Cannot open Numbers spreadsheet on Mac, but can on iPhone, iPad and in iCloud. Any ideas?

Hi Tunbers,

What version of Numbers is attempting to open the file on your Mac? Choose About Numbers, the first item in the Numbers menu. It will say 1.x, 2.x.. or 3.x..

The first two cannot open files saved by the current versions of Numbers. The third can.

What version of OS X are you using? Numbers 3 (the new version) requires Mavericks (OS X v10.9).

If you recently updated Numbers from the Mac app store, you may have two versions installed on your Mac. That's not in itself problem, but it is something you need to be aware of and to deal with.

If your prime concern is compatability between versions on different devices, then you should be using version 3. Control-click (or right click) the file, and choose Open with...Numbers 3.

If you have documents created on your Mac that use features available in Numbers 2 (or 1) that are not or not yet available in Numbers 3, then you may want to continue using Numbers 2 (or 1) for those files. Opened in Numbers 3, they will lose any features unsupported in that version. Saved from Numbers 3, that loss will be permanent, and the files will no longer be openable in Numbers2 (or 1).

Regards,

Barry

I'm having the exact same issue. I intentionally have the older version of Numbers and Pages as well because I need mail merge capabilities. That being said, I typically use the most recent version of Numbers 3.1 to work with my spreadsheets in the iCloud. These documents open on my ipad, iphone, and the icloud by logging in using Safari, but when trying to open them from the Numbers program on my Mac (OS X v10.9), it just says "The file XXXX.numbers could not be opened".

I've tried downloading copies of the spreadsheets from the icloud and reuploading them, but it still doesn't work.

Using Numbers just now, I can drag the spreadsheets from the iCloud location (within the Numbers app) to my desktop where they open just fine, but while they're located in the iCloud, they cannot open and I get the error message. I'm assuming it's some sort of permissions error?

It might be worth checking to make sure the spreadsheet of the same name as the one in iCloud is not an old copy. Your Mac keeps a local copy of a document it syncs to iCloud.

You might recheck your settings in System Preferences > iCloud. Make sure you've got Documents & Data activated and, after clicking the 'Options' button, see if Numbers.app is checked.

Then in Finder, hold down the option button, choose Go in the menu and navigate to Library > Mobile Documents > com~apple~Numbers. See if it's the latest version of the document that is there.

SG

I tried both of your suggestions, but neither worked. All iCloud settings are active and correct in my Mac Settings, as well as the documents stored locally in the "com~apple~Numbers" location. Trying to open them from that folder still yields the same message:

Are the Date Modified of the documents in com~apple~Numbers as recent as your latest changes in iCloud?

You may have corrupted local copies on your Mac. In that case you could try:

--dragging them them out of com~apple~Numbers onto the Desktop (or somewhere else) and giving iCloud a chance to sync, and/or,

--going back in Time Machine and finding the latest version that will open.

(The assumption here is that you are consistently trying to use Numbers 3, not Numbers 2, to open them.)

SG

That's exactly what I thought yesterday so I dragged them from the iCloud to my deskop where I can open and edit them and there is nothing in the iCloud. Upon verifiying that the files are not corrupt, I re-uploaded them to the iCloud where they are unable to be opened using Numbers. I can, however, log into iCloud.com or open them from my iPad and iPhone verifying that the issue is not with the files themselves, but the numbers application on my Mac.

I'm currently attempting to remove the entire iWork suite from my computer and reinstalling them to see if that repairs the problem. I can't shake the feeling that it's a permissions issue...

I dragged them from the iCloud to my deskop where I can open and edit them and there is nothing in the iCloud.

So you are saying you CAN open and edit them as long as they are not in the com~apple~Numbers folder?

SG

Correct SG. You just made me think to try checking the permissions on that com~apple~Numbers folder....

I'll let you know how that goes.

So, on somewhat of a side issue, I was on the forum researching a problem I was having with Apple Mail resetting to default settings each time I quit the app and restarted it. Someone had suggested running a command from terminal that manually reset permissions on all folders under Home. For the life of me I can't find that thread in here again, but it worked like a charm. Not only did it fix my problem with Mail, but it also fixed my issue of not being able to edit iCloud spreadsheets in Numbers.

I did try checking the permissions on my com~apple~Numbers folder and that was fine. My thought is that is was a parent folder issue that was repaired by that command. If I find it again, I'll post it here in case someone else has a similar problem.

Thanks again for everybody's help.

I was having this issue as well. I removed (well, backed up then removed) the directory that local copies of iCloud documents are stored on: ~/Library/Mobile Documents

Once I removed that directory and pulled up Numbers, it redownloaded local copies from iCloud and was able to open them again, both on my Mac and on my iPad and iPhone.

Be careful anyone following this advice. The Backup of ~/Library/Mobile Documents is critical since deleting these files, also deletes the local copies (after sync) on all other devices that contain local copies of the files.

The Backup of ~/Library/Mobile Documents is critical since deleting these files, also deletes the local copies (after sync) on all other devices that contain local copies of the files.

Agree backup is always important as inhisquiver recommends. But are you sure that deleting documents in ~/Library/Mobile Documents always results in the documents being removed from other synced devices? I haven't tried recently, but a while back I seem to remember that folder being repopulated with copies of the documents stored in iCloud.

SG

Yes - 100%. Just verified across iOS and OS X devices.

I'm not trying to recover deleted files. Doh.

I've tried all three of the suggestions. I tried to drag the document to my desktop to open it, but i get the error message:

The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “Cash Flow” can’t be read or written.

(Error code -36)

I tried to backup the file to a thumb drive in order to remove the local copies but got this error message:

The operation can’t be completed because an item is being modified.

And its not just for Numbers, but for all items I try to access from my desktop that are stored in iCloud. Any help is greatly appreciated.