Why is Numbers not recogizing custom date format?

Sébastien,

I think you have a valid complaint. The handling of dates in Numbers 3.0 is fragile and probably should undergo some examination by the software folks at Apple. The best way to call it to their attention is to use the feedback tool in the Numbers menu. The majority of complaints about date formatting in Numbers 3.0 have come from non-English system users.

I have found here, for instance, that the Automatic format doesn't recognize YYYY-MM-DD as a date, even though it's an option in the Format menu on my Numbers app. MM-DD-YYYY is recognized by Automatic or by cell formatted as Date and Time MM-DD-YYYY. If I input the date as MM-DD-YYYY and then change the format to YYYY-MM-DD it converts to that arrangement and continues to be accepted as a date.

I hope that you can find a way to get the format you need.

Jerry

I have found here, for instance, that the Automatic format doesn't recognize YYYY-MM-DD as a date, even though it's an option in the Format menu on my Numbers app. MM-DD-YYYY is recognized by Automatic or by cell formatted as Date and Time MM-DD-YYYY. If I input the date as MM-DD-YYYY and then change the format to YYYY-MM-DD it converts to that arrangement and continues to be accepted as a date.

It really is confusing. I have my Region as US with dates modified as follows:

And I get this, a little different from your experience and I don't know what settings would affect that. Maybe Medium and Long have something to do with it? It seems smart, sometimes too smart, and I can't figure what controls what, if indeed there is any pattern to user control at all.

In any case, it would be great if Sébastien could report via Numbers>Provide Numbers Feedback.

SG

Hi Sebastien,

Numbers 2.3 should still be on your computer in a folder called iWork '09 inside the Applications folder.

Use Numbers 2.3 to creat a Custom cell format

Save that document, then open it in Numbers 3. The Custom format is listed under Format Inspector > Cell > Data Format.

Save As Template.

Copying a Custom cell in Numbers 2 and pasting into Numbers 3 does not work. The pasted cell becomes Text.

Regards,

Ian.

Yellowbox - looks great, but I work cross platform eg. .xls and these data are not saved in the .xls file.

The company I work in use the date format 2013.11.25 and Numbers 3 doenst recognize this.

Do you know of any way to get around this issue?

Hi Jakob,

Numbers is not a clone of Excel. Even in Numbers version 2, conversion by Export works in some ways but is not perfect. If you repeatedly export/import between the two apps, errors accumulate. You will spend much time reconfiguring each document.

I suggest you use Excel or one of the free Excel-look-alikes for documents that the company uses. He who pays the piper calls the tune!

Regards,

Ian.

Thanks Yellowbox.

Never turn to the dark side again!! 🙂

I'm actually very happy with Numbers 2.X. I'll just stick with Numbers 2.X until it ... might get fixed in the new version.

Thanks for your reply.

Jakob