I have moved a Microsoft Excel document to Numbers in my new iMac showing alternate line colours. I then needed to remove a line which left two adlacent lines with the same colour. How can I change the colour of each of the following lines? Using the Document Inspector allows me to change the colours but I then loose the text and then if I try pasting the text back in, I loose the line colour.
iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)
I suggest using the "Alternate Row Color" option in the Table inspector:
sekect the table, then open the inspector (menu item "View > Show Inspector") then select table at the top. Now you don't have to manually change row colors when you add or delete a row
Hello Wayne. Thanks for that. I could get it work after first forming the document with alternate row colours but not after entering text in all the cells. Deleting a line just closed the gap but left the colours unchanged.
I suggest removing any background formatting on rows when using the "Alternate " option. Set the cell background to NONE
OK. Thanks Wayne. I'll give that a try. I did wonder if Numbers could not interpret the lines as having separate colours because of the document having been converted from Excell to Numbers. I'll let you know how I get on.
No good. That got rid of a line colour but would not let me add a colour back. Apart from that, the Excel line colours are made up of coloured dots and Numbers can't duplicate the same. I have tried copying one of the desired colour cells and pasting it on the line I wish to change but that then hides the information in the cells. Failing any other options, I could of course reproduce the document in a new Numbers spread sheet.
Can you email the doc to me using the email address in my profile?
No, sorry Wayne. It's too confidential. It's no big deal anyway, as I said can reproduce it in a new Numbers spread sheet but I obviously need to get to know how it all works. It is obviously not the same as Excel.
You can delete the data as I think we are only loking at background colors and shading, right?
Oh. I see. I'll try that and email you. thanks
Sorry Wayne, can't find your email address in your profile.
Found it. Email following.
The cells are filled with a background image. select a cell and look at the "Table Inspector". To remove the colored image from the cell, select the rows that have the fill, then change the Cell Background pop-up menu selection to "None".
Now the Alternate Row color will work correctly
Yes, I discovered that before but when I do that I loose the text in the line. the only other option I think I have is to copy the text first, change the background then paste the text back but I would have thought I shouldn't need to do that. In Excel I could.
Brian,
Here is what I did. Starting with the original document with the cell background. I added text in the cells:
then I selected the rows with the background, and used the "Table Inspector" to select "NONE" for the cell back ground. This should NOT remove any text form the cell:
I do not understand why you are losing the text. Is the text white? I created an Excel file from one of the templates then opened it in Numbers and had no problem changing the background to None and then using alternating colors.
First screenshot is just after deleting row 3 so that two colored rows would be together.
Second screenshot is after selecting all but the first row then changing the fill color (Cell Background) to None. Before doing this, you might want to open the Color palette and use the magnifying glass to pick the color from one of the colored bars. You might want it for the next step.
Third screenshot is after selecting Alternating Row Colors and choosing the color I wanted.
Change line colour after deleting line in Numbers.
