SGIII
Level 6 (10,782 points)
Mac OS X

Q: What has been GAINED in the Numbers 3.0 upgrade?

Well, somebody has to look on the bright side, to balance the What has been lost in Numbers 3.0 upgrade? thread. 

 

The new Numbers 3.0 plays better with Numbers for iCloud than the old Numbers, not least because the old Numbers doesn't play with Numbers for iCloud at all any more.

 

And Numbers 3.0 does bubble charts, something the vast majority of users surely have yearned for. 

 

What else does Numbers 3.0 actually do better than the old Numbers and its competitors?  Seriously.

Numbers 2.3, 3.0

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 5:51 PM

by Yellowbox,Solvedanswer
Yellowbox Yellowbox
Level 6 (10,515 points)
Mac OS X
A:

Summary of good things (keep them coming).

 

Added since last update:

From Badunit: Another gain on conditional formatting:

 

The cell referencing in a conditional format can now be relative. As an example, if cell A2 has the format "make bold if equal to B2" you can copy (or combine) that format to cell A3 and the reference on that row will be to B3. In the prior versions it would have remained B2 and you would have to manually change it to B3.

 

From Papalapapp: Just found another useful new feature. When you format a cell as a drop down menu, you can now re-arrange the sort order of the menu items in the inspector. And you can define the first value or "empty" as default value.

 

Additionally, if you add items to the list in one of the cells, you can select the others and "combine" them  just like it is in conditional formatting. By that you can apply the list to all cells without changing the current value.

 

Updated list:

The cell referencing in a conditional format can now be relative. As an example, if cell A2 has the format "make bold if equal to B2" you can copy (or combine) that format to cell A3 and the reference on that row will be to B3. In the prior versions it would have remained B2 and you would have to manually change it to B3.

 

Easily add or delete items in a pop-up menu using Format Inspector > Cell > Data Format. Reorder items by dragging in the Inspector. Define first value or "empty" as first value. Additionally, if you add items to the list in one of the cells, you can select the others and "combine" them just like it is in conditional formatting. By that you can apply the list to all cells without changing the current value.

 

Powerful real-time editing and sharing via iCloud with any computer that has a recent browser.

 

Share is now a button. Nice and intuitive.

 

Sort the contents of Sheets shown in Sheet tab pop-ups by selecting an object, Arrange > Send Backward or Bring Forward.

 

Better cross-platform sharing/collaboration (between OS X and iOS).

 

The alignment guides (for moving or resizing objects) remain. See Numbers > Preferences > Rulers.

 

New ability to rotate axis labels on graphs (Charts).

 

Improved management of custom templates from within Template Chooser (Rename and Delete).

 

Adding a shadow to a Table is now a workaround. (Hint: slide a shadowed rectangle behind the Table).

 

New ability to attach a comment to a Chart (graph), a Shape, or a Text Box (not just to Table Cells).

 

New Statistics Pane (Bar at bottom) with many new auto statistics. Click on gear wheel.

 

New Bubble charts.

 

New Cell Format "Star Rating"

 

Function Browser (with definition and examples as in Numbers '09) now appears in the panel on the right whenever you type = in a cell.

 

Copy and Paste now carries cell formatting (for example, cell borders) as well as cell content.

 

The Colours window remains and works as it did in Numbers '09.  Menu > View > Show Colors, or shift command c. The full range of colours remains. Drag a colour from the patch at the top of a palette and drop it into a cell.

 

Press Command Right Arrow or Down Arrow to be taken to the last cell, and Shift Command Right/Down Arrow to select all remaining cells in a row/column.

 

In addition to Table filtering in the Filter Inspector, there is a basic Filter in the pop-up menu of each Column reference tab. Choose to show only those Rows that contain (in any Column) one of the values listed. More basic than the Filter Inspector, but quick.

 

Many more Chart types, including some interactive charts controlled by a slider and buttons.

 

Format Inspector > Cell > Data Format > Automatic or Number > Decimals, now allows Auto as well as the previous set number of decimal places.

 

Regards,

Ian.

 

P.S. When we all learn how to drive the new car, we will find that it still has four wheels.

 

Message was edited by: Yellowbox. Typo corrected.

Posted on Nov 13, 2013 5:54 AM

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SGIII

Q: What has been GAINED in the Numbers 3.0 upgrade?

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  • by Badunit,

    Badunit Badunit Nov 10, 2013 4:43 PM in response to SGIII
    Level 6 (11,705 points)
    iTunes
    Nov 10, 2013 4:43 PM in response to SGIII

    Yes, that is an example of it.  It makes conditional formatting much more useful.

  • by Yellowbox,Solvedanswer

    Yellowbox Yellowbox Nov 13, 2013 5:54 AM in response to SGIII
    Level 6 (10,515 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 13, 2013 5:54 AM in response to SGIII

    Summary of good things (keep them coming).

     

    Added since last update:

    From Badunit: Another gain on conditional formatting:

     

    The cell referencing in a conditional format can now be relative. As an example, if cell A2 has the format "make bold if equal to B2" you can copy (or combine) that format to cell A3 and the reference on that row will be to B3. In the prior versions it would have remained B2 and you would have to manually change it to B3.

     

    From Papalapapp: Just found another useful new feature. When you format a cell as a drop down menu, you can now re-arrange the sort order of the menu items in the inspector. And you can define the first value or "empty" as default value.

     

    Additionally, if you add items to the list in one of the cells, you can select the others and "combine" them  just like it is in conditional formatting. By that you can apply the list to all cells without changing the current value.

     

    Updated list:

    The cell referencing in a conditional format can now be relative. As an example, if cell A2 has the format "make bold if equal to B2" you can copy (or combine) that format to cell A3 and the reference on that row will be to B3. In the prior versions it would have remained B2 and you would have to manually change it to B3.

     

    Easily add or delete items in a pop-up menu using Format Inspector > Cell > Data Format. Reorder items by dragging in the Inspector. Define first value or "empty" as first value. Additionally, if you add items to the list in one of the cells, you can select the others and "combine" them just like it is in conditional formatting. By that you can apply the list to all cells without changing the current value.

     

    Powerful real-time editing and sharing via iCloud with any computer that has a recent browser.

     

    Share is now a button. Nice and intuitive.

     

    Sort the contents of Sheets shown in Sheet tab pop-ups by selecting an object, Arrange > Send Backward or Bring Forward.

     

    Better cross-platform sharing/collaboration (between OS X and iOS).

     

    The alignment guides (for moving or resizing objects) remain. See Numbers > Preferences > Rulers.

     

    New ability to rotate axis labels on graphs (Charts).

     

    Improved management of custom templates from within Template Chooser (Rename and Delete).

     

    Adding a shadow to a Table is now a workaround. (Hint: slide a shadowed rectangle behind the Table).

     

    New ability to attach a comment to a Chart (graph), a Shape, or a Text Box (not just to Table Cells).

     

    New Statistics Pane (Bar at bottom) with many new auto statistics. Click on gear wheel.

     

    New Bubble charts.

     

    New Cell Format "Star Rating"

     

    Function Browser (with definition and examples as in Numbers '09) now appears in the panel on the right whenever you type = in a cell.

     

    Copy and Paste now carries cell formatting (for example, cell borders) as well as cell content.

     

    The Colours window remains and works as it did in Numbers '09.  Menu > View > Show Colors, or shift command c. The full range of colours remains. Drag a colour from the patch at the top of a palette and drop it into a cell.

     

    Press Command Right Arrow or Down Arrow to be taken to the last cell, and Shift Command Right/Down Arrow to select all remaining cells in a row/column.

     

    In addition to Table filtering in the Filter Inspector, there is a basic Filter in the pop-up menu of each Column reference tab. Choose to show only those Rows that contain (in any Column) one of the values listed. More basic than the Filter Inspector, but quick.

     

    Many more Chart types, including some interactive charts controlled by a slider and buttons.

     

    Format Inspector > Cell > Data Format > Automatic or Number > Decimals, now allows Auto as well as the previous set number of decimal places.

     

    Regards,

    Ian.

     

    P.S. When we all learn how to drive the new car, we will find that it still has four wheels.

     

    Message was edited by: Yellowbox. Typo corrected.

  • by Yellowbox,

    Yellowbox Yellowbox Nov 17, 2013 6:48 AM in response to SGIII
    Level 6 (10,515 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 17, 2013 6:48 AM in response to SGIII

    Adding to SGIII's method of creating Pop-up Menus from selected Cells (a list of items in selected Cells can be converted to Pop-up Menus. Select the Cells and Format Inspector > Cell > Cell Format > Pop-up Menu). This was a much-requested feature in this forum before Numbers 3.0

     

    The menu is created from the list and the Cell contents remain (they don't revert to a default top-of-menu value). Bonus: the cells do not have to be in a single column. This conversion to Pop-up also works on a rectangular array of cells.

     

    Screen Shot 2013-11-18 at 12.20.59 am.png

     

    Yes, the order of menu items follows my arrangement of cells. However, we can drag menu items to reorder them in Inspector without changing the chosen values in each cell.

     

    Screen Shot 2013-11-18 at 12.22.31 am.png

     

    SGIII's comment to me when I feared plunging into Mavericks and Numbers 3.0: "Ian, Come on in. The water's fine!"

     

    I do not use iCloud. Perhaps, SGIII, you could comment on this for users who have merely dipped a toe into the water.

     

    Warning from t quinn: "Opening a file in Numbers 3 can result in it being automatically saved in a new file format incompatible with Numbers 2. Loss of formatting and other changes may occur. Some features will not revert, even with File > Export To > Numbers '09.  Make a spare copy of a document before you try this."

     

    Your Numbers '09 (version 2.x) app will still be on your computer unless you deleted it. Look in a folder called iWork '09 inside your Applications folder. Drag the icon for the old Numbers to your Dock. It will become an alias. Right click (or control click) on it and Options > Keep in Dock. You can run both versions at the same time to compare features. Do the comparisons with a disposable copy of a document!

     

    Regards,

    Ian.

  • by Yellowbox,

    Yellowbox Yellowbox Nov 17, 2013 7:28 AM in response to Yellowbox
    Level 6 (10,515 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 17, 2013 7:28 AM in response to Yellowbox

    Oops,

     

    I composed my previous post in Pages while Apple Support Communities was (were?) undergoing maintenance. I did not add screen shots to my Pages doc.

     

    Corrections:

     

    "Format Inspector > Cell > Cell Format > Pop-up Menu" should read

     

    "Format Inspector > Cell > Data Format > Pop-up Menu"

     

    Goodnight.

     

    Ian.

     


  • by Badunit,

    Badunit Badunit Nov 17, 2013 8:14 AM in response to Yellowbox
    Level 6 (11,705 points)
    iTunes
    Nov 17, 2013 8:14 AM in response to Yellowbox

    Adding to the pop-up discussion: If one of the selected cells in the table is already a pop-up menu, all of its contents will be included in the new popup. If two or more cells are already popups, you can merge their contents.

     

    Pop-ups still are not dynamic like Excel's data validation but this is a major step in the right direction.

  • by Terry315D,

    Terry315D Terry315D Nov 17, 2013 1:41 PM in response to ironex
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 17, 2013 1:41 PM in response to ironex

    Yes, speed is a huge one. Numbers 2 was horribly slow for even simple sheets. Numbers 3 is so much better. This is the #1 improvement for me. This will save me a LOT of time. I was so looking forward to a performance improvement, and we got it. I might stick with Numbers 2.3 otherwise. 

  • by SGIII,

    SGIII SGIII Nov 18, 2013 10:10 PM in response to Yellowbox
    Level 6 (10,782 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 18, 2013 10:10 PM in response to Yellowbox

    I do not use iCloud. Perhaps, SGIII, you could comment on this for users who have merely dipped a toe into the water.

     

    Hi Ian and other users,

     

    I touched on iCloud a little upthread in a post about sharing.  We also successfully used iCloud to send The Great 2013 Numbers Migration Gained and Lost List to Australia for convenient download and curation.

     

    I've noticed since that many users do not realize how convenient iCloud integration with Numbers 3.0 can be.  I first came to the support communities this past summer in search of an solution for iCloud woes. At the time iCloud deserved its reputation for being, to put it charitably, "temperamental." But iCloud has come a long way since.

     

    Instead of sending a document as an email attachment (Gmail currently refuses to accept Numbers documents) you can just email the iCloud link with a click or two:

     

    share-link-via-email.png

     

    The recipient, using any modern browser on the Mac or a PC without needing an iCloud account, can view the document and even edit it. As Ian illustrated upthread, they can also download it:

     

    Screen Shot 2013-10-30 at 2.05.40 am.png

     

    Recipients using an iOS device can also download the shared document from the link directly into Numbers for iOS.  (No need to open the Dropbox app, then Open In... Numbers. Currently Dropbox is broken with new Numbers 3.0 format documents anyway.  For syncing unshared documents back and forth to iOS, iCloud is definitely the way to go. It now works very well.)

     

    For this to work, on the Mac you need to have iCloud turned on for Numbers in System Preferences:

     

    iCloud-system-pref-doc-data.png

     

    iCloud-system-pref-Numbers.png

     

    And then you share your spreadsheet via Share icon>View Share Settings...

    share-spreadsheet-button.png

     

    Then Share>Share Link via iCloud as pictured near the beginning of this post.

     

    If you are worried that the recipient might make changes that you don't want, just duplicate the document and share a copy instead of the original. After the recipient has the document, you can turn off sharing for that document if you want.

     

    Obviously, if you are worried about keeping a document confidential, don't share it. Currently you cannot password protect a shared document. (Of course sending a spreadsheet as an attachment to an email is not secure either.)

     

    SG

  • by Yellowbox,

    Yellowbox Yellowbox Nov 19, 2013 12:53 AM in response to SGIII
    Level 6 (10,515 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 19, 2013 12:53 AM in response to SGIII

    Hi SG,

     

    The "Great 2013 Numbers Migration Gained and Lost List" is archived here in Australia. Also, I have plain text* docs with latest updates of Apple Support Communities "What have we GAINED in Numbers 3.0?"

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5473882?start=45&tstart=0

     

    and Apple Support Communities "Workarounds in Numbers 3.0?"

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/23622372#23622372

     

    *Why plain text? Just in case .

     

    Regards,

    Ian.

     

     


     


  • by SGIII,

    SGIII SGIII Dec 3, 2013 7:31 PM in response to Yellowbox
    Level 6 (10,782 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 3, 2013 7:31 PM in response to Yellowbox

    Hi Ian and others,

     

    The Interactive Charts in Numbers 3 can be a productivity enhancer.

     

    Suppose you have data like this (as posted upthread) and you want to show someone a chart for each week.

    Screen Shot 2013-12-03 at 10.13.28 PM.png

     

    In the old days you would set up a separate chart for each week, pretty them up, and print them all out, then probably have to reprint at least once to get them just right or in respond to a request for a different scale, etc., etc.

     

    In Numbers 2, if you could simplify things a bit by setting up just one chart and have it draw its data from an intermediary table that looks up selected data from the main chart data table according to the week that you type in (or choose from a stepper that you have to set up in the cell). This is the technique Ian demonstrated upthread in this post.

     

    In Numbers 3, you don't need an intermediary table. You select the data in the source table, choose Chart > Interactive, and select the type of chart you want.  The chart springs to life complete with a horizontal stepper that allows the viewer to cycle through the series. After formatting to resemble Ian's original (the default colors are a little too colorful for my taste) it looks like this:

     

    Screen Shot 2013-12-03 at 10.22.06 PM.png

     

    And the kicker. Click the chart, Edit Data References, toggle Plot Columns as Series to Plot Rows as Series (or vice versa) and you've got a chart of, say, values for Monday over three weeks. 

     

    Screen Shot 2013-12-03 at 10.19.53 PM.png

     

    In Numbers 2 you would have had to set up a second intermediary table with a different lookup formula to do that.

     

    So in this example you get 10 different charts in one go and no extra tables with lookup formulas.  And the interactive charts display nicely on screen or on an iPad so you can save a lot of time otherwise spent fussing with a printer.

     

    SG

  • by Badunit,

    Badunit Badunit Dec 6, 2013 7:27 AM in response to SGIII
    Level 6 (11,705 points)
    iTunes
    Dec 6, 2013 7:27 AM in response to SGIII

    Did it get mentioned anywhere that chart axes can have more then 10 "steps" now? The limit appears to be 100 now.

  • by Jerrold Green1,

    Jerrold Green1 Jerrold Green1 Dec 6, 2013 2:15 PM in response to Badunit
    Level 7 (30,001 points)
    Dec 6, 2013 2:15 PM in response to Badunit

    That's a nice improvement.

     

    Jerry

  • by Ricardo Rodriguez Fernandez,

    Ricardo Rodriguez Fernandez Ricardo Rodriguez Fernandez Dec 28, 2013 5:03 PM in response to papalapapp
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 28, 2013 5:03 PM in response to papalapapp

    Dear all,

     

    After reading many posts and reproducing your interesting examples, I'm not able yet of deciding if what I'm trying to achieve is not currently possible by using Numbers 3.0.1 built-in features or I've not been able yet to find the way of doing it. Please, take a look to the this table...

     

    ConditionalHighlighting.01.png

     

    What I'm trying to do is formating column G following the same rules I'm using to format column F.

     

    Please, is that possible? If yes, could you point me in the right direction?

     

    Thank you so much for your help!

     

    Ricardo

  • by Barry,

    Barry Barry Dec 28, 2013 10:21 PM in response to Ricardo Rodriguez Fernandez
    Level 7 (32,633 points)
    iWork
    Dec 28, 2013 10:21 PM in response to Ricardo Rodriguez Fernandez

    Hi Ricardo,

     

    Specific questions like this should be posted in a new topic. They tend to get lost in six page conversations, and to add noise to this larger topic. Please repost.

     

    Regards,

    Barry

  • by Ricardo Rodriguez Fernandez,

    Ricardo Rodriguez Fernandez Ricardo Rodriguez Fernandez Dec 31, 2013 1:58 AM in response to Barry
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 31, 2013 1:58 AM in response to Barry

    Thanks Barry! Sorry for the noise!

     

    Happy New Year!

  • by Yellowbox,

    Yellowbox Yellowbox Jan 6, 2014 4:39 AM in response to SGIII
    Level 6 (10,515 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 6, 2014 4:39 AM in response to SGIII

    Hi SG,

     

    Another GAIN for Numbers 3 (and beer drinkers worldwide).

     

    An easy way to revise the items in a Pop-Up Menu without starting from scratch. Following your advice that the adverts in the USA say that Beer = Foster's:

    Screen Shot 2014-01-06 at 11.08.24 pm.png

    Column A consists of Pop-Up Menus with the old name of Beer.

     

    Screen Shot 2014-01-06 at 11.24.06 pm.png

     

    B2 contains this formula, Filled Down:

     

    =IF(A2="Beer","Foster's",A2)

     

    Screen Shot 2014-01-06 at 11.19.55 pm.png

     

    Now select Column B, then Format Panel > Cell > Data Format > Pop-Up Menu

     

    Screen Shot 2014-01-06 at 11.22.18 pm.png

     

    New Pop-Up Menus in B. Delete Column A because Column B no longer depends upon it (the formulas have gone, replaced by new Pop-Up Menus).

     

    Cheers!

    Ian.

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