file.numbers can’t be opened from an external hard drive

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file.numbers can’t be opened from an external hard drive

Help! One of my .numbers file on an external hard drive can't be opened. I don't seem to be having any problems opening up other .numbers files from the same source.

I have a MacBook Pro and have OS X Yosemite v 10.10.4. (I've just realised there's another update, but haven't installed it yet). The external hard drive I'm using is a "Imation Apollo M100" and I've checked the permissions and it still says I have read/write ability. I'm not sure what other info is needed, but I really need to open this file! Last time I had it open was yesterday morning - and it all seemed fine.

I don't have that much computer know-how, but mostly work things out, I have already tried some of the suggestions found elsewhere, such as turning iCloud drive on and off - this isn't on iCloud though, so don't see how that would help - and it hasn't made any difference.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Oct 13, 2015 1:59 PM

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Answer 1

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Yellowbox

Level 7

20,383 points

Oct 14, 2015 8:20 PM in response to suziefromnz

Hi Suzie,

Right click (or control click) on the document. Open With > Preview.

You won't be able to edit, but at least you can see the contents.

Regards,

Ian.

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Answer 2

suziefromnz Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 14, 2015 8:22 PM in response to Yellowbox

HI Ian

Thanks for that, I'm afraid that didn't solve the problem though (I don't seem to be able to 'un-click' the 'this solved my question' thing!) as it was still unable to open saying: It may be damaged or use a file format that Preview doesn’t recognize.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,

Suzie

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Answer 3

Hiroto

Level 5

7,461 points

Oct 15, 2015 4:19 AM in response to suziefromnz

Hello

Have you tried copying the file in question onto local disk, e.g., on local desktop, and opening it from there? Should it fail to open this way, I'd conclude the file is corrupt. There's no way I know of to recover corrupted Numbers v3 file, for it uses peculiar opaque encrypted file format.

---

Alternatively, you might try to retrieve the last sound version of the file which is to be stored under /.DocumentRevisions-V100 directory in the volume.

E.g., provided the external volume name is "External Volume" without quotes, you might try the following commands in Terminal to copy the .DocumentRevisions-V100 directory, which is invisible in Finder, in the volume to a visible directory named DocumentRevisions-Copy on local desktop. (Note the apostrophes around the volume name in path: 'External Volume', for it contains space character)

sudo cp -R /Volumes/'External Volume'/.DocumentRevisions-V100 ~/DocumentRevisions-Copy sudo chmod -R 777 ~/DocumentRevisions-Copy

* You'll be prompted to enter your administrator password when pressing return/enter after the first line of commands. Enter the password and press return/enter. Cursor won't move when you type in password.

Once the directory is copied successfully, you may explore into it for the Numbers file named after UUID.numbers, where UUID is some random string such as F68D8CE2-CB0E-4B20-8294-2FA7EFAA2560. Use modification date to narrow down the candidates.

cf.

Is there way to recover older version of corrupted Numbers file

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5948514

Good luck,

H

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Answer 4

SGIII

Level 8

35,306 points

Oct 15, 2015 4:31 AM in response to suziefromnz

And in some situations (not all) doing this can help:

In Finder rename the document, changing the extension from .numbers to something else (say .recov, or something else).
After it's renamed and Finder displays the new name, then rename the document back to the original name with the .numbers extension.

SG

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