How do I open an old numbers export zip file

I previously used Numbers for Mac and I had created a spreadsheet. Now that I don't have numbers I need to reopen that spreadsheet but it is not a ".numbers" file anymore. It is a folder set that has lots of different files and formats in it. I need to be able to recreate this spreadsheet. Is it possible?

MacBookPro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Nov 28, 2018 7:21 AM

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Posted on Nov 28, 2018 8:51 AM

You have a Numbers folder corpse created by Numbers v5 or later. Numbers documents in the Finder, not Google Drive, can be package folder format (as this is), or as single-file format which is a compressed folder that has been renamed to .numbers.


Get that folder out of Google Drive onto your Desktop — retaining the name Themes&Pixels-1.0.0.numbers. Now, right-click on that folder, and choose Compress "Themes&Pixels-1.0.0.numbers".


Rename Themes&Pixels-1.0.0.numbers.zip to foo.numbers. Now, attempt to open the latter — either in Numbers for iCloud, or with LibreOffice Calc as I previously explained.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 28, 2018 8:51 AM in response to designbyjm

You have a Numbers folder corpse created by Numbers v5 or later. Numbers documents in the Finder, not Google Drive, can be package folder format (as this is), or as single-file format which is a compressed folder that has been renamed to .numbers.


Get that folder out of Google Drive onto your Desktop — retaining the name Themes&Pixels-1.0.0.numbers. Now, right-click on that folder, and choose Compress "Themes&Pixels-1.0.0.numbers".


Rename Themes&Pixels-1.0.0.numbers.zip to foo.numbers. Now, attempt to open the latter — either in Numbers for iCloud, or with LibreOffice Calc as I previously explained.

Nov 28, 2018 8:19 AM in response to designbyjm

What specific version of OS X, or macOS are you currently running?  menu : About This Mac? If that folder of Numbers content is on your Mac, rename the folder to test.numbers.


Sign into iCloud Drive, and use Numbers for iCloud to open that test.numbers package folder. If that does not work, then right-click on that test.numbers folder and choose Compress "test.numbers". Rename test.numbers.zip to foo.numbers. Then try again to open foo.numbers with Numbers for iCloud.


If Numbers for iCloud cannot open foo.numbers, then download the free LibreOffice v6.1.3+ (if using OS X 10.9 or later). Once installed, right-click on the Applications/LibreOffice icon, and choose Open. Click Open on the following dialog, and then attempt to open the foo.numbers document with LibreOffice Calc. It cannot open the package folder format named test.numbers.


If Numbers for iCloud, and LibreOffice Calc cannot open the foo.numbers document, then you are done, with no recovery possible.


Both double-clicking a Numbers document on Windows, or attempting to open with Google Docs will destroy the document.

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How do I open an old numbers export zip file

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