10-digit number to Phone Number format

Select the column.
Open the Inspector and choose the Cell Format inspector ("42")
Choose "Custom" (bottom item on the popup menu)
Click on the Integers element in the formatting box to select it.
Click the triangle on the element, then choose Hide Separator from the menu that appears.
Press the Down arrow key to remove one digit from the element.
Click to the right of the element and type a hyphen.
Drag another Integers element to the format box, and select it.
Press the Down arrow key to remove one digit from the element.
Click to the right of the element and type a hyphen.
Drag a third Integers element to the format box.

Click in the Name: box and name the custom format 'Phone No."

Click OK.

Regards,
Barry

Barry's responce is correct.

I just wish to add that such question is responded in *Numbers User Guide* and *iWork Formulas and Functions User Guide* which every user may download for free from the Help menu.

Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) mardi 26 janvier 2010 10:09:35

However, when you type "format" "telephone" into the Help search window, you get nada.
So... the help-while-working isn't quite as helpful as one would hope. But Thanks to Barry for solving my-issue-also.

I repeat for the xxth time that the more efficient Help tool isn't the online help which rely on a built-in index but the PDFs which everybody may download from the Help menu :
Numbers User Guide
iWork Formulas and Functions User Guide.

Opening such a PDF in Preview or in Adobe Reader give us the ability to search in the plain text without the interaction of an index whose design is always restricting.

In Numbers User Guide, searching for "number format"

return:
89 Using the *Number Forma*t in Table Cells
…
99 Creating a Custom *Number Format*
101 Defining the Integers Element of a Custom *Number Format*
102 Defining the Decimals Element of a Custom *Number Format*
103 Defining the Scale of a Custom *Number Format*
105 Associating Conditions with a Custom *Number Format*

It seems difficult to miss that the meaningful info is in the range pages 99 … 105.

Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 19 avril 2010 21:50:21

You may not find "format telephone" in the user's guide or the help file. I'm not surprised that is the case; there are many many different possible cell formats that can be created, and at least two for telephone numbers, and the help file isn't expected to have a list of them. But formatting of cells is most definitely found in the user's guide and in the help file. From the information provided in either of those sources, a custom format can be created.

bubbasmom wrote:
However, when you type "format" "telephone" into the Help search window, you get nada.
So... the help-while-working isn't quite as helpful as one would hope. But Thanks to Barry for solving my-issue-also.

Another problem with putting telephone number formats into the Help (or the User Guide) is in choosing which formats to include.

888 888 8888
888-888-8888
(888) 888-8888
(888) 888 8888

All the above are in common use for North American telephone numbers.

050 88 88 88
0800 888 8888
0800 888888
(09) 8888888

as are these for other parts of the (English speaking) world.

Regards,
Barry

Thank you Barry and Badunit for patient responses. I would not have known where to begin in creating a custom format, or know how to ask. Is the forum only for those who know the correct idiom/lingo/terms to ask the question in? Now I have a little experience. Thank you all for sharing.

VgX00305 wrote:
Is the forum only for those who know the correct idiom/lingo/terms to ask the question in?

No, but it can confuse the situation when terminology needs to be translated. We don't always get the translation right and that leads to incorrect or unhelpful answers. For instance, the word "spreadsheet" could mean a Numbers document, sheet or table. "Page" may translate as "sheet" or "page"; two different things in Numbers. Often we get clues from the context but just as often we have to make assumptions. And then there's the whole problem with the impreciseness of the English language and especially in written text; what sounds very clear to the person posting is not always so clear to the person reading. But don't let that stop you from posting. We'll do our best to figure it out and you'll learn the terminology as you go.

Hi vg',

What Badunit said, with a few additions.

The best place to learn the Numbers vocabulary is from the (very readable) Numbers '09 User Guide, a guide that I would recommend to all users, new AND old. Read at least the table of contents and the first chapter.

I'd also recommend downloading the iWork Formulas and Functions User Guide. Use this one as a reference when you want to understand what a function is doing or want to write a formula to perform a specific action.

Download links to both User Guides are in Numbers's Help menu. You'll also find links to similar guides in the Help menus in Pages and Keynote.

Regards,
Barry

PS: Don't hesitate to return to the forum with further questions. There's usually someone here who can help.
B