Numbers and Excel

[HbgBill]

I really need some help here. I have OS X latest updates. I have Numbers spreadsheet. However, I have friends from Australia who have put a LOT work into an excellent spreadsheet using Excel. I can work with the spreadsheet on their website.. but that is not considered good 'form'. Rather, the accepted process is to download the .xls form and do your own modifications to the recipes on your own computer.

I have Open Office on my MAC as well as Numbers. My problem is.. and I really know NOTHING about spreadsheets other than to fill in the blanks.. is..

How can I move a file from their forum to my computer as an XLS file w/o it being converted to numbers? Or, how can I take that Numbers file and make it an XLS file that I can work with?? I have a file on my computer desktop now that is .xls.. but I can't work with it.

If further info is needed.. hopefully I can provide it.

Thanks..

 

[Kaveman]

Numbers has it own format, You open the .xls and convert it to Numbers, use it.
If you need to share it then you can share it as Excel.

 

[HbgBill]

Thanks.. but that is a problem. The excel authors of this spreadsheet say that there are some hidden layers that, as I understand it, neither Google Docs nor Numbers can see.

 

[Kaveman]

If their sheet only works with Excel then you will need to buy Excel for the Mac, and even then there is no guarantee it will work correctly.

 

[HbgBill]

Kaveman.. thanks again. Possibly I am not doing this correctly. When I 'save' the file from the Aus site to my computer, it is saved as a numbers file. I guess it does that automatically and I don't know how to modify that. That said.. If I have the .xls file on my desktop.. and before I open it.. how do I convert it to Numbers?
I'm assuming.. and possibly wrongly.. that the conversion happens when I actually open the file? Sorry I'm such a non-geeky person.. I graduated from school before computers were made avail to the general public

 

[HbgBill]

I think I found the answer for Mac-Helps further needs.

I opened OpenOffice into the Dock. Then I dragged the file from the desktop into the OO icon on the Dock. So far things look good.

Thanks for the help...