Numbers, excel compatibility

[dimme]

I have a excel spreadsheet that tracks my financial data that goes back 10+ years. I have always tracked it in excel. My new MBP came with numbers and the person of excel I was using was from a previous employer so re-installing it is not a option. I can open the file in numbers and all the data is fine. If I start using numbers and in the future decide to go back to excel will I be able to just save the numbers file in excel format and just switch back?

Thanks

 

[GerritV]

 

[nightcap965]

I have a excel spreadsheet that tracks my financial data that goes back 10+ years. I have always tracked it in excel. My new MBP came with numbers and the person of excel I was using was from a previous employer so re-installing it is not a option. I can open the file in numbers and all the data is fine. If I start using numbers and in the future decide to go back to excel will I be able to just save the numbers file in excel format and just switch back?

Thanks

If it's just straight data, there's nothing that should prevent you from transferring it back to Excel. The only worry would be translating complex formulas.

Since it's personal data, why not just stick with Numbers?

 

[maflynn]

I found Numbers to be very poor in terms of compatibility with Excel, have you thought about Office 365?

As for Numbers to Excel, that should be better because you're using teh lowest common denominator, i.e., going to less features (numbers) to more features (Excel) so it should export

 

[Precision Gem]

I have had no problems going back and forth either way, except for a few fonts from time to time being replaced. I think the biggest problem would be if your Excel spreadsheet had VB macros in it. These would not work in Numbers.

 

[HenryAZ]

When I convert Office documents to the Apple equivalents, there's usually a report pop-up of minor issues, usually dealing with fonts. It does not seem to harm the document in any way. As mentioned above, I suspect converting back the other way would be easy because of the LCD thing and all. But, I am not a heavy or power user of advanced features in either (iWork or Office).

There are some features in the Office products that are missing in Apple. Excel's pivot tables is one glaring example. So for an advanced spreadsheet, you might run into issues of losing functionality.

 

[chscag]

I have a excel spreadsheet that tracks my financial data that goes back 10+ years. I have always tracked it in excel. My new MBP came with numbers and the person of excel I was using was from a previous employer so re-installing it is not a option. I can open the file in numbers and all the data is fine. If I start using numbers and in the future decide to go back to excel will I be able to just save the numbers file in excel format and just switch back?

Thanks

Going back to Excel from Numbers should be OK. However, if you use Pages or Keynote and try to go back to Word and Powerpoint, you'll find the files bloated and lots of anomalies. You might want to think about getting a copy of Office 2016 while it's on sale at Amazon or subscribe to Office 365.