Collaborate on a shared spreadsheet in Numbers on Mac
Whether you’re the owner of a shared spreadsheet or you’ve been invited to collaborate, after you open the spreadsheet, you can see the changes made by others in real time, quickly jump to where people are editing, and more.
Accept an invitation to collaborate
When you click a link to a shared spreadsheet, where the shared spreadsheet opens (for example, in Numbers for iCloud or Numbers on Mac) depends on a number of factors, such as the access and permission set by the owner, the version of Numbers and macOS installed on your computer and whether you’re using iCloud Drive.
Before you open the invitation link, make sure your device meets the minimum system requirements for collaborating.
Click the link in the email, message or post you received, then follow any instructions that appear.
If the email address or phone number used to invite you isn’t associated with your Apple ID, you can follow the instructions that appear to add that email or phone number to your Apple ID.
Note: If you don’t want to associate another email address with your Apple ID, you could instead ask the owner of the shared spreadsheet to invite you again using an email address or phone number that’s already associated with your Apple ID.
Collaborate on a shared spreadsheet
Open the shared spreadsheet.
If you previously opened the spreadsheet, look for it in the Numbers folder of iCloud Drive. If you don’t see the spreadsheet, click the link in the invitation you received, and if asked, sign in with Apple ID.
If you can’t open the spreadsheet, see Accept an invitation to collaborate.
Edit the spreadsheet.
Edits you and others make to the spreadsheet appear in real time. Cursors and selections of text and objects appear in different colours to indicate where others are currently editing. Move your pointer over a cursor to see who’s making the edit.
If there are conflicts, a dialogue appears and you can choose the version you want to keep. If you keep more than one, the most recent remains the shared version.
Edit while offline
If the Collaboration button changes to a cloud with a diagonal line through it, your device is offline.
You can continue to work on the spreadsheet and the next time you’re online, changes are uploaded to iCloud automatically.
After you reconnect, you can see the latest activity in the shared spreadsheet.
Here are a few things to keep in mind while editing a shared spreadsheet when you’re offline:
If you’re not sure whether your changes have synced, you can check their status. Choose View > Show Sync Status (from the View menu at the top of your screen).
If other participants who are online delete objects or sheets that you’re editing, the edits you made to those objects are no longer in the spreadsheet when you go back online.
To learn more, see the Apple Support article About collaboration for Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
Opt out of a shared spreadsheet
If you no longer want to have access to a spreadsheet that was shared with you, you can remove yourself from the participant list.
In a shared spreadsheet, click
in the toolbar, then click Manage Shared Spreadsheet.In the participant list, move the pointer over your name, click
, then choose Remove Me. Click Done.
Removing your name from the participant list removes the spreadsheet from your iCloud Drive. If you later want to access the spreadsheet again, you can use the original link to open it.
Note: Not all Numbers features are available for a spreadsheet that’s shared with others. See the Apple Support article About collaboration for Pages, Numbers and Keynote.