HT202879: About the new iWork for Mac: Features and compatibility

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kcmilne1
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: How do I adjust the margins in Numbers 3.1?

I have looked everwhere, but cannot for the life of me figure out how to adjust the margins in the new Numbers 3.1!  I finally figured out how to do it in Pages using the inspector, but don't see the same options in numbers.  I'm trying to re-create an existing form.  When I select a font size slightly larger in order to have the text and cells appear big enough for writing on a printed sheet, when I go to print it, it spills over to the right and below.  However, if I could adjust the top and bottom margins smaller, I would have enough room to accommodate the whole spreadsheet on one page and have it look correct when printed.  Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks. 

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 3, 2014 8:14 AM

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kcmilne1

Q: How do I adjust the margins in Numbers 3.1?

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  • by SGIII,

    SGIII SGIII Mar 3, 2014 8:47 AM in response to kcmilne1
    Level 6 (10,710 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 3, 2014 8:47 AM in response to kcmilne1

    If you still have Numbers 2.3 there is a way to have custom margins in Numbers 3.1.  See Shawn L and Ian's posts in the workarounds thread.

     

     

    SG

  • by kcmilne1,

    kcmilne1 kcmilne1 Mar 3, 2014 9:11 AM in response to SGIII
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2014 9:11 AM in response to SGIII

    Unfortunately, I don't.  This is a new Mac and my first version of numbers is the latest.  So, you're essentially saying that Apple did away with this feature?  WHY would they do such a thing?  It makes no sense whatsoever! That is a basic feature is MS Word and Open and Libre office products.  Strange and frustrating.  I have been revelling in going all Apple, but now with this limitation . . .

     

    Thank you anyway for taking the time to respond.

     

    K

  • by SGIII,

    SGIII SGIII Mar 3, 2014 9:16 AM in response to kcmilne1
    Level 6 (10,710 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 3, 2014 9:16 AM in response to kcmilne1

    Hi K,

     

    My guess it's a temporary absence and is one of the many features we hope will be added back in over time.

     

    Static printing is definitely not a strong suit for Numbers 3.  It's more about sharing, collaboration, cross-platform syncing, and dynamic display on different devices. There have been big advances those areas

     

    But we do need somethng as basic as being able to set the margins.

     

    SG

  • by kcmilne1,

    kcmilne1 kcmilne1 Mar 3, 2014 10:00 AM in response to SGIII
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2014 10:00 AM in response to SGIII

    I certainly hope so!  After all, this is a spreadsheet that is already finished for use on the iMac, but I also need to be able to print the sheet out for co-workers to use with pencil and pen for recording data while doing tests in real time in a lab.  Unfortunately, due to this omission, the sheet comes out too small to be of any real use, completely negating all of my efforts for its manual, non-computer input use.  Thus my frustration.  Such a simple feature. I'm REALLY surprised that it was not coded in.  All the effort to make a mobile numbers version, but no margin control for a spreadsheet on the very device that is a pleasure to use in making one, a new iMac! 

     

    Thanks for the info.

     

    K

  • by SGIII,

    SGIII SGIII Mar 3, 2014 10:38 AM in response to kcmilne1
    Level 6 (10,710 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 3, 2014 10:38 AM in response to kcmilne1

    Clunky, but maybe this will get the job done for you for now: Print the document as PDF.  Open PDF in Preview and use the cropping tool to crop out the white space.

     

    I think the idea is not to just have a mobile version, to be used by itself; as you say it's more enjoyable, certainly, to create a spreadsheet on a Mac than on a small screen. But the idea, rather, is probably to have Numbers available as a tool that can be used on whatever device one has handy at the moment. That has some important productivity implications: data entry in the field that syncs back to the Mac, presentations prepared on the Mac that can be displayed to clients on a tablet (or on the web), etc.

     

    SG