Numbers files “dont exist” after update to ios11.1.1

Question

Numbers files “dont exist” after update to ios11.1.1

After updating to 11.1 and even after updating to 11.1.1, opened Numbers and tried to open any of the files listed in my files directory. Files won’t open - nothing happens. If I try to delete the files, message comes up says they cant be deleted as they dont exist.

All of these files could be opened and edited just fine before the update to 11. Now they cant be.

Anyone else had this problem and know what can be done to fix it?

iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, iOS 11.1, null

Posted on Nov 10, 2017 10:34 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Diana.McCall

Level 7

21,255 points

Nov 17, 2017 8:04 PM in response to Moonlighter475

Hi Moonlighter475. Apparently, iOS 11 and the corresponding updates to the iWork apps, has changed the way these apps store their data. As usual, Apple employees are the last to hear about these changes. You may be able to recover some files by copying them to a computer, using the iTunes program, then copying them back to your device. See this link: Re: Pages files gone after iOS 11 update. If you visit the iWork for iOS forum, you'll see that you're not alone.

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Answer 2

rose_10

Community Specialist

Nov 13, 2017 7:55 PM in response to Moonlighter475

Hey Moonlighter475,

I can see from your post that you're unable to open documents in the Numbers app of your iPad. Accessing files on your device is a great option for editing and I want to help you take advantage of this as well as other features. What we'd want to do first is check the App Store to see if there are any updates available for the Numbers app. If you're all up to date, try the options below and let us know the results

1. Open the document using the Files App Use the Files app on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
2. If you have a Mac, open the File using Finder
3. From any computer, access the file using www.icloud.com

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

Take care.

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Answer 3

brenden dv

Community Specialist

Nov 17, 2017 8:04 PM in response to Moonlighter475

Hey Moonlighter475,

Thanks for checking that. As it turns out, when you turn on iCloud Drive, any documents that you already store in iCloud automatically move to iCloud Drive so you can see your files on iCloud.com from any computer. If you don’t see your files in any of those locations, make sure that you set up iCloud Drive on all of your devices . Learn more from the link below.
Get help with iCloud Drive

Cheers.

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Answer 4

Nov 16, 2017 7:03 PM in response to rose_10

Yes, I can confirm that I am running the latest version of Numbers.

1. Have tried opening the files from the files app. Makes no difference. If I select one of the files and try to delete it from the files app, I get a message saying it cant be delecetd because it doesnt exist! So it appears that I am stuck with files listed on numbers and the files app, that can neither be opened, or deleted. Weird!

2.I dont have a mac so cannot try this suggestion.

3. The files are stored on the iPad, not on the cloud so I do not believe that I can access them from my PC.

I have rebooted my iPad several times as well. No change.

Further suggestions are welcomed. Again, the files were able to be opened and edited perfectly well prior to updating my iPad to iOS 11. I then did the iOS 11.1.1 update in the hope that the bug may have been fixed, but no success, still the same problem.

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Answer 5

Nov 17, 2017 8:07 PM in response to Diana.McCall

The iWork team contacted me with a workaround.

1. Connected my iPad to my PC and started iTunes V 12.7

2. Open iPad in iTunes and select file sharing, then click on Numbers to see the documents stored on the iPad

3. Save the files to either desktop or another selected location on the PC

4. Drag files from PC back into iTunes file sharing, and select “replace” when prompted.

5. On the iPad, now open Numbers or File manager, and open the files as normal. Note: the files now look different on the Ipad than before. Before, the file tiles had the numbers logo on them, now you see the page 1 contents of the documents on the tile.

Pleased to say that this workaround worked and the files can now be opened and edited as normal on the iPad.

So, a special thanks to the iWork team, and to all the others who offered assistance.

Matter is now resolved, if you have the same issue, follow the instructions as above and ypu should be right.

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