You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: Kris79
Kris79 Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Numbers table to remain on screen despite scrolling (floating?)

Hello, I have created an expenses project on Numbers, with different tables for various items. I would like the Totals table to always remain visible on screen (float?), despite of me scrolling up or down to view/ edit other tables. As tables grow with more items added, it becomes quite a task having to find where the Totals table is. I have a 2020 i5 MacBook Air running Big Sur 11.4 (clicked on wrong device, please ignore MacBook Pro below). Thank you.

Posted on Jun 19, 2021 3:54 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Badunit
Badunit
User level: Level 7
28,084 points

Posted on Jun 19, 2021 5:11 AM

If what you want to see is no more than 5 rows, you can make it look like it is floating. It uses Freeze Header Rows to do it and you can have at most 5 header rows so that's the limitation.


  1. Add rows to the Totals table so that the table stretches further down the sheet than all other things on the page.
  2. Format all those extra rows so they have no borders or fill. You want them to be invisible.
  3. Turn your top five rows into header rows.
  4. Make sure Freeze Header Rows is on.
  5. Lock the table.


With your table starting in the middle of the sheet as shown in your screenshot, it will move up to the top as you scroll but will then not move any more. However, if you have the window set to be very short, like just enough to show the Builder table at the top, it is possible the Total table can scroll off the bottom and out of sight when you scroll that direction. You might want to move the Total table to the top of the sheet so it cannot scroll off the bottom.


View in context
8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Badunit
Badunit
User level: Level 7
28,084 points

Jun 19, 2021 5:11 AM in response to Kris79

If what you want to see is no more than 5 rows, you can make it look like it is floating. It uses Freeze Header Rows to do it and you can have at most 5 header rows so that's the limitation.


  1. Add rows to the Totals table so that the table stretches further down the sheet than all other things on the page.
  2. Format all those extra rows so they have no borders or fill. You want them to be invisible.
  3. Turn your top five rows into header rows.
  4. Make sure Freeze Header Rows is on.
  5. Lock the table.


With your table starting in the middle of the sheet as shown in your screenshot, it will move up to the top as you scroll but will then not move any more. However, if you have the window set to be very short, like just enough to show the Builder table at the top, it is possible the Total table can scroll off the bottom and out of sight when you scroll that direction. You might want to move the Total table to the top of the sheet so it cannot scroll off the bottom.


Reply
User profile for user: Barry
Barry
User level: Level 9
59,951 points

Jun 19, 2021 7:03 PM in response to Kris79

Hi Kris,


You wrote: "@Badunit Genius! "


Agreed!!


Here's an alternate that also does what you want, and is capable of providing more summary rows than five.


Set up your Totals table as you want to see it.


Then duplicate that table, and

replace the formulas in the copy with simple cell references to the same cell on the original.


example: in B2 of the duplicate, youe 'formula' would be TOTALS::B2


Now make as many duplicates of the copy as you need to have at least one copy visible as you scroll up or down the sheet.


Regards,

Barry

Reply
User profile for user: Kris79
Kris79 Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Jun 19, 2021 5:04 AM in response to Kris79

Thank you Paul & Ian, I guess the important thing for me isn't to access the Totals per se (it updates automatically anyway) but to have it present in order to see the changes happening. In a different scenario, if this was a presentation at work for example, to be able to indicate how different parts affect an outcome.

Reply
User profile for user: Kris79
Kris79 Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Jun 19, 2021 5:44 AM in response to Badunit

@Badunit Genius! Thank you for that, it sure does the trick. Not exactly edit>float>enter but with a little bit of effort it's done. One thing to watch out for (anyone looking to try this in the future), if you try to "merge" cells, for some reason some rows get cut off and you lose the floating table when you scroll to the bottom of the page. Leave individual cells as they are and just make the borders invisible, if you don't want to see empty cells. Otherwise, this works a treat! Thank you so much 🤩

Reply

Numbers table to remain on screen despite scrolling (floating?)

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up