Problem with Numbers App

I have two versions of Numbers on my Mac: Numbers 09 version 2.1 (436); Numbers 3.5.2 (2118)

I kept Numbers 09 because I liked it much more than the newer version. It continued to work well with documents that had been created on it. With some other spreadsheet documents I would get the message "The document *****.numbers is invalid. The index.xml file is missing". When this happened I would close Numbers 09 and open the other one, and the file would open. This worked very satisfactorily.

Now something new is happening. When I try to opencertainvNumbers files made in version 3.5.2 I get this message: "You need a newer version of Numbers to open this spreadsheet".

When I go to the App store and try and upgrade Numbers, which I have done several times, nothing happens. The little wheel spins indefinitely, and the app won't download. Also I notice the new version has a rating of 2.5 stars, which is not very encouraging.

There appears to be a certain randomness about what happens. I've tried to narrow down exactly what happens in exactly what conditions, but in doing so inconsistent things appear to happen.

Can anyone out there help?!

I'm using a 2009 21" iMac running el Capitan 10.11.6

iMac 21.5", 10.11

Posted on Feb 5, 2019 1:37 AM

Similar questions

18 replies

emby

Level 1

13 points

Feb 6, 2019 6:55 PM in response to Just me then

Yes, Numbers 09 was a superior spreadsheet experience (and, imho, Pages 09 was too). I have been doing the same thing for years with increasing difficulty, including re the .xml thing. Apple really really wants us to upgrade, but I know your pain - it's not an upgrade when, with each successive update, there are more features missing. Officially I can no longer open old Pages files in Pages 09 (same message about needing the newer version to open), even after carefully shielding them from ever knowing about the newer Pages' existence. I am afraid this is about to happen to my old Numbers files too. I'm seriously thinking of checking out Office Libre or doing something really radical like changing teams to Linux.

emby

Level 1

13 points

Feb 6, 2019 7:36 PM in response to SGIII

I think the main problem for me in Numbers is the clickity click click click because the toolbar up top doesn't have the same breadth of options and I can't customize it to the same degree as before (in Numbers 09... I don't know about 2). Therefore, I have to open the inspector and click click click to find stuff. Maybe I'm just getting old. Yeah, Excel remains the powerhouse I know. That's where I've been too cheap to pay for an upgrade there. Plus I always loved Apple apps and just want them to grow old with me.

Barry

Level 9

60,023 points

Feb 7, 2019 6:09 PM in response to emby

Hi J',

SG's almost correct with "Note that 'Save As' is there, the same as always,"

Save As… was removed and replaced with Duplicate in Lion (OS X 10, and was not present in the new Numbers and Pages released around the same time. The disappearance, along with several (100+ in the case of Pages) caused great consternation, rending of garments and gnashing of teeth in these forums. Save As… was returned to the File menu in Mountain Lion, but now required pressing option to reveal or choose Save As… rather than Duplicate.

Regards,

Barry

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Problem with Numbers App