When I try to open an xls or xlsx spreadsheet in Numbers on my iMac, there is no content, just an empty document. I can see the content in the preview pane in Finder though, and I can open the same spreadsheets on my wife's iMac (10.6). Do you know why this is happening and how I can solve the problem?
iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), Numbers '09 v2.3
I can open the same spreadsheets on my wife's iMac
I assume your wife is running numbers 09' as well, correct?
Numbers 09' should open xlsx files. If the file contains certain macros created using Microsoft VBA, or certain formulas native to excel only (numbers contains about 1/2 of the formulas), then this may happen. But if you can open the file using numbers on the other computer running Snow Leopard, then this is not the issue. Confirm this first.
How was the file transfered? When you click the file and press the key combination ⌘I (Get Information) is the file size the same as that on the other iMac?
If so, then,
2) Enable your guest account. Make sure parental controls are disabled. Transfer the file via your "shared" folder or a flash drive so that it is accessible on the Guest account. Try and open the file in the guest account using numbers. Do you see the file now?
The file was saved to Mac Mini Server from an email I received. I can open that file from my wife's iMac but not mine. Both Macs show the same file size and both show a preview of the content in Finder's preview pane. The example spreadsheet I checked was 89KB on both machines.
I enabled the guest account on my iMac and downloaded the file from Dropbox (couldn't figure out how to access it via shared folders - didn't work for some reason) and tried to open it. Same result. Showed as 89KB, looked good in the preview pane, but it was completely blank when I opened it. So, it appears to be machine related, not account related.
Can you try to test without using dropbox? Via a flash drive?
I was going to recommend removing property lists/caches/saved application state for numbers from your users Library if the test account worked, but my recommendation at this point would be to uninstall numbers completely and download it again from the appstore.
Yes, she's running Numbers '09 v2.1.
xls & xlsx open blank - how to fix?
