Workarounds in Numbers 3.0?

New workarounds

Numbers 3 keeps converting my documents to the new version.

Thank you, aarild

Re: What has been lost in Numbers 3.0 upgrade?

19/11/2013 12:11 AM (in response to Badunit)

For me this is working as a temporary solution, I distinguish between the two with Mavericks tags. A second option is to always open the files from within the right version, using cmd+O or to use the menu object Archive->Open recent.

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Categories have gone.

Thank you, tomogden

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5468401?answerId=23578336022#23578336022

I suspect Categories was removed because the Categories feature was hindering the use of the functions that were designed to provide the same functionality in a cleaner, richer, more flexible way.

The proper method is to use the SUMIFS, the COUNTIFS and the AVERAGEIFS functions and others like them to build your pivot tables.

1. Create a new table to summarize your data.
2. Add a header column with the list of categories you want to summarize.
3. In the header row, add the cross referencing information you want to summarize with.
4. In the cells, place SUMIFS or similar functions to generate your data.
5. Make sure to check the "Preserve Collumn" option for each argument in the formula and the "Preserve Row" option where it references your header row.

[Example shown in original post.]

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Sort by multiple columns (Reorganize panel) has gone. Workaround: Sort by each column in turn, least important first.

[I did a test run to compare sort each column in turn versus Numbers 2 Reorganize Panel. Sorting one column at a time was faster and more intuitive, at least for me - Ian.]

See SGIII's solution using another column as the master sorter.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5594398?answerId=23894912022#2389491202223894912

Another option, split large tables into several smaller tables containing like kinds of data.

***************************************

Further Reading:

Features that Apple has promised to reinstate:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6049

What has been GAINED in Numbers 3 is here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5473882?start=45&tstart=0

What has been lost in Numbers 3 is here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5470448?start=240&tstart=0

Who Moved My Cheese?

http://www.spencerjohnson.com/Book-WhoMovedMyCheese.html

Regards,

Ian.

Hi eratzkoff,

Now, can we get the pop-up in alphabetical order because I have a random list entered chronologically of approx 250 items and the look up takes a wee too much time to make it effective

Copy your list of 250 items to a temporary table. Sort Ascending. Select all cells, then Format Panel > Cell > Data Format > Pop-Up Menu. A new Pop-Up Menu will be created with the items in alphabetical order.

Copy a cell and Paste to your original table. Select all cells in that Column. Then Merge Menu Items:

IMHO you are pushing the limits of Pop-Up Menus with 250 items 😉. I have not tested to see if a Pop-Up allows 250 items.

The good news is that Apple has promised to add "Auto-complete text in cells" by May 2014.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6049

Regards,

Ian.

A workaround for the missing Layout View and Print View in Numbers 3. Make your own layout guide and Save As Template. The screen shots are for A4 paper, landscape, 297 mm by 210 mm.

1. Start with a blank template. I mean really blank. Delete any objects on the canvas.

2. Menu > View > Show Rulers (command r).

3. From the vertical ruler, drag an alignment guide to line up with zero on the horizontal ruler.

4. From the horizontal ruler, drag an alignment guide to line up with zero on the vertical ruler.

Now you have the left and right margins marked.

5. Now for the right and bottom margins. They will depend upon the paper size. You can see your default paper size by Menu > Print...

6. Insert > Shape > Line, and rotate to make it horizontal.

7. Now for the fiddly bit. Drag the line to where you think is the bottom margin (by the vertical ruler). Check this with Menu > Print...

If the line appears on another page, it is too far down. Try again.

(When you click on Done in Print Preview, the rulers will be gone. Command r to show them again. Bummer!)

Trial and error will produce this (Note the horizontal line Shape at 16 cm down; this is 25% zoom to make the screen shot smaller):

8. From the horizontal ruler, drag an alignment guide to just above the line up (give some leeway; a millimetre or two inside the margin won't hurt).

9. Repeat for the right margin:

10. Delete those temporary lines (command drag across them to select). Insert > Shape > Rectangle. Set Fill to White or None. Drag to resize to the alignment guides (remember the alignment guides are a fraction inside the margins to give some leeway). Use the arrow keys and Format Inspector > Arrange > Size to finely align the rectangle.

11. Check with File > Print... to see that everything fits on one page.

12. Drag the alignment guides back to their rulers to delete them (if you wish).

13. Save As Template.

Now you have a rectangle to show the page margins as a guide when you arrange objects before printing to paper.

Regards,

Ian.

Dear Fellow Numbers 3 users,

Here is a summary of Workarounds in Numbers 3. Please keep this discussion positive. You can complain elsewhere.

Numbers '09 is in a folder called iWork '09 within your Applications folder. Use that if you prefer.

This discussion is named "Workarounds in Numbers 3.0?". Perhaps a better name would be Workarounds in Numbers 3.1 (or Numbers 3.x) because Apple has added back some "lost" features, and more features may be reinstated... but who knows?

Here we go...

Autofill is back in Numbers 3.1, now named "Show suggestions when editing table cells"

See Numbers > Preferences > General > Editing

However, SGIII came up with a useful workaround while we were waiting for this feature to be reinstated. 3rd November 2013 on Page 1 of this thread. Use Pop-Up Menus. The advantage is that Pop-Ups help prevent errors in spelling and capitals. Pop-Ups are a useful tool even now that Autofill (Suggest) is back.

Custom Format has gone. Workaround is to create a Custom format in Numbers '09 (Numbers 2.3) then save and then open that document in Numbers 3. See 4th November 2013 on Page 1 of this thread.

Print View and Layout View have gone. Yes, now we have the lame and non-editable Print Preview. Try Alignment Guides and Rulers as suggested on 8th November 2013 of this thread.

Reorganize Panel has gone. How do I Sort selected rows?

Now we use Sort and Filter in Numbers 3.1:

In some language settings, month names (intended to be simply that, names of months) are converted to dates. Workaround: in this thread, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5484435?start=0&tstart=0 the consensus from users seems to be that date recognition in Numbers 3.0 is a bit too clever. Force the month names to Text Format by typing a single quote (apostrophe, ') before each date name. Or, type a space after each date name.

I can't change the name of an axis in a chart. Workaround: click on the chart to select it, then in Format Inspector > Axis > X or Y > Axis Options > put a tick in Axis Name. From Numbers 3 Help: "If you selected an Axis Name checkbox, Numbers adds a placeholder axis name to the chart. To change it, triple-click the name on the chart, then type your own." [I am not sure if this a workaround or a GAIN in Numbers 3.]

Categories have gone.

See this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5468401?answerId=23578336022#23578336022

"I suspect Categories was removed because the Categories feature was hindering the use of the functions that were designed to provide the same functionality in a cleaner, richer, more flexible way."

The proper method is to use the SUMIFS, the COUNTIFS and the AVERAGEIFS functions and others like them to build your pivot tables.

******

Fellow Numbers 3 Users,

I have done my best to summarise this thread. I may have missed some important points. Don't shoot the messenger.

Further Reading:

Features that Apple has promised to reinstate:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6049

What has been GAINED in Numbers 3 is here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5473882?start=45&tstart=0

What has been lost in Numbers 3 is here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5470448?start=240&tstart=0

Who Moved My Cheese?

http://www.spencerjohnson.com/Book-WhoMovedMyCheese.html

Regards,

Ian.

Hi Shawn,

Margin settings saved in v2.3 are honored in v3.

Thanks for that tip. I followed your advice and created a document in Numbers 2.3 and used Inspector > Sheet to set the Page Margins to 1 cm.

Menu > File > Print... shows this Print Preview in Numbers 2.3:

Page 1 of 1.

Save, Close, then Open that document in Numbers 3.1.

Menu > File > Print...

Still Page 1 of 1.

Bravo, Shawn!

Regards,

Ian.

Hi Peter,

the icon just bounces away in the dock

Just a thought, but Numbers make be trying to open a corrupted document. Hold down the shift key while launching numbers. That will stop it re-opening documents that were open when you quit.

A setting that I use in System Preferences > General:

I also have this setting for Shutdown and Restart (untick Reopen windows when logging back in:

Those settings give my Mac a chance for rest and recuperation!

If this does not help, please start a new discussion.

Regards,

Ian.

Hi SG,

Thanks for your help in this workaround thread, and the "What has been GAINED in the Numbers 3.0 upgrade?" thread and the many ways you have shown leadership in keeping us all level-headed in this transition to Numbers 3. This broad workaround thread can never have a single "This solved my question" reply (sic, should read "This solved my problem").

You deserve the green tick from this thread. Bravo!

New

Thanks Kev50 and Al Gunther.

Both of your workarounds for the loss of Print View and Show Layout are added to the top of the following updated list.

In some language settings, month names (intended to be simply that, names of months) are converted to dates. Workaround: in this thread, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5484435?start=0&tstart=0 the consensus from users seems to be that date recognition in Numbers 3.0 is a bit too clever. Force the month names to Text Format by typing a single quote (apostrophe, ') before each date name. Or, type a space after each date name.

I can't change the name of an axis in a chart. Workaround: click on the chart to select it, then in Format Inspector > Axis > X or Y > Axis Options > put a tick in Axis Name. From Numbers 3.0 Help: "If you selected an Axis Name checkbox, Numbers adds a placeholder axis name to the chart. To change it, triple-click the name on the chart, then type your own." [I am not sure if this a workaround or a GAIN in Numbers 3.]

From SG: Insert Date menu pick is gone in Numbers 3.0. Workaround: create an Automator Service that retrieves the date and time from the system clock and pastes it into the selected cell in Numbers. This service can be accessed via Numbers>Services in the menu or can be assigned to a keyboard shortcut. For details see this thread. Thanks to alexhax and slypix for refinements.

(You may need to remove 'Day of the week' from your "Full" date format in System Preferences>Language & Region for it to give you the desired result.)

********************************

Updated list:

Show Print View and Show Layout have gone (update). Workaround hints:

Work out where the pages are in print preview and then draw a line on the side of your Sheet. That line will hold it's position if you make changes to your row heights or add photos etc. It will add pages to your overall sheet, but then just select the page range to print.

Save a modified Numbers file to Numbers '09, make any required print view adjustments there and save. Then open in Numbers 3.0 and see if it prints okay. You may find that one line spills over to the second page; deleting one blank line may make a second try perfect. Perhaps the top or bottom margins are smaller than the default size in 3.0.

Menu > View >Show Rulers. Drag Alignment Guides from a ruler to where you want them. Caution: the rulers and/or Alignment Guides may not be accurate. Try Format Inspector > Arrange > Position (or Size) to see if that works better for you.

Menu > Numbers > Preferences > Rulers > Alignment Guides. That allows you to align objects with *each other* (rather than with the ruler guides). These guides help to align objects left, middle, right, top, bottom.

Select multiple objects, then Format Inspector > Arrange > Align (or Distribute). Also under Menu > Arrange.

When duplicating an object (such as a nicely formatted Table that you want to reuse) select the Table, copy, and before you paste, click on the canvas below or beside. Pasted Table will automatically be aligned with the original.

Menu > File > Print to see the Print Preview. Use the Content Scale slider.

Also, see where you can delete blank rows or columns, or make columns narrower, or drag objects to reduce white space. Not as easy as editing in Print View in Numbers 2, but you are still responsible for (and in charge of) the final look!

****

In some language settings, month names (intended to be simply that, names of months) are converted to dates. Workaround: Force the month names to Text Format by typing a single quote (apostrophe, ') before each date name. Or, type a space after each date name.

I can't change the name of an axis in a chart. Workaround: click on the chart to select it, then in Format Inspector > Axis > X or Y > Axis Options > put a tick in Axis Name. From Numbers 3.0 Help: "If you selected an Axis Name checkbox, Numbers adds a placeholder axis name to the chart. To change it, triple-click the name on the chart, then type your own." [I am not sure if this a workaround or a GAIN in Numbers 3.]

Insert Date menu pick is gone in Numbers 3.0. Workaround: create an Automator Service that retrieves the date and time from the system clock and pastes it into the selected cell in Numbers. This service can be accessed via Numbers>Services in the menu or can be assigned to a keyboard shortcut. For details see this thread.

Custom Formats no longer available. Workaround: Create a Custom Format in a Numbers 2 document. Save. Then Save As… a copy with a new name so Numbers 3 can't snaffle your original Numbers 2 document. Open the copy in Numbers 3 and the Custom formats will be listed in Format Inspector > Cell > Data Format. The Custom Formats are carried over and they work. Note: copying a custom formatted Cell or Table in Numbers 2, then pasting into Numbers 3 does not work. The Custom cell(s) are pasted as text.

I can't add a shadow to a Table. Workaround: insert a rectangle Shape, Arrange > Send To Back, slide it behind the Table. Use the Alignment Guides to drag and resize the rectangle. Numbers > Preferences > Rulers > Alignment Guides. Turn them on.

Sorting by multiple Columns has gone. Workaround: Add another Column (e.g. D) =A&B&C (or your preferred sort order for Columns). Sort by Column D.

No way to set margins. Workaround: Print the document as PDF. Open the PDF in Preview and use the Cropping Tool to crop out the white space.

Reorganize panel has gone. How do I Sort selected rows? Workaround: copy those rows to a new table, sort, then copy and paste back.

Autocomplete has gone. Workaround: enter your most used values into a column. Select all body cells in that Column and change the Cell format to pop-up. The pop-up will now contain choices for filling in other Rows. Another workaround could be to use a lookup table of frequently used entries (each with a unique first character). Type the first character of an entry in one Column. The next Column fills in the full entry from a lookup table. After all, is this not how Autocomplete works?

Numbers 3.0 does not show dates in a Scatter Chart. Workaround: convert the dates to a Duration (day or week from the starting time) or even a number to represent time elapsed. The DATEDIF function will help to calculate days (or months or whatever) from the starting date.

Regards,

Ian.

Reminder: http://www.spencerjohnson.com/Book-WhoMovedMyCheese.html

Hi Spyderman,

Whatever possessed Apple to introduce Numbers 3.xx?

Numbers '09 for serious work, Numbers 3.xx for syncing between OSX and iOS via iCloud.

Some users want to persevere with Numbers 3 because they like the new features and don't care about the lost features. Other users do not have the choice to revert to Numbers '09.

Hence this thread, and what has been GAINED in Numbers 3:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5473882?start=75&tstart=0

Happy Numbers '09!

Regards,

Ian.

Dear Fellow Numbers 3 Users,

Preamble: This thread was started soon after Numbers 3 was released. It contains some creative ideas from this 'Numbers for Mac' forum for ways to work around the loss of features yet maintaining the functionality. Often, the "loss" of a feature has turned out to be "I can't find that feature". At other times, there has been lateral thinking to find workarounds. And other users have found ways to make use of the new features of Numbers 3 to recreate the functionality of Numbers 2.

Background: In Numbers 3.0, some features were lost that were in Numbers 2.3. In Numbers 3.1, some of those features have been restored. Features that Apple promised to reinstate:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6049

and indeed some have already been reinstated in Numbers 3.1

To answer one frequently asked question in this forum, downloading Numbers 3.x did not replace your Numbers 2 (Numbers '09) app. Numbers 3 lives in your Applications folder. Unless you deleted it, Numbers '09 is in a sub-folder called iWork '09 within your Applications folder. Numbers 2 works just as well as it used to. Numbers 2 and Numbers 3 run happily side by side. Just be sure which version is active when you open a document.

To answer a second frequently asked question in this forum, yes you can revert a numbers 3 document to Numbers 2, using File > Export To > Numbers '09. However, it is better to work on a copy if you want to open a "heritage" document in Numbers 3. Numbers 3.1 now gives a warning when you begin to edit a Numbers 2 document. Be sure what you want to do!

See also:

What has been GAINED in Numbers 3:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5473882?start=75&tstart=0

What has been lost in Numbers 3 is here (with corrections where Apple has already reinstated some lost features in the Numbers 3.1 update):

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5470448?start=240&tstart=0

Version Naming:

To avoid confusion when you post a question, please state your OS X version and Numbers version. iOS users have also posted in this forum; as Numbers 3 continues to bring OS X and iOS closer, the differences between those operating systems are slowly fading.

Numbers 2.3 = Numbers '09, not Numbers '08. (Numbers 3 can not open a Numbers '08 document or an Appleworks document).

Numbers 3.0 = the first release of Numbers 3 (Numbers '13)

Numbers 3.0.1 = the next update of Numbers 3 with some features restored.

Numbers 3.1 = the current (2014) version of Numbers with more features restored.

Compatibility:

Numbers 2.3 (= Numbers '09) will run on OS X up to Mountain Lion (10.8.x).

Numbers 3 requires OS X Mavericks (10.9.x)

Perhaps an iOS Guru can comment on the requirements for iDevices?

Coming soon (in my next reply): a summary of workarounds and reinstated features that I hope will clarify recent changes and make it easier to follow the discussions in this thread.

Happy Numbers!

Regards,

Ian.

Hello again,

Some hints if you have downloaded (and want to keep) Numbers 3.0 but you want to maintain your old documents in the Numbers 2.3 format:

- Numbers 3.0 is now your default app and will open a Numbers 2 document when you double click it. Do not rely on Get Info > Open with > Numbers 2.3. It may not stick.

Warning from t quinn "Opening a file in Numbers 3 can result in it being automatically saved in a new file format incompatible with Numbers 2. Loss of formatting and other changes may occur. Some features will not revert, even with File > Export To > Numbers '09. Make a spare copy of a document before you try this."

- Even after downloading Numbers 3.0, Numbers 2.3 is in a folder called iWork '09 inside your Applications folder. Drag the Numbers 2.3 icon to the Dock, right click (or control click) and choose Options > Keep in Dock. Open Numbers 2.3 from this Dock icon then open your old documents from within Numbers 2.3.

or… Right click on an old Numbers document and Open with > Numbers (2.3).

- I have a Numbers 3.0 icon on my Dock also, for when I want to try out some new feature. No problem, both versions will run at the same time. That way I can see if a feature has been lost, or whether it is simply in a new place. Dogs need to find where they have hidden the bone this time! Or, we may be wondering: "Who moved my cheese?"

http://www.spencerjohnson.com/Book-WhoMovedMyCheese.html

Regards,

Ian.