apparently they are correct. Hopefully this will get fixed in the future.

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Answer 9

Oct 30, 2009 4:04 AM in response to Stuart Goldberg

Stuart,

Unfortunately this problem is unlikely to get a lot of attention at Apple. Mainly, because a relatively few users are affected and because you probably can't give Apple much direction in terms of what in Numbers is causing the problem. The Documents to Go folks would be better positioned to advise Apple where to look.

Jerry

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Answer 10

Badunit

Level 7

25,664 points

Oct 30, 2009 6:11 AM in response to Stuart Goldberg

This is a perennial problem with import/export of non-native file formats and a perennial problem of finger pointing by the respective companies when something does not work correctly. It is part of the larger problem of independent hardware and software companies trying to get their stuff working together properly. This is part of the reason I tend to stick with Apple products and tend to stick with Apple software. Apple designed the hardware, they designed the operating systems that run on the hardware and they designed the applications that run on the operating system. When there is a problem, there is no finger pointing because it is all Apple. With a PC it was always the computer manufacturer versus the video (or other) hardware card manufacturer versus Microsoft versus the company that developed the application versus.... with finger pointing in every direction.

If I was to take Apple's point of view, I would say Numbers is working correctly. It exports Excel files that are readable by Microsoft Excel; the intended target for the exported files. If a non-Microsoft product cannot read the same files, it is an issue with that company's application. As Apple, I would say DataViz is not correctly implementing the import/read function for Excel files because it is choking on files that are readable by Excel. DataViz obviously takes a different stand on this issue because it is able to correctly read files saved by Excel; the intended file source. And the users (you included) are stuck in the middle of all the finger pointing.

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