How to put headers on multiple columns

Dick Huitema wrote:
I still find the date left adjusted in the first column (with no spaces). Everything looks fine until I press Tab, Enter or Return; that is, the selection automatically expands to two cells as I enter either spaces or option-spaces and the date is nicely centered over them.

I don't have this problem with plain text, however, so it must be caused by using the date format. Does that mean I may as well resort to forcing the dates to be text, with a leading period for example?

Format the cells to Text before entering the date. Date below is in B1, and is preceded by 16 option-space characters. Remember to uncheck "Wrap text in cell".



Regards,
Barry

Almost as easy in Numbers, assuming you were taking advantage of the fact that text in an AppleWorks spreadsheet cell flowed into adjacent empty cells.

Same thing happens in Numbers. If the text is too long to fit into the cell it is in, it will flow into the adjacent cells provided they are empty, and provided the cell is not set to wrap text (which is the default setting for Header cells).

Use the Cell Format Inspector to turn off text wrap. Uncheck the box.

Set the alignment of the cell to Left (text flows out to the right), Right (text flows out to the left) or Center (text flows out to left and right).



You could instead use the Merge and Split control in the Table Inspector to merge two or more header cells to hold the multi column header, but there's a caveat: Merging or splitting any cells on a table breaks (or turns off) some nifty Numbers features. 😟


A third method is to use a Text Box to hold the header text, and place that over the table's header row. Disadvantage: The header does not move with the table.

Regards,
Barry

Dick Huitema wrote:
Barry: Thank-you! So far I prefer your first option and it's almost solving the problem, but I can't get the date label centered over the two columns I'm using at the moment. (That inspector is a crafty one, isn't he/she?)

That shortcoming also existed in AppleWorks. Formatting applies to the cell in which the data is contained, not to the cells over which it s displayed.

Center adjusted text just centers the date in the first column. If I use left aligned text and add spaces at the left to move the date over (ala AW), the spaces disappear when I leave the cell, returning the label to the left side of the first column.

My current work-around that almost works is to add periods to move the date over by typing periods at its left side. Unfortunately, they obviously aren't included in the format, so Copying it and Pasting it in the next group of columns only pastes the date.

Try using non-breaking spaces (option-space) as the filler characters. More below.

BTW, I'm trying to get dates that are one week apart, not consecutive days. Must I manually enter each date, or can I use somehow use Fill Right or other automatic technique??

Numbers will automatically increment dates when they are filled down or filled right, and will pick up the increment if it is given two items in the series.
BUT it works only if the dates are in consecutive cell, and if the contents of those cells are actually dates (or other specific types of data).
You want them every second column, and with the leading spaces added, yours are text. You can use a formula to generate the headings, then copy the results and paste them back in as values.




Row 1 is a header row. The the first date was entered as text ( " June 4, 2010" with option-space characters in the blank area) in B1. Add or subtract option spaces to center in your situation, then:
Select B1 and C1. Fill Right using the control (small circle) at the bottom right of the selection border.
Edit the dates individually.



Not very satisfactory, as it involves a lot of manual editing. So I tried what's shown in Rows 2 and 3.

Row 3 contains the starting date in B3 and a formula, =B3+7 in D3.
Select D3 and E3. Fill right as above.
Numbers will adjust the formula to create the date at weekly intervals in every second cell.

Row 2 is a Header row. B2 contains the formula =" "&B3 (16 option-spaces), and is set to Align Left using the button in the formatting bar above.
Enter (and adjust) the formula, then select B3 and B3 and fill right as before.

When you're happy with the appearance of Row 2:
Select all of Row 2, Copy, then go Edit > Paste Values.
This replaces all of the formulas in row 2 with the values they have generated.

Delete Row 3 (no longer needed).

Regards,
Barry

May you explain what you want to do.

Header rows apply to the entire table : every columns or every rows.

Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) vendredi 4 juin 2010 07:21:30

If the value span above three cells, put it in the second cell and ask to center.



Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) vendredi 4 juin 2010 19:22:12