# Apple Numbers **URL:** \ **Category:** macOS\ **Created:** [December 16, 2015, 8:28am UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672 "2015-12-16T08:28:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Michael](https://forum.xojo.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@Peter\_Michael](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Peter_Michael)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:28am UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/1 "2015-12-16T08:28:59Z")
Hello, Is there a way, either with native Xojo or through the use of a third-party plugin, to manipulate Apple Numbers spreadsheets? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Christian\_Schmitz](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/christian_schmitz/32/158_2.png) [@Christian\_Schmitz](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Christian_Schmitz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 11:40am UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/2 "2015-12-16T11:40:15Z")
Sorry, no. But we do have a XL Plugin to read/write xls and xlsx files. ---
**Author:** ![Emile\_Schwarz](https://forum.xojo.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/90ced4/32.png) [@Emile\_Schwarz](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Emile_Schwarz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 11:56am UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/3 "2015-12-16T11:56:25Z")
I suppose that you cannot ask your users to export Numbers spreadsheets to excel format. ---
**Author:** ![Jean-Yves\_Pochez](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/jean-yves_pochez/32/21769_2.png) [@Jean-Yves\_Pochez](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Jean-Yves_Pochez)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/4 "2015-12-16T12:02:31Z")
Numbers (and pages and keynotes) are applescriptable apps (at least in the 09 version I have…) you can pilot them via applescript ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Michael](https://forum.xojo.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@Peter\_Michael](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Peter_Michael)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 12:18pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/5 "2015-12-16T12:18:55Z")
Thanks guys, I’m writing some custom apps for a company that does all their spreadsheets in Numbers. But they need to run on some systems that don’t have Numbers installed (including a server with no desktop interaction), so controlling it with AppleScript is probably not the right solution. Some of the formulas in these files are pretty complex and when I open converted files in Excel, they don’t behave the same way and I get incorrect calculations and errors. Sadly, I can’t find any programming environment at all that works with Numbers files directly. ---
**Author:** ![Christian\_Schmitz](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/christian_schmitz/32/158_2.png) [@Christian\_Schmitz](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Christian_Schmitz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 12:32pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/6 "2015-12-16T12:32:26Z")
Well, Our plugin can create Excel files without excels. People can download them and open them in OpenOffice or Numbers without problems. ---
**Author:** ![Antonio\_Rinaldi](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/antonio_rinaldi/32/331_2.png) [@Antonio\_Rinaldi](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Antonio_Rinaldi)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 12:42pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/7 "2015-12-16T12:42:17Z")
You can run applescript on a remote machine Application(‘eppc://127.0.0.1/Mail’) ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_O\_Lone](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/greg_o_lone/32/49_2.png) [@Greg\_O\_Lone](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Greg_O_Lone)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/8 "2015-12-16T15:14:41Z")
> [@236073:@Peter Michael](#): > > …But they need to run on some systems that don’t have Numbers installed (including a server with no desktop interaction), so controlling it with AppleScript is probably not the right solution. Read guys. He wants to edit these files without Numbers being in the machine. ---
**Author:** ![Michel\_Bujardet](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/michel_bujardet/32/252_2.png) [@Michel\_Bujardet](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Michel_Bujardet)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/9 "2015-12-16T15:27:50Z")
[quote=236079:@Antonio Rinaldi]You can run applescript on a remote machine Application(‘eppc://127.0.0.1/Mail’)[/quote] That is intriguing. So you would basically run applescript on a Macintosh box used as server ? That looks like a great solution. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_O\_Lone](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/greg_o_lone/32/49_2.png) [@Greg\_O\_Lone](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Greg_O_Lone)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/10 "2015-12-16T15:33:10Z")
> [@236108:@Michel Bujardet](#): > > That is intriguing. So you would basically run applescript on a Macintosh box used as server ? That looks like a great solution. But you still need Numbers running on the server and be logged in. ---
**Author:** ![Beatrix\_Willius](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/beatrix_willius/32/282_2.png) [@Beatrix\_Willius](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Beatrix_Willius)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/11 "2015-12-16T15:40:58Z")
I don’t think what you want to to is feasible. Even with Excel this would be very hard. Numbers is going to be installed at least. ---
**Author:** ![Christian\_Schmitz](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/christian_schmitz/32/158_2.png) [@Christian\_Schmitz](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Christian_Schmitz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/12 "2015-12-16T16:17:15Z")
You can of course try to parse the file format and make changes yourself, e.g. If it is xml maybe replace placeholders with text like I do for word files. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Tullin](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/jeff_tullin/32/693_2.png) [@Jeff\_Tullin](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Jeff_Tullin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/13 "2015-12-16T16:40:14Z")
You might be able to convert between numbers and Excel using Cloud Convert: (no affiliation) [https://cloudconvert.com/formats](https://cloudconvert.com/formats) ---
**Author:** ![Jean-Yves\_Pochez](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/jean-yves_pochez/32/21769_2.png) [@Jean-Yves\_Pochez](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Jean-Yves_Pochez)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/14 "2015-12-16T17:23:35Z")
take your number document rename the .number into a .zip unzip it you get a folder with 2 files and a folder the index.xml file contains all your datas, it is an xml file easy to handle the question is: how is it easy to make back the .number from the xml file but this is a good start. ---
**Author:** ![Antonio\_Rinaldi](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/antonio_rinaldi/32/331_2.png) [@Antonio\_Rinaldi](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Antonio_Rinaldi)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/15 "2015-12-16T18:26:52Z")
That’s true for version 9 files. Version 11 are prototype files (so iCloud can easily synchronize them) The remote apple script solution could a solution (since is remote the “launching” server has to be a Mac but don’t need to have Numbers installed) The bad new is that Xojo is not compatible with Javascript AppleScript, maybe is time to update this feature. (it never returns anything…) ---
**Author:** ![Jean-Yves\_Pochez](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/jean-yves_pochez/32/21769_2.png) [@Jean-Yves\_Pochez](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Jean-Yves_Pochez)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/16 "2015-12-16T18:34:00Z")
even if the OP uses numbers 11, he can generate version 09 files, that numbers 11 will open and convert ? ---
**Author:** ![Michel\_Bujardet](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/michel_bujardet/32/252_2.png) [@Michel\_Bujardet](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Michel_Bujardet)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/17 "2015-12-16T18:35:22Z")
> [@236111:@Greg O'Lone](#): > > But you still need Numbers running on the server and be logged in. Indeed. But that seems like a solution, in the absence of a Numbers plugin. ---
**Author:** ![Norman\_P](https://forum.xojo.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/858c86/32.png) [@Norman\_P](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Norman_P)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/18 "2015-12-16T18:39:08Z")
[quote=236055:@Peter Michael]Hello, Is there a way, either with native Xojo or through the use of a third-party plugin, to manipulate Apple Numbers spreadsheets? Thanks[/quote] Apple scripts There’s no SDK for it ---
**Author:** ![Emile\_Schwarz](https://forum.xojo.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/90ced4/32.png) [@Emile\_Schwarz](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Emile_Schwarz)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 10:12am UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/19 "2015-12-17T10:12:03Z")
Use… AppleScript’s GUI commands ---
**Author:** ![system](https://forum.xojo.com/uploads/default/original/1X/455b4dcc0e61630e9f81940004ddffa49c432a46.png) [@system](https://forum.xojo.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/apple-numbers/28672/20 "2020-10-29T18:06:20Z")