HT202879: About the new iWork for Mac: Features and compatibility

Learn about About the new iWork for Mac: Features and compatibility
Acanthophyllum
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: How could Apple even think of releasing a Numbers upgrade without Auto-complete? Excel, anyone?

Numbers used to be displayed on the Mac Store under the heading 'Productivity'. This is now a joke. The latest version of Numbers, which I innocently installed when upgrading to Mavericks, is a disaster. How do I reinstate Autocomplete? Without this feature, every bit of new data I enter has to be typed individually, whereas my spreadsheet containing my bookselling inventory has a lot of repetition, such as "Hard cover, dust jacket" which now takes 23 keystrokes rather than a couple and one click. Oh, I think the answer to this question is to wait until Apple releases an upgrade at some future date. Thanks for nothing, Apple. Search and replace doesn't work properly in the Maverick-compatible upgrade, and I am reluctant to revert to iWorks as my stuff is on the Cloud. I still have a legacy desktop with my old stuff, but it can't talk to the Cloud. The thought of having a second archive as well  is too horrible to contemplate. I already use a Dropbox for pictures as I'd otherwise have to pay Apple for extra Cloud space.

 

Oh, and did I mention the fact that the Numbers software is now slooooooooooooooooow? Not that my computer is particularly ancient, but I can remember the days when the beachball only appeared momentarily. If anyone from Apple bothers to read this, do bear in mind that you are at risk of losing your most loyal users.

Numbers, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 26, 2013 10:55 PM

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Acanthophyllum

Q: How could Apple even think of releasing a Numbers upgrade without Auto-complete? Excel, anyone?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Yellowbox,Helpful

    Yellowbox Yellowbox Nov 26, 2013 11:14 PM in response to Acanthophyllum
    Level 6 (10,515 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 26, 2013 11:14 PM in response to Acanthophyllum

    Hi AP,

     

    a lot of repetition, such as "Hard cover, dust jacket" which now takes 23 keystrokes rather than a couple and one click.

     

    Autocomplete has gone. Workaround by SGIII: enter your most used values into a column. Select  all body cells in that Column and change the Cell format to pop-up. The pop-up will now contain choices for filling in other Rows.

     

    Another workaround could be to use a lookup table of frequently used entries (each with a unique first character). Type the first character of an entry in one Column. The next Column fills in the full entry from a lookup table. After all, is this not how Autocomplete works?

     

    How do I reinstate Autocomplete?

     

    Numbers 2 (Numbers '09), unless you deleted it, is in a folder called iWork '09 inside your Applications folder.

     

    Regards,

    Ian.

  • by DaveSpencer,

    DaveSpencer DaveSpencer Nov 27, 2013 2:29 AM in response to Yellowbox
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 27, 2013 2:29 AM in response to Yellowbox

    This is just one of the very latest annoying changes that Apple have made to Numbers. Just how much of my time do Apple intend wasting when then intoduce new versions of an application. I spent a silly amount of time trying to find out how I switched on the auto complete function only to eventually discover that Apple for reasons best know to them have got rid of it.

     

    Has anybody discovered a workaround please?

     

    Feedback has been sent to Apple.

     

    Backwards is the new forwards: GREAT

  • by Barry,

    Barry Barry Nov 28, 2013 12:41 AM in response to DaveSpencer
    Level 7 (32,633 points)
    iWork
    Nov 28, 2013 12:41 AM in response to DaveSpencer

    Hi Dave,

     

    Several features did not make it into Numbers 3 (yet). The main thrust of the 'upgrade' appears to have been to wnsure compatibility between Mac and iOS version of the application (and with iCloud). Apple has announced intention to return several of the missing features 'within the next six months', and has done so with a few in the .0.1 update.

     

    Meantime, if there are missing features that you absolutely need, you might want to go back to version 2 until the dust settles. You'll find it is still on your Mac, in the iWork 09 folder in your Applacations folder.

     

    Reards,

    Barry