MacOS13.5.2, Numbers13.1: I created a custom date format, applied it, works nicely; however, when I type new data into any of those cells, the cell reverts to AutomaticFormatting!
Is this a bug? or a feature?
How can I keep a cell's format persistent?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.5
jothomas wrote:
the Custom Format applies only to the output (display), not the input.
Yes, in Numbers, custom formats control the display not the input.
That is true also for input of Duration values.
I tend to use the unambiguous yyyy-mm-dd for display. Unfortunately I can't input that way.
A tip: Numbers will happily do date arithmetic on "dates" in Automatic or Text if they are in a format that it can recognize as dates. Military style confuses it.
You could consider providing feedback to Apple at File > Provide Numbers Feedback in your menu.
SG
jothomas wrote:
the Custom Format applies only to the output (display), not the input.
Yes, in Numbers, custom formats control the display not the input.
That is true also for input of Duration values.
I tend to use the unambiguous yyyy-mm-dd for display. Unfortunately I can't input that way.
A tip: Numbers will happily do date arithmetic on "dates" in Automatic or Text if they are in a format that it can recognize as dates. Military style confuses it.
You could consider providing feedback to Apple at File > Provide Numbers Feedback in your menu.
SG
ah yes, but the system does not interpret the input using the custom format rules:
I set custom date format=5Jan14
(Note that when the file is Shared, I cannot edit Custom Formats! I had to unshare it first!)
The display works fine.
But evidently it only maintains that date format if I input new date values in a "standard" date format such as 1/5/14 .
If I actually type in "5Jan14" the system interprets that as Automatic.
Thus, better to specify that the Custom Format applies only to the output (display), not the input.
Unfortunate that there is not a standard military-style short date format such as dd-MMM-yy or ddMMMyy . The all-numeric formats are readily misinterpreted (mm/dd/yy or dd/mm/yy) or strange looking yyyy-mm-dd.
(Yes, I know the Swedes use yyyymmdd all the time. Difficult to change old 'merican habits.)
It will accept that format as a valid date&time entry if you make that format one of the systemwide date settings in System Preferences->Language&Region->Advanced->Dates. I don't know what that might do to other apps that use those settings but it will allow Numbers to recognize those entries as date&time.
It does persist unless you
If it is not one of those first two things, tell us more. Give an example, step by step, where it loses the formatting.
They probably rearranged things in Ventura. I do not have it. I am suggesting changing one of those date formats in System Preferences to be exactly like the one you want to type into Numbers. The four I have available to choose from are short, medium, long, and full. I did it and it worked on my system. There was no typing involved (other than deleting a comma before the year), I dragged the pieces around and selected from the drop downs it presented me for each component of the date. But some other app may use that date format.
I'm not saying this is a great idea, not knowing what some other app might do with it. It is just an idea.
FWIW, in Ventura System Settings Language & Region > Date format I have mine set to yyyy-mm-dd.
In Numbers I can enter dates using that format and the format will be respected and Numbers will recognize it as a true Date & Time, right-aligned by default.
But if I then double-click to edit it, it becomes m/dd/yyyy as I'm editing. Even though I've set Date format to yyyy-mm-dd in System Settings apparently my Region setting (US) overrrides that when editing. When I'm done editing, Numbers again displays it as yyyy-mm-dd.
SG
hmm. I do not find SystemPreferences/Language&Region/Advanced
The Language&Region display seems to offer only 1 location to change the format: DateFormat, which itself only offers a list of 8 numeric dateformats with various sequences and punctuation.
I do not find any date format that includes alphabetic characters, or any way to add a custom format.
The dropdownlist of 8 formats remains consistent even when selecting different Region (though the default format changes appropriately).
Evidently this sort of custom format must be changed deeper within the OS -- which would, as you imply, likely cause other ripple effects.
Making a custom date format persistent -- cell reverts to Automatic format?
