Q: New Numbers HORRIBLE!!!

Apple doesn't participate here, but you can express your displeasure using the following link:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/numbers.html

Rock,

You may continue using the previous version of Numbers which is located in the folder "/Applications/iWork '09"

Hi Rockinmama,

Many features have been lost in Numbers 3. You can send feedback to Apple with Menu > Numbers > Provide Numbers Feedback.

Before you give up on Numbers 3 (and the latest update is Numbers 3.0.1) have a read of these threads:

Features that Apple has promised to reinstate:

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

Hints on workarounds here:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/23622372#23622372

What has been GAINED in Numbers 3 is here:

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 3.0.1 update):

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

Regards,

Ian.

"Being able to sort columns is one of the things that makes a spreadsheet a spreadsheet and not a table in Notes!"

Hi Rock,

True if your definition of "a spreadsheet" is

limited to a single, immense table on which there are islands of data with oceans of empty cells between them, as is the case in MS Excel and others that follow that model. Numbers doesn't.

A Numbers document consists of one or more Sheets. A Sheet is a blank canvas, on which may be placed Tables, graphic Objects, Charts and Text boxes. Each of those Tables follows a database model when it comes to sorting: each row of the Table is a separate record, and is treated as a unit. A sort does not separate the parts of record from each other.

If you need to sort a single column, you need to separate that column (or its contents) from the rest of the table containing it, do the sort, then return the sorted column (or its data) to the original table.

One way of doing that is to Select and copy the column, Paste it onto the Sheet (where it will form a new, single column Table, Sort the new table. Select and copy the new table's column of data, then Paste the data back into the original column and delete the new (temporary) table.

A simpler way may be to consider that IF this data is truly independent of the data in the rest of the table, perhaps that column of data should be on a separate, indpendent Table.

If Numbers, as it exists (in either v3 or the previous v2.3) is not useable for your purposes (for this or other reasons), then your choices are clear: Provide Numbers Feedback to Apple requesting a change to the application, OR use a tool that fits your purposes.

Regards,

Barry

WHY did you take a way the auto complete feature in cells.

Auto-complete is coming back.  Meanwhile (and even after auto-complete is reintroduced) consider using Pop-Up Menu instead. Pop-Up Menu is enhanced from Numbers 2.3 and is a better choice than auto-complete for many situations anyway (no typo or capitalization headaches, and much more efficient if you take your documents with you for data entry on iOS).  See here and here for how to set up Pop-Up Menu. It's quick and easy.

SG

Hi Mama,

No offense taken.

I didn't (and still don't) suggest that you said sorting columns is the ONLY thing that makes a spreadsheet a spreadsheet. You did imply that is was a "basic spreadsheet function," and I do disagree with that as one requirement of a spreadsheet application. The addition of that feature to the spreadsheet module in AppleWorks cost me and the rest of the people doing the data processing for our regional science fair a truckload of time one year, not to mention the need to deal with a major grumble session by the young scientists waiting for their results while we rebuilt the tables that had been thoroughly trashed by that 'basic spreadsheet function's introduction.

As for this being the 'wrong' forum, it's wrong, only in the fact that there's no one paying attention here that can make the changes needed to satisfy your complaint.

Reverting to a previous version of Numbers won't bring you the abilitiy to sort individual columns (or groups of more than one column) without separating those columns, or their data, from the rest of the columns in that table. That reversion will give you the opportunity to select the rows to include in the sort, another feature missing from the current version, but sorting that maintains the integrity of each row has been part of Numbers from version one.

Bottom line: Use the tool that is best for the job. If that's the previous version of Numbers, then make the 'ridiculous' move, and use that. For the moment, at least, that's been my choice, and will remain so until Numbers 3 matures into the 'ready for prime time phase.

Regards,

Barry