Using Microsoft Excel files on Mac

By Callum Stoneman, 11 January, 2015

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hello,

I need to do some work on Excel files that have been created on Windows, but I will need to edit them on my Mac. The documents are pretty basic, so what's the best app to do this? I know there's Numbers, but it's £14.99 from the Mac app store so I just wanted to see if this is the best accessible way before buying it, or is there another one out there that I might be better off using?
Thanks for any help.

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Comments

By Usman on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 22:57

Numbers is free here. Are you sure you are looking at the right app?

By Callum Stoneman on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 22:57

That's the first item that comes up when I type "numbers" into App Store. It is free for iOS though.

By Usman on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 22:57

Hi,
How old is your mac? I recall hearing somewhere that older macs are not eligible for free iWork software.

By Seanoevil on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 22:57

Hi,
I have found Numbers to be quite a good spreadsheeting tool. There are plenty of guides available online to help you transition from Excel to the Apple keyboard commands. I have not had any trouble converting simple spreadsheets from Excel to Numbers either.
As for cost, I recall that Apple bundled some of it's productivity Apps free with the newer Phones, Tablets and Macs. Those of us who had pre existing hardware still need to pay.

HTH

@SeaNoEvil

By Callum Stoneman on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 22:57

I remember reading that Apple were giving the full iWork bundle free of charge with products purchased after 1 August 2013, or it might have been October. My Mac is older than both of these though so I think I'll just pay for it.
It sounds worth it from what Seanoevil has said though.

By Callum Stoneman on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 22:57

Hello,

Thanks for all the replies, numbers is working fine for what I need it to do, but one of the files I'm using is a form, and there is a "check details" button. When clicking this, in Excel on Windows it actually presses the button and goes onto the next part, but on Numbers it tries to edit the button. Any way to get this to work like Excel?
Sorry for the very unclear description. It's very specific and is hard to explain without seeing the document. Hopefully someone understands what I mean.

By Isaac Hebert (not verified) on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 22:57

Did you try to press enter on the button?
Pressing enter on the button on the mac tells that mac you probably want to rename the button.
Have you tried pressing vo space bar on the button?

By Callum Stoneman on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 22:57

I tried both of those things and neither worked.