Numbers unable to open excel file in Monterey 12.1

If it says "downloading" it is NOT stored on your local drive. That is also why you can't make a copy of it... it does not exist locally.

Where, EXACTLY, do you think it is on your local drive?

If you have iCloud documents and desktop enabled, it may have been offloaded to provide space. Ditto if you have it stored in a OneDrive folder.

There is no reason why the word “downloading” should appear for a local file. If the drive in question is not the system drive then you need to grant Numbers and Excel “Full Disk Access” in System Preferences->Security & Privacy->Privacy

Where are those files located, exactly? If they are in your drive there is no reason for tge word “downloading”. Try copying the file from its online location to a place in your local drive and see how that goes.

Diver2go2 wrote:

I tried several files, including numbers files. They all say downloading, and goes no further.

The " say downloading, and goes no further." tends to indicate problem downloading, not opening since it appears the files not got to the stage of trying to open.

Where are you downloading them from>

Can you successfully just download files from that location?

If both cannot open the file, then I would suppose there is some problem with the file itself.

There is no problem inherent in Monterey that would stop either from opening a valid Excel spreadsheet.

Can you post a screenshot showing the location of one such file in the Finder?

Now open Settings, iCloud.

Look at the setting for iCloud Drive.

Curious. Does Quick Look stop working for you also? Lately I've been having issues with documents in iCloud. Attempting to preview the file in Quick Look doesn't work; it brings up the generic window with a small thumbnail or generic icon (see attached).

At one point a week or so back, while fighting with this issue, I noticed that I was getting a very delayed error from Office products (if I attempted to double-click and open from Finder). Today, no error message at all in Office products. Attempted to open directly from Word, and the dialog box wouldn't allow me to click on open.

Also, if I attempt to download the file from iCloud, it fails.

I have no idea what's going on, but it's driving me nuts. I suspect you're encountering the same issues I am.