Creating a Checkbook Register

You won't find that answer here.

Hi pacena,

Template Chooser > Personal Finance > Personal Budget ???

Or, if that does not suit, please reply with what you want to do. Perhaps someone can help you create a template.

Regards,

Ian.

Pacena,

We would have to guess at why the check register template was left out of Numbers Junior. I think some formula or feature of iWork '09, that is used in that '09 template, doesn't work in the new version and they didn't want to take the time to adapt the template.

I'm pretty sure it's possible if you want to take it on.

Jerry

Edit: I opened the '09 template in V3 and don't see a problem yet. The look is different - not as well formated to my tastes. However, I got a dialog box I never saw before...

This must be a reaction to the complaints about documents being silently corrupted by automatic conversion.

I think some formula or feature of iWork '09, that is used in that '09 template, doesn't work in the new version

Jerry,

Am curious. Are you aware of any formulas in Numbers 2.3 that are not in Numbers 3?

As for features, this comment in the checkbook template no longer applies, as Numbers 3.0 won't accept an OFX file:

The new Personal Budget to my eye is more attractive. It's also more suited to use both on the Mac and iOS, with Transactions data input in one sheet and the Budget summary in another. And it doesn't have that scary looking OFFSET formula to calculate the balance:

=$F$1+SUM(OFFSET(F3,3−ROW(),−1,ROW()−2))

SG

Hi pacena,

Numbers 2.3 (Numbers '09) may still be on your machine (look for a folder called iWork '09 inside your Applications folder).

Open Numbers '09 and go to Menu > File > New From Template Chooser:

Open that Template, and Save.

Next, open that saved document in Numbers 3.

I think it will work, (but see other posts here from Jerry and SGIII). I have not been through all the formulas. If it does work, Menu > File > Save As Template in Numbers 3 and you are ready to go. It will be saved in Numbers 3 > Template Chooser > My Templates.

Good luck!

Regards,

Ian.

SGIII wrote:

..And it doesn't have that scary looking OFFSET formula to calculate the balance:

=$F$1+SUM(OFFSET(F3,3−ROW(),−1,ROW()−2))

SG

Nor does it have that scary balance...

Yes, I have had some equations break in translation.

Jerry

Jerry,

A balance is easy to derive without resorting to an equation like that. I've read posts from you precisely to that effect, recommending alternatives. I think they were right to eliminate that particularly template. The new templates, including the budget template, are quite good.

I know some Numbers 3 functions don't work in Numbers 2, but I'd be interested in seeing some specifics to back up your suggestion that some Numbers 2 functions don't work in Numbers 3.

SG

Jerry said some formulas or features might not work in Numbers 3. All the functions are supported to the best of my knowledge.

Any formula that has a "table reference" in it such as VLOOKUP(B2, Table 1 ,5) will fail. Numbers 3.0 does not support entire table references.

Some functions may not result in the same thing after a sort operation as they would have in Numbers '09 due to the different way Numbers 3 handles adjusting cell references. A table with a column full of formulas like =Table 1::A2, Table 1::A3, etc. is sortable in Numbers '09. In Numbers 3.0, though, a sort of that column does absolutely nothing.

Those are two examples. There are others I have had to work around. I don't know if there is anything in the old Checking Register template (other than that convoluted formulas that is no longer required) that wouldn't work in Numbers 3.0

Thanks for the clarification. I remember reading about the "table reference" difference. Don't see the advantage to changing that.

The changed sort behavior makes it possible to safely change that interesting but convoluted formula in the Checking register template:

=$F$1+SUM(OFFSET(F4,3−ROW(),−1,ROW()−2))

to a pedestrian:

=F3+E4

Progress, I suppose.

Except for the lack of support for OFX drag and drop, the Checking account template seems to work here.

SG

SG,

My thanks to Badunit for the careful reading of my post and the explanations.

It's unfortunate that more effort didn't go into the old Check Register template, or the new one. It's a very important template for home users of Numbers.

The V2 handling of Sorting made unwieldy running balance expressions necessary. Now that the adjustment of relative references is suspended during sort, the short balance expression you offer could have been used in V3, so it's odd that the running balance column was eliminated. This does prove the point that if you want Apple to change something, it may happen if you complain. There were numerous complaints that V2 adjusted references during sort, or rather decline to suspend adjustments during sort, as Excel does. The way relative cell reference expressions followed target cells in V2 could be a pain, but now we have a situation in V3 where there is no way that I know of to force V3 to behave as V2 did, so it's a feature lost.

The elimination of the simple whole table reference in INDEX seems just nuts, unless you consider Export compatibility. But, wouldn't it be better to modify the reference on export than to delete the feature for native users?

Jerry

Ian, You are my hero!😎 Karl

Hi Karl,

A blast from the past!

And that horrible formula works:

=$F$1+SUM(OFFSET(F3,3−ROW(),−1,ROW()−2))

(I don't know why because I don't understand it). Oh well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Regards,

Ian.

This link,

http://iworkcommunity.com/content?page=7

has a personal finance template on page 7. If you don't like it there are others in the

community you might try. If you don't like any of them you might at least get an idea of how to

set up your own template.

mswint

This is an old thread, but just in case, I found a good, simple template at: http://www.freeiworktemplates.com/2008/03/numbers-08-checkbook-register-template /

It's a iWork 09 template, but it works just fine in the latest version of Numbers.

Thanks, JosedD,

That template uses a simpler method than the "horrible" formula in the original Numbers '09 Checking Register.

It surpasses the Numbers 3 Personal Budget template by allowing debits.

Keep posting in this forum 🙂.

Regards,

Ian.