How Do I Edit a Formula without Recreating the Links

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Level 1

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How Do I Edit a Formula without Recreating the Links

I am trying to learn how to use numbers for existing but fairly complex spreadsheets but find some things more cumbersome. For example, if I have a cell formula "e46 + f48", how do I easily change it to "e48 + f50"? Currently, if i highlight the cell to see the formula, I can easily delete either e46 or f48 and redo the link to the cells (e48 and f50) I want. But that would take time on my spreadsheet. (The example is simple, I realize but in reality this would be a pain to do.) In excel, I could easily highlight the formula and simply delete/backspace the "6" in "e46" and replace it with an "8" to get my "e48." But I can't figure out how to do that with Numbers. Is this possible? Thanks

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 10, 2019 6:58 AM

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Answer 1

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Barry

Level 9

59,867 points

Jun 10, 2019 1:20 PM in response to mrrworld

You can double click on the cell to open the formula editor, then

Click to the right of the token to be edited, press delete twice to select, then to delete it, then type in the revised coordinates

OR

Double click on the cell reference in the token to display it as (selected) text, click again to place the insertion point where you want to edit, and edit as you would text.

Repeat with the second token if needed.

Click the green checkmark to confirm the edit and close the editor.

Your particular example reveals another 'ack!' feature of Numbers—the sometimes overactive autocomplete.

I had great difficulty telling Numbers that I wanted to change f48 to f50, and NOT to FALSE, FACT or FACTDOUBLE.

Still don't know what I did to convince it, but eventually I was able to make the change.

Regards,

Barry

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How Do I Edit a Formula without Recreating the Links

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