Numbers > Data Format > Pop-Up Menu > Multi-select

Question

Numbers > Data Format > Pop-Up Menu > Multi-select

Hello Apple Community!

Goal: To rally Numbers users to submit a feature request to the Apple Numbers team that includes a) Multi-Select and b) Allow New Items to be Added for the Pop-Up Menu data format.

Issue: Multi-select is not currently available (as of June 17, 2021) for the "Pop-up Menu" data format. In other words, you can create a deductive list of items for a column, but you can't allow for more than one of those items to be selected. Let's change this!

Use case:

https://youtu.be/_Wm_O4pJJIY

Replication:

1). Open the "Format" pane.

2). Click "Cell".

3). Under "Data Format", select "Pop-Up Menu".

Call to action:

Let's submit this feature request to Apple so they know that Numbers users want this feature!

I've created a super simple 4 step guide below to help you do this. 73 seconds is all it would take.

Step 1 [2 seconds]:

Go to https://www.apple.com/feedback/numbers.html.

Step 2 [60 seconds]:

Fill-in the form with your personal information.

Step 3 [5 seconds]:

Copy & Paste the text below into "Subject:".

Numbers > Data Format > Pop-Up Menu - Multi-select

Step 4 [5 seconds]:

Copy & Paste the text below into "Comments:".

This request is for a multi select option within the Pop-up Menu data format.

Replication:

1). Click cell in Numbers table.

2). On upper right hand corner, click Format>Cell.

3). Under "Data Format", select "Pop-Up Menu"

An "Allow for multiple selections" checkbox or on/off toggle would be amazing.

Step 5 [0 seconds]:

Click "Submit Feedback".

Let's make Numbers better for all of us crazies who choose Numbers over Excel 99% of the time!! ;).

Thanks a ton,

- Saphryn

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.4

Posted on Jun 17, 2021 12:48 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Badunit

Level 7

30,444 points

Jun 18, 2021 1:03 PM in response to SGIII

I assume the popup cell would be like an array of values. It would take considerable effort to incorporate that into the rest of Numbers. All the formulas would have to be rewritten to accommodate a cell that is an array and to accommodate an array as part of a range, with some consideration given to how it should be used when part of a range.

The things I would like to see instead with popups are

Allow the items to be a range in a table. You could easily add new items and sort the list. All popups using that range would get the changes.
Cascading popups. This could be done if the items were a range in a table. It would require using a separate range for each independent cascading popup (except the top level/first one) but it could be done.

Or, POPUP could be a formula that allows you to choose from a list of items.

=POPUP(range, optional_reference_to_first_item)

Cascading menus would be done by adjusting the range of the next popup (using formulas) to point to the next set of choices. I haven't thought that through yet to see what such a function would look like.

Reply

Answer 2

Yellowbox

Level 7

21,939 points

Jun 19, 2021 12:04 AM in response to SaphrynShikaze

Hi Saphryn,

There is a way to mimic cascading Pop-ups in Numbers.

Take a look at this User Tip and let us know if we can adapt the idea to your aim:

Nested (or Cascading) Pop-Up Menus in Numbers

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7611

To see if it is possible to adapt the idea, we will need to know full details of the items in each independent cascading group. If the items do not actually cascade from one group to the next, then we will need to rethink.

Regards,

Ian.

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Answer 3

Yellowbox

Level 7

21,939 points

Jun 17, 2021 4:33 AM in response to SaphrynShikaze

Hi SaphrynShikaze,

I do not understand. From the Utube video, the required information is already in the Tick Boxes in Columns B and C.

What do you expect to happen if you could multi-select in a Pop-Up Menu in column D?

What is your overall aim?

Regards,

Ian.

Reply

Answer 4

Jun 18, 2021 1:13 AM in response to SGIII

SG,

Thanks for the response.

The resulting value would be "Team Member, Investor". The idea is for one column to act as a category (which they always are), and the Pop-up Menu to provide the entire menu of choices for that category.

If there were 100 Membership Types, it would be ridiculous to have independent columns for all 100 membership types. "Membership Type" is one single category which shouldn't be required to be split into 100 different pieces, and the spreadsheet should be able to understand it as such.

Hope that makes sense.

- Saphryn

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Answer 5

Jun 18, 2021 1:11 AM in response to Yellowbox

Hey Ian,

So columns B and C only exist to show what I want to do with column D. Essentially - if multi-select was enabled in Numbers - we wouldn't need columns B and C.

Here's a screenshot example in Coda (coda.io).

Reply

Answer 6

SGIII

Level 8

37,550 points

Jun 18, 2021 4:38 AM in response to SaphrynShikaze

SaphrynShikaze wrote:

Hey Ian,

So columns B and C only exist to show what I want to do with column D. Essentially - if multi-select was enabled in Numbers - we wouldn't need columns B and C.

And what do you want to do with column D. How would the formula know?

SG

Reply

Answer 7

Yellowbox

Level 7

21,939 points

Jun 19, 2021 6:30 AM in response to Badunit

Hi **,

You did not hijack this thread. You put it right on track!

IMHO cascading menus (or mimics of cascading menus) is the way to go. Now we wait for a reply from Saphryn to see more details about Saphryn's overall aim with this project. And more details about how many levels of the cascade, and if they actually do cascade.

Yellowbox wrote:

I do not understand. From the Utube video, the required information is already in the Tick Boxes in Columns B and C.

What do you expect to happen if you could multi-select in a Pop-Up Menu in column D?

What is your overall aim?

Ian.

Reply