Click Import, and you’ll see the Text Import Wizard: Excel’s Text Import Wizard does as much as it can to make this process easy, and for the most part, it works really well. Most of the time, you’ll just hit Next > until the wizard disappears and your data shows up in the spreadsheet.
You can convert and open spreadsheets in Numbers on iPhone, iPad, Mac, or online at iCloud.com.Convert and open spreadsheets in Numbers on your iPhone or iPad
You can work with a variety of file formats in Numbers on your iPhone or iPad. Check which formats are compatible with Numbers for iOS.Convert a Numbers spreadsheet in Numbers on your iPhone or iPad
If you want to open a Numbers spreadsheet in another app like Microsoft Excel, convert the Numbers spreadsheet in the Numbers app first.
*In Numbers, open the spreadsheet that you want to convert, then tap the More icon .
*Tap Export.
*Choose a format for your spreadsheet. For example, if you want to open your Numbers spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel, choose Excel.
*Choose how you want to send your spreadsheet, like with Mail or Messages.Open a file in Numbers on your iPhone or iPad
To open a file like a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet on your iPhone or iPad, tap the file in the spreadsheet manager. If you don’t see the spreadsheet manager, tap the Back button (on an iPhone or iPod touch) or Spreadsheets (on an iPad), then tap the file that you want to open. If a file is dimmed, it’s not in a compatible format.
You can also open a file in Numbers from a different app like the Files app, or from an email:
*Open the other app, then select the spreadsheet or attachment.
*Tap the Share button .
*Tap Copy to Numbers. The original file remains intact.
After the file opens, you might get a message that the file was last edited in an app other than the most recent version of Numbers for iOS. Tap Done to open the file in Numbers. Convert and open spreadsheets in Numbers for Mac
You can work with a variety of file formats in Numbers for Mac. Check which formats are compatible with Numbers for Mac.Convert a Numbers spreadsheet in Numbers for Mac
If you want to open a Numbers spreadsheet in another app like Microsoft Excel, convert the Numbers spreadsheet in the Numbers app first.
*In Numbers, open the Numbers spreadsheet that you want to convert.
*Choose File > Export To, then select the format.
*In the window that appears, you can choose a different format or set up any additional options. For example, you can require a password to open an exported PDF, or choose the format for an exported Excel spreadsheet.
*Click Next.
*Enter a name for your file and select a folder to save it to.
*Click Export.
To send a file in a specific format through Mail, Messages, AirDrop, or Notes, choose Share > Send a Copy, choose how you want to send the spreadsheet, then choose a format.Open a file in Numbers for Mac
You can open a file from the Finder or from the Numbers app:
*From the Finder, Control-click the file, then choose Open With > Numbers. If Numbers is the only spreadsheet app on your Mac, you can just double-click the file.
*From the Numbers for Mac app, choose File > Open, select the file, then click Open. If a file is dimmed, it’s not a compatible format.
When the file opens, you might get a message that the spreadsheet will look different. For example, Numbers notifies you when fonts are missing. You might see also see warnings when you open spreadsheets created in older versions of Numbers.Convert and open spreadsheets in Numbers for iCloud
Numbers for iCloud lets you open, edit, and share your files from a supported browser on a Mac or PC. Check which formats are compatible with Numbers for iCloud.Convert a Numbers spreadsheet in Numbers for iCloud
*Sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID.
*Click Numbers.
*In the spreadsheet manager, click the More button on the file you want to convert, then choose Download a Copy. If you have the spreadsheet open, click the Tools button in the toolbar, then choose Download a Copy.
*Choose a format for the spreadsheet. The file begins to download to your browser’s download location.Open a file in Numbers for iCloud
*Sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID.
*Click Numbers.
*Drag the file you want to upload into the spreadsheet manager in your browser. Or click the Upload button , select the file, then click Choose.
*Double-click the file in the spreadsheet manager.Check file format compatibilityFormats you can open in Numbers
You can open these file formats in Numbers for iOS, Numbers for Mac, and Numbers for iCloud:
*All Numbers versions
*Microsoft Excel: Office Open XML (.xlsx) and Office 97 or later (.xls)
*Comma Separated Values (.csv)
*Tab-delimited or fixed-width text filesFormats you can convert Numbers spreadsheets into
Numbers for iOS:
*Microsoft Excel Office Open XML (.xlsx)
*Comma Separated Values (.csv)
*Tab Separated Values (.tsv)
Numbers for Mac:
*Numbers ’09
*Microsoft Excel: Office Open XML (.xlsx) and Office 97 or later (.xls)
*Comma Separated Values (.csv)
*Tab Separated Values (.tsv)
Numbers for iCloud:
*Microsoft Excel Office Open XML (.xlsx)
*Comma Separated Values (.csv)Learn more
*Numbers for iOS, Numbers for Mac, and Numbers for iCloud use the same file format. If you create or edit a spreadsheet in Numbers on one platform, you can open it in Numbers on any of the other platforms.
*You can update to current versions of Numbers on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from the App Store. To update Numbers for Mac, use the App Store app on your Mac.
*If you convert a Numbers spreadsheet into Numbers ’09-compatible spreadsheet, learn more about changes that happen when you export to iWork ’09.
Excel is the king of spreadsheet programsExcel vs. Google Sheets: Which One Is Better for You?Excel vs. Google Sheets: Which One Is Better for You?Do you really need Excel? Both desktop and online solutions have their advantages. If you have trouble choosing between Excel and Google Sheets for managing your spreadsheets, let us help you decide.Read More, but sometimes you need to open a document that wasn’t formatted specifically for Microsoft programs. And other times, you’ll need to save your document in a different format so that people not using Excel can use it.
Importing and exporting data in Excel seems like a complicated process, but it’s actually pretty easy once you’ve done it a couple times. Here’s what you need to know.How to Import Data into Excel
No matter what kind of data you’re importing, you’ll start the process in the same way. Hit File > Import to get started. You’ll see this pop-up, letting you choose the format of the original file that you’d like to import:
This dialog gives you the option to import comma-separated value (CSV), FileMaker Pro, HTML, and text files. If you want to import another type of spreadsheet file, your best bet is to export the spreadsheet in a different format from the original program. Most programs shouldn’t have any difficulty exporting to CSV or text. I’ll be using a CSV in this example because it’s a common data format, used for everything from research data to social media contact spreadsheets.How To Back Up Your Facebook Contacts To Any Email Account [Weekly Facebook Tips]How To Back Up Your Facebook Contacts To Any Email Account [Weekly Facebook Tips]Facebook makes many aspects of your life more convenient. It's an easy way to stay in touch, it reminds you of your friends' birthdays, and it can sync your contacts and Facebook events to your...Read MoreLaunch Text Import Wizard
Click Import, and you’ll see the Text Import Wizard:
Excel’s Text Import Wizard does as much as it can to make this process easy, and for the most part, it works really well. Most of the time, you’ll just hit Next > until the wizard disappears and your data shows up in the spreadsheet. As you can see in the image above, the text wizard determined that this file is delimited—each cell is separated by a comma. Because this is correct, we can just hit Next > to move on with the import (if it’s not, read on for tips on fixed-width importing).Set Data Delimiters
Step two lets you choose a number of different options related to delimiting that will help you make sure your data gets imported correctly:
First, you can choose your delimiter. The data that I’m importing here uses commas to separate cells, so I’ll leave Comma selected. Tab is also selected, and doesn’t have an adverse effect on this import, so I’ll leave it alone. If your spreadsheet uses spaces or semicolons to differentiate between cells, just select that option. If you want to split up the data on another character, like a slash or a period, you can enter that character in the Other: box.
The Treat consecutive delimiters as one box does exactly what it says; in the case of commas, having two commas in a row would create a single new cell. When the box isn’t checked, which is the default, that would create two new cells.
The Text qualifier box is an important one; when the wizard imports a spreadsheet, it will treat some of the cells as numbers and some as text. The character in this box will tell Excel which cells should be treated as text. Normally, there will be quotes (” “) around text, so this is the default option. The text qualifiers will not be displayed in the final spreadsheet. You can also change it to single quotes (‘ ‘) or none, in which case all of the quotes will remain in place when they’re imported into the final spreadsheet.Set Data Formats
Once everything looks good, hit Next > to go to the final step, which allows you to set data formats for imported cells:
The default value for the Column data format is General, which converts data automatically to numerical, date, and text formats. For the most part, this will work just fine. If you have specific formatting needs, though, you can select Text or Date:. The date option also lets choose the format that the date is imported in. And if you want to skip specific columns, you can do that too.
Each of these options is applied to a single column, or multiple columns if you shift-click to select more than one. It can take a long time to go through all of the columns this way if you have a giant spreadsheet, but it might save you time in the long run if all of your data is correctly formatted when you first import it.
The last option in this dialog is the Advanced menu, which lets you adjust the settings used for recognizing numerical data. The default uses a period as the decimal separator and a comma as the thousands separator, but you can change this if your data is formatted differently.
After those settings are dialed to your liking, just hit Finish and the import is done.Use Fixed Width Instead of Delimited
If Excel gets your data delimiting wrong, or you’re importing a text file with no delimiters, you can choose Fixed width instead of Delimited in the first step. This allows you to separate your data into columns based on the number of characters in each column. For example, if you have a spreadsheet full of cells that contain codes with four letters and four numbers, and you’d like to split the letters and numbers between different cells, you can choose Fixed width and set the split after four characters:
To do this, select Fixed width and click Next >. In the following dialog, you can tell Excel where to split the data into different cells by clicking in the displayed data. To move a split, just click and drag the arrow at the top of the line. If you want to delete a split, double-click the line.Excel Text Import Wizard Paste
After selecting your splits and hitting Next >, you’ll get the same options as you would have in the delimited import; you can select the data format for each column. Then hit Finish and you’ll get your spreadsheet.
In addition to importing non-delimited files, this is a good way to split up text and numbersHow to Extract a Number or Text from Excel with this FunctionHow to Extract a Number or Text from Excel with this FunctionMixing numbers and text in an Excel spreadsheet can introduce challenges. We'll show you how to change the formatting of your cells and separate numbers from text.Read More from files you’re working with. Just save the file as a CSV or text file, import that file, and use this method to split it up however you want.
Importing HTML is the same as importing CSV or text files; select the file, go through the same choices as above, and your HTML document will be transformed into a spreadsheet that you can work with (you might find this useful if you want to download HTML tables from a website, or if web form data is saved in HTML format).Exporting Data from ExcelExcel For Mac Text Import Wizard More Columns
Exporting data is much simpler than importing it. When you’re ready to export, hit File > Save As… (or use a handy Excel keyboard shortcut35 Everyday Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows & Mac35 Everyday Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows & MacKeyboard shortcuts can save you a lot of time! Use these Microsoft Excel shortcuts to speed up working with spreadsheets on Windows and Mac.Read More), and you’ll be presented with a number of options. Just choose the one you need.
Here’s a breakdown of a few of the most common:
*.xlsx / .xls: standard Excel formats.
*.xlt: Excel template.
*.xlsb: an Excel format written in binary instead of XML, which allows for the saving of extremely large spreadsheets faster than standard formats.
*.csv: comma-separated value (as in the first import example used above; can be read by any spreadsheet program).
*.txt: a number of slightly different formats that use tabs to separate the cells in your spreadsheet (when in doubt, select Tab Delimited Text instead of another .txt option).
When you select a format and hit Save, you may get a warning that looks like this:
If you’re looking to save your file as something other than .xlsx or .xls, this is likely to happen. Unless there are specific features that you really need in your spreadsheet, just hit Continue and your document will be saved.One Step Closer to Excel Mastery
For the most part, people just use Excel-formatted spreadsheets, and it’s really easy to open, modify, and save them. But every once in a while you’ll get a different kind of document, like one extracted from the web or generated in a different Office suiteWhich Office Suite Is Best for You?Which Office Suite Is Best for You?You'll be pressed to find an occupation that doesn't require word or number processing of some sort. And you may wonder, is Microsoft Office really the best solution? Here are your options.Read More. Knowing how to import and export different formats can make working with these kinds of sheets a lot more convenient.
Do you import or export Excel files on a regular basis? What do you find it useful for? Do you have any tips to share or specific problems that you haven’t found a solution for yet? Share them below!Text Import Wizard Excel For Mac
Explore more about: Microsoft Excel, Spreadsheet.Excel Text Import Wizard Template
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When I click on FILE, IMPORT is not one of the options. I have both Excel 2010 and 2013. What I'm really after is if I can import data into a template. I have a template with a lot of formulas and conditional styling. If I simply copy/paste the data, I lose both the formulas and the conditional styling. I want to import the data form a CSV and not retype it. Is that possible?
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I use excel pivot table to organize csv files that are not on my preferred format. Then export or just copy paste to notepad.
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The hints are interesting. Importing CVS file extracted from OCR in scanned PDF may give rise to difficulties around ',' and '.' separators as well as Tab separators.