Numbers formatting error

Hi Anne,

I think you missed a step, as there are no screen shots shown in your post above.

Please give it another go.

Here's a more detailed description of the process:

Set up the shot to show a sample of the affected cells AND the Format Inspector.

Click on one of the affected cells, then set the Inspector to Cell > Data format.

In your screen shot, include the selected cell and others in the two affected rows, the column reference tabs above the cells included in the shot, and the details regarding the data format shown in the Format Inspector.

Here's an example approximating the items that should be visible in the screen shot. The format shown in the Inspector applies only to the selected cell, and is there only for display purposes of the example.

Taking the screen shot:

After arranging the items to be in the shot, and checking that the inspector is showing the requested information:

Place the pointer at the top left corner of the area to be captured.

Press shift-command-4.

The pointer will change to a crosshair.

Drag the crosshair down and right to place a selection rectangle around the area to be captured, then release the mouse button to take the shot and save it to your desktop with the name "screen shot" followed by the date and time that it was taken.

Inserting the image in your post:

Click to place the insertion point where you want the image placed in your post.

Click the Mountains and Moon icon in the row of icons below the composition window.

In the desktop window, locate and double click the Screen shot file you just took.

You'll be transferred back to your post, where, after a second or two, your screen shot image should appear.

Regards,

Barry

It would help if you could post a screenshot. Type shift-command-4, drag to select area on screen using crosshairs, release, start a new post here, and use the "mountains and moon" icon to insert the screenshot image from the Desktop.

SG

Happy to see you've found a solution. The cause is still a mystery, though.

"I don't recall making any changes to the sheets in question but it would make more sense if they truncated the number, flushing it to the left if space is the issue IMO"

Number values, whether formatted as numbers or as currency, are automatically aligned right.

Even when set to "accounting style," where the currency symbol is placed at the left edge of the cell, the number is aligned right, which keeps the decimals stacked in a straight line (except where the user chooses to show specific vsalues in bold and chooses to use parentheses to mark negative values.

I'm wondering if the pasted values in the February and March columns of your first screen shot were pasted into a cell formatted to hold Text, and lost their Accounting Style format.

That loss might change the space between $ and the first digit from 'auto generated' to 'a fixed number of spaces' or 'a fixed number of non-breaking spaces'. The latter might cause the number to be pushed off the right edge of the cell, even if 'wrap text in cell' was enabled.

Regards,

Barry

It is the cell width not the font. There are too many digits in your number to fit in the cell and this is apparently how Numbers handles that problem when it is set to "accounting style". Changing the font worked only because you changed to a font that used less width. If you decrease the cell width after changing the font, the problem will return. The proper solution is to increase the cell width to accommodate your numbers.