Quick Start¶

Reading documents:

>>> from numbers_parser import Document
>>> doc = Document("mydoc.numbers")
>>> sheets = doc.sheets
>>> tables = sheets[0].tables
>>> rows = tables[0].rows()

Sheets and tables are iterables that can be indexed using either an integer index or using the name of the sheet/table:

>>> doc.sheets[0].name
'Sheet 1'
>>> doc.sheets["Sheet 1"].name
'Sheet 1'
>>> doc.sheets[0].tables[0].name
'Table 1'
>>> doc.sheets[0].tables["Table 1"].name
'Table 1'

Table objects have a rows method which contains a nested list with an entry for each row of the table. Each row is itself a list of the column values.

>>> data = sheets["Sheet 1"].tables["Table 1"].rows()
>>> data[0][0]
<numbers_parser.cell.EmptyCell object at 0x1022b5710>
>>> data[1][0]
<numbers_parser.cell.TextCell object at 0x101eb6790>
>>> data[1][0].value
'Debit'

Cell Data¶

Cells are objects with a common base class of Cell. All cell types have a property value which returns the contents of the cell as a python datatype. Available cell types are:

Cell type	value type	Additional properties
NumberCell	`float`
TextCell	`str`
RichTextCell	`str`	See Rich text
EmptyCell	`None`
BoolCell	`bool`
DateCell	`datetime.datetime`
DurationCell	`datetime.timedelta`
ErrorCell	`None`
MergedCell	`None`	See Merged cells

Cell references can be either zero-offset row/column integers or an Excel/Numbers A1 notation. Where cell values are not None the property formatted_value returns the cell value as a str as displayed in Numbers. Cells that have no values in a table are represented as EmptyCell and cells containing evaluation errors of any kind ErrorCell.

>>> table.cell(1,0)
<numbers_parser.cell.TextCell object at 0x1019ade50>
>>> table.cell(1,0).value
'Debit'
>>> table.cell("B2")
<numbers_parser.cell.NumberCell object at 0x103a99790>
>>> table.cell("B2").value
1234.5
>>> table.cell("B2").formatted_value
'£1,234.50'

Pandas Support¶

Since the return value of rows() is a list of lists, you can pass this directly to pandas. Assuming you have a Numbers table with a single header which contains the names of the pandas series you want to create you can construct a pandas dataframe using:

import pandas as pd

doc = Document("simple.numbers")
sheets = doc.sheets
tables = sheets[0].tables
data = tables[0].rows(values_only=True)
df = pd.DataFrame(data[1:], columns=data[0])

Writing Numbers Documents¶

Whilst support for writing numbers files has been stable since version 3.4.0, you are highly recommended not to overwrite working Numbers files and instead save data to a new file.

Cell values are written using Table.write() and numbers-parser will automatically create empty rows and columns for any cell references that are out of range of the current table.

doc = Document("write.numbers")
sheets = doc.sheets
tables = sheets[0].tables
table = tables[0]
table.write(1, 1, "This is new text")
table.write("B7", datetime(2020, 12, 25))
doc.save("new-sheet.numbers")

Additional tables and worksheets can be added to a Document before saving using Document.add_sheet() and Sheet.add_table() respectively:

doc = Document()
doc.add_sheet("New Sheet", "New Table")
sheet = doc.sheets["New Sheet"]
table = sheet.tables["New Table"]
table.write(1, 1, 1000)
table.write(1, 2, 2000)
table.write(1, 3, 3000)
doc.save("sheet.numbers")

Styles¶

numbers_parser currently only supports paragraph styles and cell styles. The following styles are supported:

font attributes: bold, italic, underline, strikethrough
font selection and size
text foreground color
horizontal and vertical alignment
cell background color
cell background images
cell indents (first line, left, right, and text inset)

Numbers conflates style attributes that can be stored in paragraph styles (the style menu in the text panel) with the settings that are available on the Style tab of the Text panel. Some attributes in Numbers are not applied to new cells when a style is applied.

To keep the API simple, numbers-parser packs all styling into a single Style object. When a document is saved, the attributes not stored in a paragraph style are applied to each cell that includes it.

Styles are read from cells using the Cell property style and you can add new styles to a Document using add_style().

red_text = doc.add_style(
    name="Red Text",
    font_name="Lucida Grande",
    font_color=RGB(230, 25, 25),
    font_size=14.0,
    bold=True,
    italic=True,
    alignment=Alignment("right", "top"),
)
table.write("B2", "Red", style=red_text)
table.set_cell_style("C2", red_text)

Cell Data Formatting¶

Numbers has two different cell formatting types: data formats and custom formats.

Data formats are presented in Numbers in the Cell tab of the Format pane and are applied to individual cells. Like Numbers, numbers-parsers caches formatting information that is identical across multiple cells. You do not need to take any action for this to happen; this is handled internally by the package. Changing a data format for cell has no impact on any other cells.

Cell formats are changed using Table.set_cell_formatting():

table.set_cell_formatting(
   "C1",
   "datetime",
   date_time_format="EEEE, d MMMM yyyy"
)
table.set_cell_formatting(
   0,
   4,
   "number",
   decimal_places=3,
   negative_style=NegativeNumberStyle.RED
)

Custom formats are shared across a Document and can be applied to multiple cells in multiple tables. Editing a custom format changes the appearance of data in all cells that share that format. You must first add a custom format to the document using Document.add_custom_format() before assigning it to cells using Table.set_cell_formatting():

long_date = doc.add_custom_format(
   name="Long Date",
   type="datetime",
   date_time_format="EEEE, d MMMM yyyy"
)
table.set_cell_formatting("C1", "custom", format=long_date)

A limited number of currencies are formatted using symbolic notation rather than an ISO code. These are defined in numbers_parser.currencies and match the ones chosen by Numbers. For example, US dollars are referred to as US$ whereas Euros and British Pounds are referred to using their symbols of € and £ respectively.

Borders¶

numbers-parser supports reading and writing cell borders, though the interface for each differs. Individual cells can have each of their four borders tested, but when drawing new borders, these are set for the table to allow for drawing borders across multiple cells. Setting the border of merged cells is not possible unless the edge of the cells is at the end of the merged region.

Borders are represented using the Border class that can be initialized with line width, color and line style. The current state of a cell border is read using the Cell.border property and Table.set_cell_border() sets the border for a cell edge or a range of cells.