How do I change margins in Numbers?

Currently we do all our customer reports in Numbers and keep trying to find a way to enter new data in the field using the iPad while keeping the integrity of the margins. The Numbers app has never synced with our margins. We had great hopes for the new version but are seriously considering converting everything to Excel.

Hi maggiesteamboat,

After a multi-year hiatus, the apps now seem to be under active development. Another update just yesterday.

Office for the Mac is a good product. I like it. Doesn't play very well with mobile, though.

To converse with Apple (we're just fellow users here) in your menu try Numbers > Provide Numbers Feedback. I think we all hope they bring margins back.

SG

If your workflow is heavily tied to traditional printing then the new Numbers 3 is not the best tool. It is more suited to collaboration and dynamic presentation on the iPad or on the web, where margins are irrelevant. It's not that iOS is dumb or can't handle margins. It's that there, unlike in print, the viewer can instantly adjust the zoom and surrounding whitespace as desired.

See this thread on workarounds for ideas on how to deal with some of Numbers 3.0's perceived deficiencies.

Anybody in the field with iPads will of course find Numbers a far better solution than Excel. Excel doesn't work on the iPad (yet).

SG

At this point not necessarily staying tied to the iPad either. Our reporting method is customer driven. Paper, pdf, whatever, it still has to contain the information we need to convey. We have to fit a good deal of data on a page. 1 inch margins won't do that. Seeking a solution that works not staying with Apple because it's Apple.

Agreed. When I have to print (much less these days than before) I almost always want narrow margins to fit in as much information as possible. Numbers 3.0 is a big advance for displaying to iPad but is lacking in traditional printing to paper.

SG

This new version of Numbers will probably push me to buy microsoft office for my imac. why remove functionality? I really need to control margins and putting each spreadsheet into pages so I can have margins is not the answer I need. Maybe they want everyone to move off these products (Numbers and Pages) so they dont have to support them anymore.

Maybe I am missing something, however I turn on Rulers. With rulers turned on I set the table to my desired height and width on the sheet, move it around the screen getting it where it is needed to be. Hope that helps.

If that answer is off base, please jump in as I may not understand the question.

Cordially,

RicD

Ric,

I think the problem is that you can get your proportions just right, but when it comes time to print you have to live with wider margins than you might like. With printed spreadsheets you often end up wanting to cram as much information onto a page as possible. So the "wasted space," though attractive from a pure design perspective, can be irritating.

I don't do nearly as much printing as I used to (thanks to the iPad, which is great for showing output to people). So it doesn't bother me that much. But I can see how this would be problem for those who have to deal with paper-bound clients.

SG

Hi SGIII

Thank you for your comment. Same for me, it is very rare I print anything. When using the ruler positioning my table anywhere on the page, scale the table as needed, then print to looks good. Of course there is that non-printable area defined by the printer. Other than that using the ruler, and scalling my printouts works for me.

Also, as Yellowbox stated, and I have in other posts as well, unless one deleted iWork '09 it remains on the system to be used for some of these more taxing issues this new iWork has challanges with.

I missed that workaround the first time around. Thanks for the reminder. As a note, I was able to adjust printing margins using '09 on an N3 document and open it back up in N3 with no losses except for a chart created in N3. Printed with the margins I set in '09. Many formulas threw errors in '09 but once back in N3 they worked.

Quinn

You know, usually, when Apples makes a decision "for our own good", they are usually right. It's annoying as **** when they do that, but I'll admit, Apple used to be pretty darned innovative, and they usually DID know better. I mean how do you tell people, "Hey, there's no need to hit 'Save' anymore... trust us... you'll get used to it. It's better this way." Usually the mad scientists in Cupertino are right.

But why the fudge would we NOT need to adjust margins on a document? In what universe is some pocket protector-wearing goober in the chrome and glass labs of Apple ever going to convince his superiors - "Hey... margins are so... 1990, man! We don't need em anymore!" That goofus retard should be shot with his own Swingline stapler and have all his Lord of the Rings memorabilia scraped off his desk and into the trash can. Wake up, people! We're not ready to just accept your "let's force everybody to work from a template" approaches to spreadsheet design. Some of us want to design our own stinking documents! And hey, setting the freaking margin is the most basic design function that there is!

How can this bozo mentality be accepted at Apple? You guys are becoming the bland corporate Leviathan that you set out to slay so many years ago. Don't get lazy now. Innovate without limiting people.

Hi Brandogrey,

While I really enjoyed your rant, I feel compelled to remind you that we are all users like yourself. So beyond a fleeting amusement nothing more will come of your well crafted diatribe. I do suggest you copy and paste it to:

Menu>Numbers>Numbers Feedback

Maybe they will be motivated to action.

quinn

Hi Naikosen,

You're right! Until I saw your post I had forgotten that control over margins had been restored. I hadn't noticed because I am one of those people who rarely feels the need any more to make precise, static ink markings on pieces of dead trees that are then bunched together with little bits of metal. Margins are irrelevant when I "print" (via sync) to an iPad for display. A pinch-in here or a pinch-out there and voilà, there's the margin.

And of course Save (and indeed Save As...) are both still there.

SG

Hi Brandogrey,

I enjoyed your well written rant. Nicely phrased! 🙂.

I have to ask which version of Numbers are you using. Such comments were relevant when Numbers 3.0 was released last year. Since then, Numbers has moved on. The latest version of Numbers is 3.2.2.

In support of the reply from Naikosen, 'The option for changing page margins in Numbers (3.2.2(1878)) is provided in the Print Setup panel that is invoked by pressing Command+P.)'

The setting for page margins is not obvious. In the Print Setup (the panel to the right after you do Menu > File > Print (command p), drag the panel up to see Page Margins. You can set Top, Bottom, Left, Right margins.

Please call back if you need further help.

Hint: Menu > Numbers > Preferences > Rulers > Alignment Guides. Tick every box.

Alignment Guides do not print, but they help me no end when I drag objects around on the canvas.

Regards,

Ian

The new and improved ;-) iOS-compatible Numbers, lacks the ability to adjust margins.

Enjoy the beautiful, simplified, user interface.

Jerry