Q: How to layout a page in numbers 3.0 -- I can't edit in print view

disconnected from a regular cycle of improvements and updates, especially when compared to MS Office. The cross platform compatability that is at the heart of the new iWork could give these programs a chance to catch up with and ideally surpass their past feature set.

Zab and Jerry,

From what I read about Apple's strategy (probably the same stuff you see) we're probably not going to see them surpass the past feature set on the Mac but rather see a new feature set somewhat beefed up from 3.0. 

The main idea now is to give away a free application that will give people one more reason to stay in the Apple ecosphere using multiple devices. In that respect they seem way *ahead* of MS Office, at least for now.

And at least they seem committed to continuing to develop iWork. By giving it away for free they're taking a noticable hit to their bottom line because of accounting technicalities, so I was worried they might eventually not be able to justify the development resources and thus let the suite languish again.

Because I no longer need precision printing I kind of *like* the nifty zooming to fit the page. I hate fiddling with margins. But I'm clearly the lonely minority among existing users on this, and wonder what the many new users will think.  It's a gutsy design decision.

SG

Numbers has gone from a very print-oriented app to a very collaboration-oriented app. Clearly a shift in marketing target. In the Pages discussions, a user quoted an Apple tech person as having said to her that some features were removed from Pages because they were overkill in an iOS app, and so would not be maintained in the desktop app.

I'm sure the same thinking went into the Numbers changes.

Jerry

Yes, I agree about the big shift. They're trying, I think, to implement "Numbers everywhere" to build a lead on MS Office in mobile. They have to respect the potential of sheer numbers on the iOS side compared with a relatively small and slow-growing Mac user base. Our main hope is that they will want to develop/restore enough extra power user features on the Mac version of Numbers to give people another reason to buy a Mac to go along with their (really powerful, I understand) iPad Air!

SG

I really am disapointed in Apple for these changes.

I am now moving back to Excel with great disapointment.

I have also tried to fix this but could not come up with anything.

What i find funny is that I never wrote on communites till iWork 3.0.

Fussy,

Before you jump ship, consider that your Numbers version 2.3 works as well today as it did a month ago.

Jerry

I hate this new numbers. I have always been an advocate of the simplicity of mac vs office, but this new numbers is horrible and not at all user friendly. Going back to excel...

I'm with Fussy. I never posted on these communities, but have read and learned from them. Jerry, how do I get back to the Numbers I used before this downdated version?

Numbers 3.0 did not overwrite the previous version. That one should still be in your Applications folder with the original icon. Possibly in the subfolder iWork 09.

The old version is in a subfolder within the Applications folder named iWork '09 or similar.

The new version is in the Applications folder.

They can both run at the same time.

Excel is a fine program. Numbers (in both its new and old versions) has its advantages.

SG

Found it THANKS!  However, now because I have opened and edited my spreadsheets in Numbers 3.0, they won't open in 2.3... Frustrating!  So, what I have just figured out is that if I export the 3.0 spreadsheet to excel and then open it in Numbers 2.3 it seems to work. Appreciate your help. I hope that apple fixes this awful version of numbers!

A word of caution... if you have opened an older Numbers file in the new version it may be difficult to restore the file. The new Numbers has an export feature that includes Numbers '09 as an option. If, however, content was negatively adjusted by being opened in the new version, then the file might have issues. I found that in order to restore the file to its orgignal state from a Time Machine backup I had to first rename it. When I restored over the file with the same filename then Numbers '09 could not open it.

Yep. Exactly.  I just did a quick test, and exported to excel, then opened that file in Numbers 2.3.  Seems to have worked. How do I set Numbers 2.3 as the default application?

To set Numbers to default to 2.3 simply delete 3.0.

How simple, LOL! Thanks!

Dena,

Unless you took some deliberate action to delete Numbers 2.3, it will be exactly where it has always been, in:

Applications, iWork '09.

The easiest way to get there, in my opinion (and the way I access all my apps) is to type the keyboard shortcut Command-Spacebar. That brings up the Spotlight window. Then type Numbers. You will see the result for both versions of Numbers. Numbers 2.3 will be identified as Numbers - iWork. Numbers 3.0 will be identified as Numbers - Applications. Arrow to Numbers - iWork and press Enter. That will launch the old version. From then on, Spotlight will remember that you prefer the Numbers - iWork result and wil present it as the Top Hit. You can launch the Top Hit by just hitting the Enter key. Spotlight will also predict your search by your first few keystrokes, so in future launches of Numbers - iWork, all you will have to do is type Command-Spacebar, Nu, Enter.

Jerry