Numbers

" I downloaded a trial of iworks (sic) 09, while on the phone with Apple Support, & that also didn't work. Apple Support recommended that I seek help from my local apple service provider."

The 'trial' version, even if it did work initially, would fail at the end of the 30 day trial period, as it would then require you to enter a key code to unlock the trial status and convert the trial application to the then regular one. The servers that provided those keys are no longer in operation, nor are the servers that received the keys and sent back the instructions (to the Mac) to unlock the application and turn on the features not available in the trial version.

IF you can locate a Boxed retail version of iWork '09, and have a working DVD reader in or attached to your Mac, you should be able to install all three of the iWork '09 applications.

But, if the files you are attempting to open were created using Numbers version 3 or later, they will trigger a "index XML fike missing" error message, and will not open in Numbers version 1 (Numbers '08) or version 2 (Numbers '09.

Regards,

Barry

Open the App Store and procede to download Numbers like you normally would. It will tell you that the current version of Numbers requires a newer version of macOS. It will ask if you want to download the latest compatible version. Click yes there and it will download an older version of Numbers.