Inserting a Numbers spreadsheet into a Pages document

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JohnTh Author

Level 2

379 points

Inserting a Numbers spreadsheet into a Pages document

I'm using a 24" M1 2021 iMac running Sonoma 14.2.1.

Pages: 12.2.1

Numbers: 13.1

I wanted my daughter to have access to how I invest. And to have it be some sort of easy manual before I pass on.

I would like to make a Pages document where the different chapters/subjects require access to different Numbers spreadsheets. The subject of the document is divided up into sections related to:

Planning
Investing
Calculating the costs
What happens when withdrawing, etc.

There is a bit of explanation needed before using each spreadsheet, hence the Pages document. The 40+ spreadsheets are also complicated and run over 2-3 screens. And they need to run in a specific order.

Is there any way that this can be done?

iMac 24″

Posted on Feb 2, 2024 2:25 PM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,452 points

Feb 3, 2024 6:08 AM in response to JohnTh

If you want a legacy document with the highest likelyhood that it will be accessible by your daughter in the future, I would recommend doing your investment guide in MS Word and MS Excel and then saving the finished document as a PDF. Microsoft has not changed their document format for Word and Excel (.docx/.xlsx) since 2007. Apple is on its third word processing/spreadsheet application and document format iteration since 2007. If I wanted to bet on an application/document combo for legacy documentation, it would be Microsoft, not Apple.

Pages cannot link to other documents, nor supports mixed portrait and landscape page orientation — features supported by MS Word. However, spreadsheets that run over 2 - 3 screens in in Numbers will be problematic in Pages or Word.

If you still want to use Pages and Numbers, I can explain further, and with the first paragraph's caveats for long term document format support.

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Answer 2

JohnTh Author

Level 2

379 points

Feb 3, 2024 9:13 AM in response to VikingOSX

Ok, that means that there are issues!

As it stands it's like this:

There is a document on a specific subject, say 'Withdrawing funds', (which she will refer to).
When that refers to a specific spreadsheet or spreadsheets, I'll have to put something like an index of sorts. But it will be all manual ... sort of, since I can't put in a direct link.

If it was about a few spreadsheets, that can be figured out. But with so many of them, at times linked to another, I wish there was a better way rather than doing it all manually.

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Answer 3

JohnTh Author

Level 2

379 points

Feb 3, 2024 6:52 AM in response to VikingOSX

I went through the various iterations right from ClarisWorks. So, if done in Word with the Excel spreadsheet inserted in it as a file, does that then translate to the pdf just as well? Meaning ... will the PDF have the relevant spreadsheets embedded in them? If yes, then I'll switch. Otherwise, I think I'll continue to use Pages for the document but the finished version will be given to her as a PDF (there is no need for edits at all).

The spreadsheets, and there are so many of them, may be an issue as I will need to completely redo them. The Numbers export to Excel isn't the same as one done originally in Excel.

Is moving to Google's platform a better option? So far, it is free.

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Answer 4

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,452 points

Feb 3, 2024 7:30 AM in response to JohnTh

I asked Word to insert an existing Excel spreadsheet and the result was disheartening.

Excel

Word v16.81 and PDF:

Although one can insert a link to the Excel spreadsheet, Apple's Preview lacks permission to follow that link to the Excel document. And, Adobe Acrobat Reader will ask for permission, then open a Finder Window with the spreadsheet selected, but does not open it in Excel.

That leaves selecting the table in Excel, copying to the clipboard, and in Word, using the Edit Paste Special and choosing Excel worksheet. Any changes to the external Excel spreadsheet will update in the embedded content as the formulas remain intact. This approach leaves a table in Word that appears exactly as it does in Excel.

I don't use Google Docs, so unable to comment about it.

Your current spreadsheets are likely too large for even a portrait rotation of a PDF document in Pages. One can however link between tables in the same Pages document as I have done that.

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Answer 5

JohnTh Author

Level 2

379 points

Feb 3, 2024 7:57 AM in response to VikingOSX

Yes, I know about this! It becomes a mess.

For the Copy&Paste Special option, that means that the Word and Excel files need to be in the same directory at both ends?

Also, pasting the spreadsheet just isn't an option as the spreadsheets are big, not so much in size but in the number of columns as well as rows. I do remember seeing a spreadsheet inserted as a file into a Word document at work, though it could have been a Powerpoint as well. I'll check this on Monday.

I've never used Google's products either. The thought came up as they are similar in look and feel.

If no options are available, then I'll have to rethink this.

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Answer 6

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,452 points

Feb 3, 2024 8:53 AM in response to JohnTh

For the Copy&Paste Special option, that means that the Word and Excel files need to be in the same directory at both ends?

I just tested this and pasting the Excel Worksheet Object in Word, quitting Excel, and then moving the Excel document into another folder, then changing a value in it fails to update the embedded worksheet in Word.

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Inserting a Numbers spreadsheet into a Pages document

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