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To open this spreadsheet you'll need a newer version of Numbers

I just tried to open an important spreadsheet on my iPad 3 running iOS 9.3.5 and got this message. I apparently opened the spreadsheet on my mac with a newer version of numbers. Normally I only use the file on my iPad so I don't open it on the computer. I guess I got careless because for a few years Apple has been better at retaining backward compatibility with Numbers files. Now they've decided that's not important.


There is no higher version of numbers available for the iPad and 9.3.5 is the highest version of iOS available.


Is there a way I could revert to an older version of the spreadsheet? The file is in iCloud and I know old versions are retained. On the Mac there's a "Revert to " menu item, but that doesn't seem to be available on Numbers on the iPad. If I revert on the mac and save it'll probably just save the reverted file in the new format.


I also have Time Machine backups but finding iCloud files will be tricky.


iPad, 9

Posted on Feb 7, 2019 11:55 AM

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@Jason Great idea! I didn't know iOS numbers could open Excel. But I just exported the latest on my Mac as Excel, saving it in iCloud FIles/Numbers and it did show up on the iPad and opened and looks fine. Thanks!

Posted on Feb 7, 2019 12:53 PM

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Feb 7, 2019 12:46 PM in response to Chester Wood

I was able to revert using Time Machine. On my mac, I had a Smart Folder "all Numbers files". I opened that in Finder, then selected "Enter Time Machine" from the Time Machine menu item. Selecting a date a month or two back, Time Machine showed me several versions of the spreadsheet in question. I selected one to restore. Time Machine complained the original folder no longer existed, so I restored it to the Desktop, then dragged it to iCloud Files/Numbers, replacing the existing file. It then opened OK in the iPad. Voilá!


I first tried reverting using Numbers, and as I suspected, I couldn't recover and save an old version as such.

To open this spreadsheet you'll need a newer version of Numbers

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