Efficient way to merge 100 numbers documents into one

Here is a simple script that reads the data from the body cells of the first table on the first sheet of individual Numbers documents and places the data tab-delimited on the clipboard for pasting into a new Numbers document (or wherever).

-- read the data from the Numbers files in the folder
set theData to {} -- a list of lists to hold the data
tell application "Finder"
	set theFiles to items of (choose folder) as alias list
	repeat with aFile in theFiles
		tell application "Numbers"
			open aFile
			tell front document
				set end of theData to value of cells of rows 2 thru -1 of table 1 of sheet 1
				close
			end tell
		end tell
	end repeat
end tell

-- convert data list to tab-delimited string on clipboard for pasting
set text item delimiters to tab
set pasteStr to ""
repeat with anItem in items of theData
	repeat with aLine in items of anItem
		set pasteStr to pasteStr & aLine & return
	end repeat
end repeat
set the clipboard to pasteStr

return pasteStr -- optional -for viewing in Results panel


1. Copy-paste script into Script Editor (in Applications > Utilities)
2. Place all the Numbers documents in a folder
3. Run the script
4. Select upper-left body cell in an existing destination Numbers table and command-v or Edit > Paste and Match Style.

If "nothing happens" make sure Script Editor is listed and checked at System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility.

SG

That really depends on how your documents are structured. Documents contain sheets, tables, and other objects. You mention "number of rows and columns," which refers to tables, but give no details on where tables are located and how many are in each sheet. Screenshots might help (Shift-command-4, select the area on the screen, and release the keys. Then compose a new post in this forum and use the "mountain" Insert Image icon to upload the screenshots.)

SG

This appears to be a suitable task for AppleScript: open Numbers documents in a folder one-by-one, extract the values from the body cells of the first table on the first sheet, then insert the contents into one table on the first sheet of a new document. I'll see if I can come up with one that works. AppleScript is slow but will be better than doing this manually.

SG

Any luck? It should take only a minute or two to give the script a try.

So you have one 7-row 5-column table on the first sheet in each document?

What do you want the merged document to look like?

(I think Numbers would have a tough time handling 100 different sheets in one document or 100 tables on a sheet).

SG

Numbers can handle 500 columns. Do you mean 5 columns, where you are "stacking" the contents of the tables vertically?

SG