MacOS 15.5, Numbers 14.4
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Suddenly, some (but not all) of my Numbers files cannot be opened; with the error "can't be opened right now; the file format is invalid". Backup copies have the same problem. ???
Just the other day I was having a problem with Numbers 14.4 opening .csv, .xls, & .xlsx files with a "file damaged" error. In troubleshooting I found that these files would open without problems on another Mac running Sequoia as well as in Numbers 2.3 & 6.1 on a Mac running Mojave. I ended up deleting Numbers from my Mac & re-downloading it from the Mac App Store. Problem solved.
Just the other day I was having a problem with Numbers 14.4 opening .csv, .xls, & .xlsx files with a "file damaged" error. In troubleshooting I found that these files would open without problems on another Mac running Sequoia as well as in Numbers 2.3 & 6.1 on a Mac running Mojave. I ended up deleting Numbers from my Mac & re-downloading it from the Mac App Store. Problem solved.
Do you have more than one version of Numbers on your computer? In Finder, right click on one of those files and look at "open with" to see if it lists more than one Numbers app. I don't recall when/if any file format changes have been made over the years (other than the big one of Numbers '09 to Numbers 3.0 a decade ago) but maybe an error like that could be caused by opening in an older version.
Documents stored same place as always, on an external SSD. Backup by copying to two different HDDs. The backup copies of the two files I'm having problems with (updated early June) also seem to be corrupted. But I did find older backups (from early May) that are not corrupted. Also today, I found a new folder called DamagedFiles, dated June 11, which has links for these two corrupted files; plus another one I didn't know about. This third one is a Keynote file (not Numbers). It also gets the same 'File format is invalid' error when I try to open it. So it seems something happened on or about June 11 to corrupt these three files; hopefully that's all! Since I didn't know they were corrupted, the most recent backup copies are corrupted too. Fortunately, I have older backups (somewhat out-of-date) of two of these files. And it seems someone had a similar problem in 2023; don't know if that was ever resolved.
jrobison wrote:
Documents stored same place as always, on an external SSD. Backup by copying to two different HDDs.
It sounds as if the problem may be related more to your storage (and backup) solution than to the Numbers app itself.
Numbers, I believe, is designed primarily for storage in iCloud Drive and on a drive on your Mac.
You might want to check at File > Advanced > Change File Type and make sure you have chosen the file type most suited to storage on your external SSD.
SG
Have you tried restarting your Mac?
SG
What changes have you made on your setup? Are you storing the documents in a different place from before? iCloud Drive or on your Mac tends to work best. What backup system are you using?
SG
No, I only have Numbers 14.4.
Error opening some Numbers files on Mac: 'File format is invalid'
