Level 7

21,939 points

Workarounds in Numbers 3.0?

Dear Fellow Numbers 3.0 Users,

In Numbers 3.0, some features have been lost that were in Numbers 2.3. However, I have seen some creative ideas in this forum for ways to work around the loss of features yet maintaining the functionality.

Example 1:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread/5491941?answerId=23612026022#23612026022&ac_cid=tw123456#23612026

In the new Numbers, where did autofill drop down menus go and how do I get them back? See the replies from SGIII and Smirhcfa

Autofill 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 Autofill works?

Example 2:

Numbers 3.0 does not show dates in a Chart. Workaround: convert the dates to a Duration (day or week from the starting time) or even a number to represent time elapsed.

Some workarounds may seem to be clunky, but in Numbers 2 we also need workarounds!

Please keep this thread positive. By now, I think we have heard enough about features and functionality that seem to be lost.

Workarounds, anyone?

Regards,

Ian.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9), Numbers 2.3 & 3.0, Pages'09

Posted on Nov 1, 2013 6:16 AM

42 replies

Yellowbox Author

Level 7

21,939 points

Jan 26, 2014 10:57 PM in response to Spydermann

Hi Spyderman,

SG wrote:

If one defines "serious" work to include work that involves mobile data entry and collaboration, I think plenty of serious work can and will be done in Numbers 3 and its companion app for iOS.

Hi SG,

Point taken. I was too hasty. 🙂

Revise to: Serious printing (on paper) of conversion tables for mechanics, woodworkers and gardeners to display on shed walls. As John Williamson sang: 'All Australian Boys Need a Shed.'

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcCXUQhexag

Regards,

Ian.

SGIII

Level 8

37,550 points

Jan 27, 2014 10:18 AM in response to Yellowbox

Hi Ian,

Revise to: Serious printing (on paper) of conversion tables for mechanics, woodworkers and gardeners to display on shed walls. As John Williamson sang: 'All Australian Boys Need a Shed.'

That is a seriously awesome link, dude.🙂 Now I understand the reference to sheds. Where I grew up we had a cowshed and a tool shed and a woodshed (you didn't want your father taking you out to that). And the watershed wasn't far away. But we didn't have just a "shed" shed, used (as many Americans use their garages) for anything... even giant Android tablets!

Yellowbox Author

Level 7

21,939 points

Feb 3, 2014 6:25 AM in response to Yellowbox

Late edit (Oops):

Compatibility:

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

Should read:

Compatibility:

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

and perfectly well in Mavericks (10.9.x).

Both Numbers 2 and 3 work fine in Mavericks.

Regards,

Ian.

SGIII

Level 8

37,550 points

Feb 3, 2014 9:04 AM in response to Yellowbox

Thanks Ian. The summary of workarounds and reinstated features will be very helpful.

On iOS there is less version profusion confusion. Whenever you update an older version automatically is removed. You have little choice in the matter. And for Numbers to play well with iCloud and the Mac (in keeping with the apparent vision of "Numbers wherever you are on whatever computing device you happen to have handy") you need the latest version. As of this post, for iOS it's Numbers 2.1.

Shawn L.

Level 1

6 points

Feb 6, 2014 10:40 AM in response to Yellowbox

One workaround for margins in Numbers 3 that I hadn't seen mentioned.

Create a document in Numbers 2.3, set the margins to your preferred settings, and save it.

Open the document in v3 and save it as a template. You can now use that template to create spreadsheets with your preferred margins.

Margin settings saved in v2.3 are honored in v3. There's no way to CHANGE them, but given that it does recognise the settings, it is for Apple to restore that funtion in the future without too much fuss.

Feb 7, 2014 5:57 AM in response to Yellowbox

Hi Guys.

I have read this discussion with awe! So positive, so helpful and with a sense of humour too. You are all so expert on Numbers 2.3 and 3.1 that I hope you can help me with my problem. I upgraded from 2.3 to 3.1 a week or so ago. (I have a mid 2009 iMac, 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, running OS X 10.9.1.) However, 3.1 won't open properly. No menu appears at the top of the screen and the icon just bounces away in the dock. Right clicking shows all my Numbers files ( all 2.3 version except for the latest and current file with this years business accounts on it which has been automatically converted to 3.1) and tells me the App is "Not Responding" and gives the "Force Quit" option. I have been unable to open the converted file with 2.3 as a dialogue box tells me I need the newer version. I can't open the file with 3.1 because 3.1 won't open properly - so this rules out the option of exporting the file back to iWork 09. Excel won't open the file either. I have tried uninstalling, reinstalling, rebooting, etc without success. Can anyone suggest a workaround that will get me back to my business accounts.

PS: I can see the contents of the file using Preview but can't cut and paste into a new spreadsheet.

SGIII

Level 8

37,550 points

Nov 4, 2013 7:39 AM in response to Yellowbox

Hi Ian,

Good to know this. And as a bonus I learned another Australian vocabulary word: snaffle. At least we don't use that much in the US, so I had to look it up.🙂

Dec 31, 2013 3:20 AM in response to Yellowbox

Thanks! I'll take the good news for May, 2014 as well.

Best Regards,

Ephraim

Yellowbox Author

Level 7

21,939 points

Dec 31, 2013 4:31 AM in response to eratzkoff

Hi Ephraim,

And while we wait for Apple to add "Auto-complete text in cells" in May 2014, we must look for other ways to skin a cat!

Regards, and Happy New Year,

Ian.

Dec 31, 2013 11:02 AM in response to Yellowbox

I'll skin some and and let some go.

A Happy New Year to You Too.

Yellowbox Author

Level 7

21,939 points

Jan 24, 2014 3:58 AM in response to Yellowbox

Typo (or old timer's disease)

Now you have the left and right margins marked.

Now you have left and top margins marked.

Ian. 😊

Jan 26, 2014 1:41 AM in response to Yellowbox

Thanks Ian.

Backed out everything to Numbers 09. Exporting all my updated Numbers files back to Numbers 09. Probably do it to Pages as well. Whatever possessed Apple to introduce Numbers 3.xx?

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Workarounds in Numbers 3.0?