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Level 2

159 points

No automatic date?

I want a cell to show today's date whenever I modify any cell on the spreadsheet. Can't Numbers 3.1 do that? Help is no help. Thanks

Posted on Feb 24, 2014 2:48 PM

Best reply

Barry

Level 9

59,867 points

Posted on Feb 24, 2014 10:17 PM

Hi Dr. Dave,

=TODAY() will return the current date whenever the table is recalculated.

Any recalculation the next day will change the value in that cell.

If you want a stable date in the cell, use Insert (menu)> Date and Time. Despite the name, the initial use inserts the current date, with the time part of that Date and Time value set to 00:00:00. Although there is no keyboard shortcut assigned to this menu item, you should be able to define one, as the item is at top level in the Insert menu (ie. not in a sub-menu).

The insertion can also be done with an AppleScript, using a menu choice, or a Service, using either a menu choice of a keyboard shortcut. Either of these should give you more control over what is entered. SGIII may post with more details on that path.

Regards,

Barry

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16 replies

Feb 27, 2014 5:25 PM in response to Barry

You're right Barry. You do get one chance in a Table cell to manually set the token to a Date and Time and Format. I should have made it clear that my observations were based on what happens after you move the focus off the table cell; after that you're done updating. That's the difference I see between the date and time in a cell and in a text block. I don't consider this a bug at all, in fact it's a perfect complement to the NOW and TODAY functions.

Jerry

No automatic date?