Numbers Magic Fill does not work and I am not able to disable it

I agree with Badunit. I was working on a spreadsheet and suddenly found a column was designated as Magic Fill (I am NOT subscribed to Creative Studio). I was unable to turn off Magic Fill but resolved the problem by deleting the offending column (fortunately it was a new spreadsheet, so no real data yet, only test numbers), then reinserting a new column, problem solved. Appreciate the tip on turning off Apple Intelligence, I did that, too. So, Apple Intelligence is turned off and Creative Studio will never happen on my devices. If this was some harebrained idea to demo a new feature, I can only say - really bad move, Apple!

Matt Wesselhoff wrote:

Magic Fill can't even do that and I'm unable to turn it off.

The first time it happens, accept the results then cancel. After that it won't appear again unless you quit and restart Numbers. That has worked for me so far. It is as annoying as a pop up ad, or worse because it takes two clicks to get rid of it.

I think it gets numbers wrong because it is trying to figure it out as a text pattern. It is very baffling that Apple did not notice this problem given that this is a spreadsheet app and that means it is all about numbers.

I ran into your problem today for the first time. I feel your pain. I thought I was stuck but I found a way to move on: I accepted the results. It popped up something about needing Creative Studio. I hit cancel. The results disappeared. I could then drag-fill like I used to. However, after quitting Numbers and restarting it, that whole Magic Fill stuff came back and I had to do this again. It looks like it is going to bug us each and every time we start Numbers, like a popup advertisement. I truly hope they fix this. I do not put up with annoyances and this is a big annoyance.

I hope they fire the person who thought bundling Numbers, Pages, and Keynote with all the Pro apps was a good idea. The people who use the iWork apps are not the people who use Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, and the other high end apps. They are the ones who use the free Apple apps (Photos, iMovie, Garageband, etc). Whose brilliant idea was it to bundle the iWork apps in with the pro apps? They are totally unrelated and for totally different markets. What a dumb idea.

The old method of selecting two or more cells for the pattern then dragging down works for me.

I thought Magic Fill was a Creative Studio paid option. All I ever get is a "text pattern was not detected..." error and it gives me no results. Maybe I'm using it wrong. All I know is I never see Magic Fill show up unless I purposely choose it from the menu (or contextual menu) and it never does anything when I do that.

EDIT: Maybe it is because I have Apple Intelligence turned off in System Settings.

Just to pile on here in the hope that someone from Apple realizes this is an amazing screw-up. After ten years of typical, fundamental dragging/filling cells, I'm suddenly in Magic Fill ****. I'm not trying anything complicated, even, just 1,2,3, etc. Magic Fill can't even do that and I'm unable to turn it off.

I also want to get rid of this trash feature that appears to eliminate a basic spreadsheet function and is completely useless. Apple, please, for the love of all things good, get rid of this absolute garbage that no one needs or asked for.