I am using Numbers 3.0. I have a chart that shows date and values. I can't format the X-axis as dates. It shows a plain numbers. When I try to select date from the format selection, date & time are grayed out. The column in the data sheet is formated as date.
Also, cannot change min/max values in the X-axis to any value. It is set to auto and I can't change it.
Under the older version, this was not a problem.
iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
Dave,
Lots of things are missing on Numbers 3.0, and lots of things are broken. Dates on the X-Axis are broken. Min and Max Axis settings for values other than dates are not broken.
You may not have noticed, but there are separate tabs for X and Y axis settings. Look around and I think you will find the Min and Max settings. Here's a hint.
Jerry
Jerry;
Yes, I noticed that there are separate tabs for each axis.
On the X-axis (dates) I can't change min or max and as you say, dates are broken.
On the Y-axis (values) I can change the min value but not the max value. For this particular chart, that's fine for now.
Thanks for your help. Let's hope Apple fixes the broken stuff since they say this is such a great version!
Dave,
Be careful, the Max limit entry is above the Min limit entry. We tend to say Min, Max, but we have to enter Max, Min. Look and see if you have used the proper fields.
Jerry
Hi Dave,
Maybe dates are broken in some charts but not all. Or maybe it depends on the format of the data cells. Or maybe it depends on having a Header Column. Here Date is in a Header Column formatted as Date and Time (Time None). Values in Column B formatted as Number (Decimals Auto).
I was surprised that dates are not broken, as I just "did it" without thinking too much and it worked. Maybe we could play around with different ways of doing it to find out which bits are broken.
Thought: this was done with a new document. Perhaps dates get broken if cells carry formatting baggage from a previous use, and don't convert properly to the new formatting.
Regards,
Ian.
P.S. note the GAIN of rotated axis labels in Numbers 3.0 😉
The difference, Ian, is that Dave was asking about a Scatter Chart. A Category chart is the only alternative as long as Date Values are broken in Scatter Charts.
Jerry
Hi Dave,
OK, scatter chart. Here is a way to work around broken dates. Add another column to calculate the number of days (or months or whatever) between consecutive entries. I delberately chose dates that are not evenly spaced, as that is your reason for using scatter and not category?
B2 contains zero (start date). B3 and Fill Down:
=DATEDIF(A$2,A3,"D")
Also, cannot change min/max values in the X-axis to any value. It is set to auto and I can't change it.
X is now numbers instead of broken dates. Click in the box and type a number.
I hope I understood your aim this time 😉
Regards,
Ian.
Ian,
The way I read the question, you are close now. Dave's problem is that he can't get explicit values to stick in all four of those dialog boxes. He says that some of his revert to Auto.
I think that the problem is that he is putting the Min value into the Max field, and then the Min field won't accept a value larger than the previously entered Max value, so it reverts.
Jery
I was trying Max, then Min correctly, but I was using the standard min/max terminology.
It appears that I can change the values, I just wasn't putting in the correct values or something. When I finally got to change the values, I had trouble gettting back to auto. You can't just enter "auto", you have to delete any value in the box.
I still have the issue of displaying dates. Ian's suggestion about days since beginning really doesn't solve the problem. I want to be able to see the values at a specific date.
Guess I'll have to wait for a fix to be issued. Oh, well.
Totally off the subject, but my Apple remote died the other day. I got another one, but how do they get the electronics inside of the aluminum (aluminium) shell? I cut the old one apart, and that really didn't answer the question.
Dave,
Sorry, but I don't have any idea how to service an Apple remote. I'll stick by my guess, just a guess, that you had the Min and Max values reversed because it's such an easy mistake to make. I make that mistake almost every time I go to use the limits.
I hope tha date bug on the X-Values gets fixed soon because it breaks several of my documents.
Jerry
Hi Dave,
While we are waiting for Apple to fix the date bug, here is a way to "annotate" a scatter plot. It doesn't show dates, but it adds markers to significant days.
Days from the start (Column B) are calculated using DATEDIF as in my second post.
Column C contains values formatted as Number.
Add other columns to insert markers. A formula will add a little to a value to "lift" the marker above that value. For example, D3 ("Peak) =C3+MAX(C)÷10. E5 ("Recovery") =C5+MAX(C)÷10
Add all the marker columns then select whole columns from B to the right. Insert scatter plot.
Regards,
Ian.
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