export numbers spreadsheet to excel, tables are diagonal

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Level 1

8 points

export numbers spreadsheet to excel, tables are diagonal

I created a numbers spreadsheet with a few sheets having more than one table. In numbers format, the tables are all aligned with each other vertically. When I export to excel format, I get a notification saying "table locations have been modified to accommodate export to a single worksheet" and when I open it, the tables are diagonal to each other. There are still multiple sheets, so I'm confused what the notification means, and why my tables need to be diagonal. I try moving the tables back to align with the left and the size of the table gets smaller and cuts off text, and I can't change it. I tried googling this issue in every way I could think of, but couldn't find any info on why this is happening.

Thanks in advance,

Kim

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on May 11, 2019 1:51 PM

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Answer 1

SGIII

Level 8

37,622 points

May 11, 2019 3:45 PM in response to kburger00

There is a fundamental difference of design between Numbers and Excel. Sheets in Numbers are a canvas on which you can place multiple tables (and other objects) wherever you want, a handy feature. Worksheets in Excel, on the other hand, are a big grid of cells. The tables have to fit into that grid. For each table to avoid interfering with the others the tables need to be placed diagonally.

Numbers is reasonably good at opening Excel documents and exporting its own native documents in a format that Excel can understand. But there are fundamental differences between the apps. So if you are collaborating with others who use Excel the only way you are going to get 100% compatibility with Excel is to use Excel.

SG

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Answer 2

kburger00 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 11, 2019 5:10 PM in response to SGIII

Thanks so much for answering! I guess that makes sense, I just really like how the tables look with space between them, now I remember why I’m a Mac person 😂

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Answer 3

SGIII

Level 8

37,622 points

May 12, 2019 1:36 AM in response to kburger00

Well, Excel for the Mac is an excellent app too. It's just that it isn't designed around tables the Numbers is.

SG

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export numbers spreadsheet to excel, tables are diagonal

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