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pdfconversionapi

NUMBERS to XLSX API

Send a .numbers file to /v2/convert/numbers/to/xlsx and get an Excel workbook with one worksheet per table, cell types intact. The sample's table becomes the worksheet Account in a 5,838-byte XLSX.

Endpoint
POST /v2/convert/numbers/to/xlsx
Accepts
numbers
Sample timing
2 ms median of 5 runsHow we measure
Request size
Up to 10 MB on the Free plan or 100 MB on paid plans, all files together

Request and response

Every sample below ran against the API before this page was published. Set PDFCONVERSIONAPI_KEY to your key and run it as is.

curl -sS -X POST \
  https://api.pdfconversionapi.com/v2/convert/numbers/to/xlsx \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PDFCONVERSIONAPI_KEY" \
  -F File=@account-statement.numbers \
  -o response.json

# FileData is base64. Save the first file in converted/,
# or print the JSON error.
if jq -e '.Files' response.json > /dev/null; then
  mkdir -p converted
  name=$(jq -r '.Files[0].FileName' response.json)
  jq -r '.Files[0].FileData' response.json \
    | base64 --decode > "converted/$name"
else
  cat response.json
fi
200 OK2 ms median1 file, 5.7 KB
{
  "ConversionCost": 1,
  "ConversionTime": 0.002,
  "Files": [
    {
      "FileName": "account-statement.xlsx",
      "FileExt": "xlsx",
      "FileSize": 5838,
      "FileData": "UEsDBBQACAAIAAAAIQAAAAAA…"
    }
  ]
}

Response from our test run on 2026-11-03. ConversionTime shows the median of 5 runs. FileData is shortened here; the real response carries the whole file as base64.

The sample, converted

The same file the code sends. Download the input and the output and compare them yourself.

First page of account-statement.xlsx, rendered by the API
Input
account-statement.numbers (102 KB)
Output
account-statement.xlsx (5.7 KB)
Source
A three-row account statement table saved by Numbers 12, taken from the MIT-licensed test files of an open-source Numbers reader; not made by us (MIT). How it was made
Made by
2026-11-04, API build 9eeeb0640aba

Parameters

Send these as form fields next to the file. Names are case-insensitive. If you set one of the documented options below that we don't support yet, the request fails with a 400 that names it instead of returning a file made without it.

ParameterWhat it does
FileNamestringName of the workbook without .xlsx; otherwise it follows the upload, account-statement.xlsx.
StoreFileboolean, default falseKeep the workbook for 3 hours and return a link to it.

What carries over, and what doesn't

Kept

  • Cell types: the dates are Excel date cells shown as 2020-05-01, the amounts are numbers (2021.5, 2.99), text stays text
  • The header row, set in bold and frozen at the top as it was in Numbers
  • The sheet name: the table's sheet is called Account, as in the Numbers file
  • Empty cells stay empty

Lost or not yet supported

  • Number formats. The amounts lose their GBP currency style and use the General format.
  • Column widths. Every column has Excel's default width, so a printout of the sample shows ### in the Date column until it is widened.
  • Fills, borders, fonts and banded rows; only the bold header is set.
  • Formulas, which arrive as the values Numbers last calculated.
  • Charts, images and any text boxes on the sheet.

Limits

  • One Numbers file per request.
  • Requests up to 10 MB on the Free plan or 100 MB on paid plans, all files and fields together.
  • Numbers files with more than 10,000 parts or over 1 GiB unpacked return 413.
  • A table larger than an Excel sheet (1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns) returns 413.
  • 120 seconds per conversion, then 504.

Where teams use it

Opening Mac users' files in Excel

A colleague sends a .numbers file and the team works in Excel. Convert it on upload so everyone gets a workbook they can open and edit.

Processing with spreadsheet libraries

Libraries such as openpyxl and pandas read XLSX but not Numbers. Dates arrive as dates and amounts as numbers, ready to sort and sum.

Keeping records in one format

If your archive stores spreadsheets as XLSX, add Numbers uploads to it without asking users to export them first.

Questions

How are sheets and tables mapped?

Every table becomes one worksheet. When a Numbers sheet holds a single table, the worksheet takes the sheet's name; when it holds several, each is named after the sheet and the table. Names are cut to 31 characters, characters Excel forbids become _, and repeats get a number.

Are formulas kept?

No. Each formula cell gets the result Numbers saved with the file, so the workbook shows the same values but won't recalculate. Rebuild the formulas in Excel if you need them live.

Why does the Date column show ###?

The workbook has default column widths, and a date like 2020-05-01 is wider than the default column. The value is a proper date; widen the column, or set the width with your spreadsheet library after converting.

Convert your first NUMBERS file in a minute.