Is there a work around so that I can share a numbers document that has a Form for data input, work for several hours setting up the spreadsheet only to find Forms are not shared, very frustrating as inputting data on an iphone is near on impossible into a sheet.
There is in fact an iOS app that gives this functionality. It’s called Numbers.
Forms are not practical on a desktop and if you load a document containing forms onto a desktop, the forms will not be available. The table that the form writes to, however, is still available, so no data is lost. You can have iOS and Mac users collaborating on the same project, with the iOS users using Forms and the Mac users, not. The Mac users do not need access to the form, as long as they can access the corresponding table.
There is in fact an iOS app that gives this functionality. It’s called Numbers.
Forms are not practical on a desktop and if you load a document containing forms onto a desktop, the forms will not be available. The table that the form writes to, however, is still available, so no data is lost. You can have iOS and Mac users collaborating on the same project, with the iOS users using Forms and the Mac users, not. The Mac users do not need access to the form, as long as they can access the corresponding table.
Forms are only available on the iOS version of Numbers. However, if you really want this functionality in the MacOS version, you could always just make a form. Like this:
I made this form from scratch. It’s not actually a form, but rather a table, and will work on MacOS. It populates this table:
This is how it works:
Easy, yes, but hardly simple. But don’t worry about making your own, just use my template.
I left the formatting generic, so it can be customized to an individual’s wants and needs - something a real form cannot do.
I created this in about an hour so it’s not well optimized for efficient processing and may run slowly on some machines. It is, however, fully modular in that you can easily adjust the number of rows in the form by changing the number of columns in the table. Changing the table headings will also adjust the headings in the form, just like a real form.
There is one caveat. Unlike a real form, this will not allow you to navigate between entries the way a real form will, nor will it allow you to add rows to the table. Rows must be created manually. The form is filtered so it will show the first entry without any blank cells only. Once an entry is completely filled, it will automatically jump to the next one. I could create a drop down box allowing you to choose an entry, but that is a project for another day.
Thank you for the time spent in replying. What I have set up is a spreadsheet for Property Inspections, all I need to do for each client/Property Address is click on the form with client name, click input box and press Todays date, easy. then as we visit each property we have a record. this form needs to be available to 3 people. Being available on mobile or iPad. It seems such a simple thing why is Apple not allowing this.
Maybe theres an IOS App that will give this functionality.
Moreover, if the process of sharing somehow breaks a form, if the user is on iOS they can easily just create a new one. After all, it’s not like a lot of effort goes into creating a form. There are literally zero customizable options.
Forms are not intended to store information. They are linked to a table, where all information entered into the form is kept. Entry 1 writes to the first body row of the table. The first line writes to the first column that contains a header. The second line to the second such column, and so on. Inputting the data directly into the corresponding cells in the corresponding table achieves the exact same result.
Forms in numbers
