Numbers.app autocorrects Jan to January

Question

Level 1

21 points

Numbers.app autocorrects Jan to January

How do I stop this intrusive behavior? I've already turned off autocorrect, spell check, and whatever other auto settings I can find. A google search turned up nothing. Surely others have this problem.

If I wanted to type January, I darn well would have. Given my columns are about 5 pixels wide, it's quite idiotic for my computer to decide that January fits better than Jan. I guess it thinks it's smarter than me. Why on earth does Apple do such stupid and counterintuitive stuff like this? What the frick? Honestly. I'm about to lose my mind. And yes I know I can use the single quote ' trick but I shouldn't have to. I saw another post talking about correcting EST to "set" which is equally stupid. Apparently the programmers in silicon valley have never heard of abbreviations!!!!

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 15, 2019 11:07 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Yellowbox

Level 7

21,029 points

Dec 16, 2019 2:11 AM in response to sexykitten

Hi SK,

sexykitten wrote:

Well I don't think those are relevant so I didn't answer them! Clearly context isn't important since a brand new file has this problem.

A brand new (blank) Numbers document most likely contains a table where the cells are formatted as Automatic. Numbers is very good at detecting anything that looks like a Date & Time format and will convert the cell format. Typing the first three characters of a month name (jan, feb etc.) [Column A in my example] will result in the full month name, together with the first day of that month and a time of 12:00 (midnight at the start of that day). The cell display will not automatically show the full Date & Time, but the full Date & Time is there, "hidden behind the curtain".

If you want to force a column to be text entries, there is no need to type an apostrophe (or single quote) at the start of each cell. Format that column as Text before you type.

sexykitten wrote:

And I'm not using them for d/s applications.

But you can often use text in downstream calculations.

Formula in C2 =B2+1

Numbers automatically interprets B2 as the first day of January 2019 and adds 1 day. I changed the cell format of column C to display the full Date & Time (Numbers adds the default time, midnight at the start of that day).

Tested in Numbers version 6.1 under macOS High Sierra 10.13.6

Happy Numbering!

Ian.

Reply

Answer 2

Barry

Level 9

59,951 points

Dec 15, 2019 3:09 PM in response to sexykitten

Jan to January is not a 'spelling correction,' which is the type of correction made 'automatically' when you have "Correct spelling automatically" checked in the Edit > Spelling and Grammar submenu.

It appears to be a format change, automatically applied to Dates.

What type of data are you entering in the column in which this is happening?

Have you set a specific data format for that column?

Is this data used in downstream calculations?

Answers to this questions may help in fnding a solution.

Regards,

Barry

Reply

Answer 3

sexykitten Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 15, 2019 4:42 PM in response to Barry

Thanks for the reply. This appears to be a default "feature" har har. You can test it yourself. Open a new file and type "jan" in any cell and click enter. It will change to January!!!!! Who the heck thought this would be useful? Are there people out there who don't have time to type 4 additional letters? This is utterly ridiculous!

Reply

Answer 4

sexykitten Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 15, 2019 6:08 PM in response to Barry

How bizarre. Perhaps it is an issue with the version of Numbers I am using: version 6.2.1 (6529).

I have been a Numbers user for all of one month. My copy of Excel for Mac 2011 stopped working with the latest update so here we are. I apologize if I am being short. This is been quite the transition from Microsoft to Apple! Excel does a lot of stupid things but this is not one of them!

Reply

Answer 5

Barry

Level 9

59,951 points

Dec 15, 2019 6:20 PM in response to sexykitten

Well I don't think those are relevant so I didn't answer them! Clearly context isn't important since a brand new file has this problem. And I'm not using them for d/s applications.

OK.

Hope you find a solution.

Regards,

Barry

Reply

Answer 6

sexykitten Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 15, 2019 6:13 PM in response to sexykitten

A slightly different google search pulled up the same problem from 2013 so at least I'm not going crazy (or named Jan)! https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5487156

Reply

Answer 7

Barry

Level 9

59,951 points

Dec 15, 2019 6:04 PM in response to Barry

sk writes: "You can test it yourself. Open a new file and type "jan" in any cell and click enter. It will change to January!!!!!

Or it is entered exactly as it was typed:

Regards,

Barry

Reply

Answer 8

Barry

Level 9

59,951 points

Dec 15, 2019 5:20 PM in response to sexykitten

The reply also had a set of questions that could lead to a solution if answered.

Barry

Reply

Answer 9

sexykitten Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 15, 2019 6:02 PM in response to Barry

Well I don't think those are relevant so I didn't answer them! Clearly context isn't important since a brand new file has this problem. And I'm not using them for d/s applications.

Reply

Answer 10

sexykitten Author

Level 1

21 points

Dec 16, 2019 8:23 AM in response to Yellowbox

Thank you thank you! Not a solution I like but it's better than the quote method.

Numbers sets the Date Format to "Automatic" by default so I have to manually change it to "Text."

Reply

Numbers.app autocorrects Jan to January

Similar questions