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Numbers puts tables on a page. Excel only has one big grid.

A Numbers sheet is a blank canvas: several small tables, a chart and some text can float anywhere on it. Excel has no canvas, just rows and columns. Choose how to fit the tables into Excel and see where each lands, including what happens to formulas that point between them.

Budget 2026.numbers · sheet “Overview”

IncomeSourceMonthlySalary3,200Freelance650Total3,850

SpendingItemMonthlyRent1,150Food420Total1,570

Savings goalGoalValueTarget12,000Saved2,280Months left5.3

chart

Figures in £, before VAT.

Budget 2026.xlsx

One sheet, stackedA sheet per table

Overview

ABCDEFG1Income2SourceMonthly3Salary3,2004Freelance6505Total3,8506Spending7ItemMonthly8Rent1,1509Food42010Total1,57011Savings goal12GoalValue13Target12,00014Saved2,28015Months left5.316Figures in £, before VAT.

Numbers formula, by nameIncome::Total − Spending::Totalarrow_downward=B5-B10

Numbers formula, by headerTarget ÷ Saved per montharrow_downward=B13/B14

Chart and text boxfloat on the canvasarrow_downwardchart placed beside the tables; note moved into cell A16

1 · your file

folder_openOpen filedescriptionSample .docx

The converter engine (doc-engine.js) failed to load: Failed to fetch dynamically imported module: http://127.0.0.1:9777/js/main/general/doc-engine.jsDrop any of 17 readable formats here: Word, ODT, RTF, AbiWord, KWord, StarOffice, EPUB, DocBook, XPS, HTML, Markdown, CSV or text. The format is read from the bytes, not the name.

2 · convert to

.pdfshare, print.docxedit in Word.odtLibreOffice.epube-readers.mdREADMEs.txtwords only

searchAll 28 formats · 14 written hereexpand_more

A4Letter

PDF 1.7 with the standard 14 fonts (nothing embedded), lines wrapped with Helvetica metrics, link annotations.

swap_horizConvert to .pdf

What survives waiting for a file

partin sourceread backstatus

text_fieldsWords---

titleHeadings---

format_list_bulletedList items---

tableTables · cells---

format_boldBold runs---

format_italicItalic runs---

linkLinks---

imageImages---

rate_reviewComments---

translateCharacters---

Open a document or the sample. The table fills in from the file itself; after converting, the output is read back and counted again.

~/one-document-ten-outputs

What each format does to your document.

We converted one source document into every major output format and measured the file that came out. The source was a 37.4 KB DOCX with headings, bold and italic text, a table, numbered and bulleted lists, and one embedded image.

289%PDF, the largest output

166%RTF, bloated but portable

3%Markdown and TXT, image dropped

formattypeoutput size · vs 37.4 KB sourcelayoutkeepsverdict

.docxEditable37.4 KB · 100%ReflowsEverythingThe editing default

.docEditable51 KB · 136%ReflowsEverythingLegacy, larger than DOCX

.odtEditable33.5 KB · 90%ReflowsEverythingOpen standard, smallest office format

.rtfEditable62.1 KB · 166%ReflowsText, styling, tablesVery portable but bloated

.pdfFixed108 KB · 289%ExactExact appearanceFor sharing and printing, not editing

.epubReflowable31.3 KB · 84%Adapts to screenText, styling, imagesFor e-readers

.htmlMarkup1.5 KB · 4%ReflowsText, styling, tablesOpens in any browser

.mdPlain text1.2 KB · 3%ReflowsText, basic stylingSmallest, great for docs and notes

.txtPlain text1.1 KB · 3%NoneText onlyUniversal, but drops all formatting

.dbkMarkup3.5 KB · 9%StructuredText, structureTechnical documentation only

Plain text is tiny because the image goesMarkdown and TXT both came out at 3% of the source, against 100% for DOCX: the embedded image is the bulk of the file, and neither format can hold it.

PDF pays for a fixed pageAt 289% of the source, PDF was the largest output. That is the cost of fixing the layout, fonts and image into a page that looks identical everywhere.

RTF is the surpriseIt keeps formatting but grew to 166% of the DOCX, so it is only worth using when the receiving program cannot read anything better.

Sizes are from one representative document converted with Pandoc and LibreOffice. Your own files will differ, especially with more images, but the relative ordering holds.

~/is-your-pdf-really-text

Why PDF to Word is the hard direction.

A PDF has no paragraphs. It stores “draw these glyphs at x, y in this font”, often one word or one line at a time, and a scanned page stores only a picture. Drop any PDF to see which kind you have and what its page instructions look like.

picture_as_pdfInspect a PDFText PDF sampleScanned PDF sample

Nothing inspected yet. The two samples are written here: one with real text, one that is only a JPEG of a page.

~/beyond-the-numbers

Six Numbers features, and what they become in Excel.

Values and ordinary formulas always survive. These are the Numbers-only features worth checking before you send the file to someone on Excel.

tableHeader rows and columnskeptfrozen headerarrow_forwardfrozen panesNumbers’ sticky header row becomes Excel’s Freeze Panes, so it still stays put while you scroll.

functionsFormulas by namerewrittenIncome::Totalarrow_forward='Income'!B5Readable names become cell addresses. The result is identical; the formula just gets harder to read.

check_boxCheckboxes and star ratingssimplified☑ ★★★arrow_forwardTRUE · 3Controls become their values. Excel can show them as checkboxes again, but not automatically.

date_rangeDurationsconverted2d 4h 30marrow_forward2.19 daysNumbers has a duration type; Excel stores the same amount as a decimal number of days.

categoryCategories (grouped rows)lostgrouped by montharrow_forwardplain rowsGroups and their subtotals flatten into ordinary rows. Use a PivotTable in Excel to rebuild them.

imageImages and shapeskepton the canvasarrow_forwardfloating on the sheetExcel also lets pictures float above the grid, so they stay where they were relative to the tables.

~/other-routes

Other ways to share a Numbers file.

Neighbouring tools, with a typical result for each.

table_viewXLSX to CSVJust the values, for a database or another app.Budget 2026.xlsxarrow_forward.csv picture_as_pdfXLSX to PDFA fixed copy for printing or sending to the accountant.Budget 2026.xlsxarrow_forward.pdf descriptionDocument converterPages, Keynote and other Apple formats.report.pagesarrow_forward.docx

Sources

[1]Export Numbers to ExcelApple’s steps, and the per-table or per-sheet choice.Apple Support ↗[2]Freeze panes in ExcelWhat Numbers’ header rows become.Microsoft Support ↗[3]Office Open XML (SpreadsheetML)The XLSX format standard.ISO/IEC 29500 ↗