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Editing Pop-Up Menus in Numbers

Last modified: Oct 11, 2024 11:51 AM
4 423 Last modified Oct 11, 2024 11:51 AM

A frequently asked question in the Numbers forum is: "Why can't I create a list of items that will automatically allow Drop Downs (Excel Speak) to change the menu items in a Numbers Pop-Up Menu (Numbers Speak), just as we can in Excel".


We can. But the list is not in a separate table; the list is within every Pop-Up Menu.


Select all the Pop-Ups that you want to edit (Column A in this example). You will see something like this:



Suppose that we want to delete Bananas from that list of Pop-Ups.

In the Format Panel on the right, click on the menu item Bananas, then click on the minus ("-") symbol.




Goodbye to 'Bananas'.

Hello to 'Choose a fruit' (the default 'Start with first item'... or 'Start with Blank')


Now add a fruit.

Click on the plus ("+") symbol to see New Item




Type a name (Lemons) and it will appear in every selected Pop-Up.

Hello Lemons!




And the good news is that other cells retain their chosen value.


Note: the selected Pop-Ups need not be selected all at once. You can Merge:



In My Humble Opinion, the list of Menu Items in Numbers > Format Panel > Pop-Up Menu is the equivalent of a list somewhere in an Excel Sheet.


All comments welcome.

Regards,

Ian.


Comments

Oct 11, 2024 11:51 AM

I think it's a reasonable workaround, but it doesn't come close to the ease of just having a reference to a range on the sheet that updates dynamically.


A classic example of how this feature is used is in a kind of 'inventory' system, where the user needs to select from a preset list of items - having the pop-up populate from the (real-time) list of items in the inventory table would be a major time saver, vs. having to update every pop-up menu each time a SKU is added or removed from the list.

IMHO this is the number 1 omission on the part of the Numbers developers., closely followed by cross-document linking.

Oct 11, 2024 11:51 AM

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