1) 'The document “*.numbers” could not be opened. ' and 2) '"untitled" can't be opened right now. Numbers couldn't read the file'

1. Open 'Activity Monitor', and type 'filecoordinationd' in the top right search bar (this should filter only that process)
2. Then, double click on it, and on the details window, click 'Quit'.
3. It will give you an alert that this process is owned by 'root'. Select 'Force Quit' just to make sure it will :)

This should do the trick.

Someone posted in another forum this solution, which has worked for me. I can now open numbers files, pages, .png sheet shots. 'course, it's only day one :)

1. Open 'Activity Monitor', and type 'filecoordinationd' in the top right search bar (this should filter only that process)
2. Then, double click on it, and on the details window, click 'Quit'.
3. It will give you an alert that this process is owned by 'root'. Select 'Force Quit' just to make sure it will :)

This should do the trick.

Note that the latest Numbers is 6.2.1 (not 6.2).

You can find the process in Activity Monitor. You may need to go to the View menu there and select All Processes.

In the View menu you will see Quit Process.

I never have to do this, though, so you might first want to double-check you've got that latest Numbers installed on all your devices.

SG

I've been having the same issue on both my mac (since Catalina) and iphone (since iOS13). I was able open files on my mac after the "Activity Monitor / filecoordinationd " force quit and on my iphone after shutting it down. I'm sure these are only temporary fixes. This is obviously an Apple issue and not a device/user issue.

This has suddenly happened to me too. Everything was fine yesterday but now Numbers won't open anything - .numbers, xlsx etc. And creating a new sheet doesn't work either.

I updated to Catalina a few days ago but have used Numbers since that so it can't be the that.

Tried a few things like restarting Numbers, checking for updates and eventually shut the iMac down completely. Had a coffee and came back to restart it. Numbers works fine. Very strange - any explanations?

iMac 27inch late 2013

Catalina

Same problem here. Trying to save a newly created Numbers spreadsheet, and get the error message: "Untitled" can't be opened right now. Numbers couldn't read the file." I'm afraid to open any old files and save them for fear of losing them! I will shut down and restart and let you know what happens!

Hi James,

Thanks for your reply.

jamesfromweybridge wrote:

Yes, curious isn't it? The old adage of switch-off/switch-on seems to be proved true.

Yes, a restart does blow out the cobwebs!

Regards,

Ian.

But did the boot last for the next day? I am having the same trouble with ALL files since Catalina came on board. I boot and then it works fine ... until it doesnt. My trouble is with all files: Pages, Screenshots .png, Numbers ... can't keep rebooting and losing files I have started!

NOT A HAPPY CAMPER WITH MAC THESE DAYS !

If you're storing your documents in iCloud your connect may be unstable at times, causing problems. You might try signing out of iCloud and back in again on all your devices. Also perhaps power down your router and power it up again to make sure your internet connection is consistent.

SG

I have this problem routinely since updating to Catalina. While restarting the MAC does work, the issue eventually comes back and I cannot open existing files, or create new ones with Numbers.

Another website/forum mentioned that quitting the process 'filecoordinationd' also fixes the issue, and for me that works. No reboot necessary!

But, I eventually have the problem again and have to kill that process (or reboot) in order to get things working again.

Pages, Numbers and Keynote just did an update two days ago...perhaps that will solve the problem? I haven't had the error message for quite some time, but it may come back. Give the update a try if you haven't already.

Yes, it's happening again. Came back to my iMac after four days when it had been shut down completely and found it wouldn't open Numbers files. Rebooting solved the problem.

I'm not having any problems with Keynote of Pages files.

Where would I find this process 'filecoordinationd' please?

jamesfromweybridge wrote:

Thank you. That worked. But this shouldn't be happening so I assume it's a bug in the latest OS?

Are you actually on the latest OS? The latest MacOS is 10.14.6. The latest iOS/macOS is 13.2.3. Latest Numbers for Mac is 6.2.1. Latest Numbers for iOS/iPadOS is 5.2.1.

SG

I may be stating the obvious here but this looks like an issue with iCloud. Before I saw the suggestion to kill fillcoordinationd (which works, for a while at least) I copied one of my Numbers files that wouldn't open to a folder outside of iCloud Drive and it opened perfectly. When I copied it back, replacing the version in iCloud Drive, it refused to open again.