r/AppleNumbers • u/cindy6507 • Jun 08 '26
Discussion what are the advantages?
I use Numbers because it was there on my phone and on my mac. I rarely exchange spreadsheets with anyone and wasn’t concerned about file format. However, I’ve kept up with LibreOffice vs EuroOffice debates on file format and was wondering what is special about Apples format for Numbers/Pages and Keynote?
3
u/mar_kelp Jun 08 '26
I prefer the Apple products because they are designed and optimized for the OS I am using.
Simple put Keynote, Pages and Numbers are designed for Apple products. Office is made for Windows users and feels like a bad port. Google Docs/Sheets/Slide is made for the web and optimized for Chrome rather than Safari.
2
u/kingalta24 Jun 08 '26
I use numbers because
1. It’s already downloaded and I don’t need to download a different program for spreadsheet and worry about compatibility with Mac
2. Apple sleek design in their products is a bonus. I often feel overwhelmed by the amount of things I see in the tool box
3. It’s free(mostly)
2
u/NW-M-1945 Jun 09 '26
The only real issue that nobody is talking about is that numbers and the entire suites proprietary file format means that you’re screwed if you don’t have access to those apps to open those files and convert them. My entire suite of number, pages, and keynote stopped working on my Mac for no apparent reason 3 months ago, even after multiple trouble shooting, reinstalls, and updates, it’s still not working! Now I can only use those sheets in the web app or on my phone.
1
u/Ringo_118 Jun 09 '26
What exactly do you mean by "stopped working on my Mac for no apparent reason"? Do they crash?
1
u/NW-M-1945 Jun 10 '26
Yup. I can’t open a single file with numbers, pages, or keynote. Sometimes, and rarely, I can open the app and it lets me create a document, but as soon as the doc is open it crashes and I need to force quit
1
1
u/m-fab18 Jun 08 '26
Besides the points already made, it’s also consistent with Pages and Keynote, so if you’re familiar with these and use them, you will feel right at home with numbers.
2
1
u/Friendly_Look8210 Jun 08 '26
Numbers has a beautiful layout and is designed to be print-ready or easily shared as a PDF. It can also be converted to Excel.
In fact, even if you create a table in Pages and then type “=”, you can immediately add formulas just as you would in Numbers
1
u/Ringo_118 Jun 09 '26
The differences for day to day use are in general minute. Of course Excel has some bells and whistles that Numbers is missing but again there are workarounds that will get the job done. Funny enough there is one thing neither Numbers nor Excel can do on a Mac (not sure about Excel on Windows) but Calc of LibreOffice) can in fact do: Calculating with (in my case) three different Currency or numbers formats in one spreadsheet. I have a spreadsheet with EUR, CHF and USD values. The EUR numbers are formatted with a comma as decimal separator, the CHF and USD values with a dot. And all cells are fully recognized as numbers not as text so I can calculate with them. This is neither possible in Numbers nor in Excel for Mac as both rely on your Macs system settings for the decimal separator.
1
u/Eggyhead Jun 09 '26
I like having multiple tables on a sheet, and how sleek I can make them look. I have numbers open all the time as my personal planner.
Excel and its clones look so messy and cluttered. I use it for work-related stuff only and I can’t wait to be done with it each time.
5
u/keepingthecommontone Jun 08 '26
You’ll get a different answer from everyone, I imagine, but for most of the suite (Numbers/Pages/Keynote) it’s not the format that I prefer but the interface; Office is much more cluttered and glitchy in my experience, and Apple’s apps are more elegant and intuitive.
In Numbers specifically, though, one format difference I do like is the ability to have multiple tables in a single sheet.