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Opening Numbers Spreadsheet on an iPad

Use Numbers a lot. I'd like to be able to access Numbers spreadsheets on my iPad, but they're in Dropbox, and I can't get the iPad to find a new spreadsheet there. Any hints? Why can't Numbers see the file? DropBox Does.


The only solution I've found here is one that's 8 years old and appears to be irrelevant to current versions.


NOTE: I have both apps, Dropbox & Numbers, on my iPad - and it's an older iPad (Air 2).

iPad Air 2

Posted on Jun 4, 2023 3:40 PM

2 replies

Jun 5, 2023 4:27 AM in response to Jeff Whitmill

Unlike some computer Operating Systems (such as Microsoft Windows), iOS/iPadOS does not support opening or editing “in-place” document files are not stored on the device itself, or in iCloud. As such, to open a Numbers files on your iPad, it must first be copied from DropBox (or other cloud storage provider) to your iPad.


Some third-party Apps are available that do support “edit-in-place” functions for some (but not all) document types.

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Opening Numbers Spreadsheet on an iPad

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