Numbers crashes continually.

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supportgruby Author

Level 1

10 points

Numbers crashes continually.

Numbers message, "This spreadsheet can’t be edited at this time," then it crashes.

Mac mini, 10.15

Posted on Apr 12, 2023 12:48 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

jdo_apple

Community Specialist

Apr 15, 2023 7:14 AM in response to supportgruby

Thanks for replying, supportgruby, and that additional info, it really helps! We are happy that you were able to figure out a solution for your situation.

Have a great day and thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

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Answer 2

Ben_Z1

Community Specialist

Apr 14, 2023 2:03 PM in response to supportgruby

Hi there supportgruby,

If Numbers is closing unexpectedly when you try to open a spreadsheet, these steps from If an app on your Mac stops responding, closes unexpectedly, or won’t open can resolve what's happening:

1. Quit and reopen the app

Quit the app, then open it again. If the app won't quit, force the app to quit. Then check to see if the problem with the app is fixed.

2. Restart your Mac

Restart your Mac. Then check to see if the problem with the app is fixed.

3. Check for updates

To see if updates are available for the app, open the App Store, then click Updates. If updates aren't available for the app, update the software on your Mac. Or if you didn't get the app from the App Store, look for updates to the app on the app developer's website. Then check to see if the problem with the app is fixed.

4. Reinstall the app

Delete the app. When you do this, you might lose data that was stored in the app. Then redownload the app. If you didn't get the app from the App Store, redownload the app on the app developer's website. Then check to see if the problem with the app is fixed.

If this continues after following those, does this occur when opening the Numbers app or only when opening a specific file or spreadsheet? That information will allow us to isolate the cause of this behavior further.

Cheers!

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Answer 3

supportgruby Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 18, 2023 11:12 AM in response to R_Gabriel

Final story. After talking to 5 different tech support personnel and about 4 hours of time, Apple support was no help. I did all of the things suggested except the final one which was to reimport my data in smaller quantities and try to find the problem.

Here's the solution provided by my son:

Export the spreadsheet in CSV format.
Re-import it as Numbers file.

This stripped out all calculations and changes that I might have made that caused the problem. Problem solved!

The suggestion by Apple to reinstall Number and the operating system made no sense because other spreadsheets worked ok.

Thank for trying.

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Answer 4

supportgruby Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 16, 2023 4:00 PM in response to supportgruby

Restoring a prior version did not work after all. It worked for awhile yesterday, then I started working with the sheet and it began crashing.

I deleted the app, quit the Mac, reinstalled the app, opened the version of the sheet from prior day, and crashes continued to reoccur. I can reopen it and just sit and wait, and it crashes again, and repeat.

I am working with a 1000 line spreadsheet, with 13 columns. I have ORGANIZED by Category and created 3 levels of categories, then SUM the categories. The problem seemed to start when I added a SUM to a new column in the highest level of category.

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Answer 5

supportgruby Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 16, 2023 4:43 PM in response to Eric--F

Thanks very much. I went back to an older file, deleted a couple SHEETS that had ! formula errors that referenced other sheets, and basically "cleaned things up" and have my fingers crossed. If this doesn't do it, I'll follow your advice.

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Answer 6

_rkerr

Level 1

8 points

May 24, 2023 2:26 PM in response to supportgruby

Thank you for sharing your context in this thread! Numbers crashing has been such a problem with the latest major app update. I knew the issue was something to do with categories but your observation about the SUM formulas in the category headers isolated where I believe the specific issue is.

So the fix I found was:

Delete the categories (just turning them off doesn't work)

That removed the category formulas, which seems to be where the problem is, then I could add the categories back in and was able to continue working with no issue. This should save a step of exporting or copying everything into a new sheet and is a lot easier, especially if it's a shared Numbers document.

I hope this helps!

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