Challenges with adding name values to a scatter plot chart in numbers

There is a workaround that takes some work to do. You create a second table that has one Y data point per column. Put the corresponding label at the top of each column, plot each column as a separate series, and choose to "show series names" on the chart. There is one problem, though, due to a bug in Numbers that Apple has yet to fix. You have to give the first and last point in each "series" a value that is off the charter or it might put an extraneous "series name" label at Y=0. It is hard to describe. I choose to put a value in every "blank" row to get around this stupid bug (see Table 2 below)..

Below is an example. Table 2 is full of formulas that do the transformation. It fills all blanks with -9999 to get around the bug I mentioned. Column B (the original Y data) is only needed if you want to draw connecting lines between the points. The chart uses Table 2. It takes a few formatting steps to get it to look like this and Table 2 can be moved o another sheet, out of the way. I'm not going to write them all down here but I can later if you want it.

Hi J,

" I can add labels in Excel but…"

But Numbers is not Excel, nor is it a clone of Excel.

That said, the format feature you want seems a reasonable expectation. Your best action now is to use the Provide Numbers Feedback menu item in the Numbers menu to send a Feature request to Apple, asking that this ability be added to Numbers.

Apple employee participation in these user-to-user communities is uite limited—Hosts and Moderators monitor for adherence to the Terms of Use, and Community Specialists monitor for questions that have not received a response within a reasonable time after posting, and provide one, generally pointing to knowledge base articles dealing with the subject of the question.

Product development teams, including the Numbers and Pages development teams do not generally write, or read, in these communities. Messages via the feedback channel go directly,to Apple, and are read by Apple. personnel. Not all get acted on, but this one seems a reasonable request for a useful addition.

Regards,

Barry

It is simple to do in Excel because it is a feature of Excel. It is not simple to do in Numbers because it is not a feature of Numbers.