How Do I Fill Cells with One Click?

As far as I can tell you may have to live with two clicks. (I use both Excel and Numbers and it really doesn't seem that much more trouble in Numbers to set the text or background color of cells).

SG

I would gladly settle for being able to set a keyboard shortcut for individual color fills...

That's possible with an AppleScript in an Automator Service to which you assign a keyboard shortcut. The problem is I don't think it's so easy to have a color picker that way. The easiest way (from a scripting point of view) would be to have a pre-coded color (or handful of colors from which you choose). But that might not suit your needs.

SG

Once you set the color of the cell, select the cell, copy, then select the other cells you want to have the same color, paste.

you can select contiguous cells by clicking the first cell, then shift click the last cell.

you can select non-contiguous cells by holding the command key while clicking

Further to Wayne's idea, I've found these helpful:

I customized the toolbar to include these. Close keyboard equivalents are command-c to copy and opton-shift-command-v to Paste and Match Style.

This is all similar to Excel's format "painter."

SG

Hi Ponta,

How can I set up or use Numbers so that when I want to change the fill color of a cell, I can just click once and not have to go through a whole sequence?

I don't see a way to add a colour fill with one click. The Mac way is to select something (point and click):

"Hey, You!"

and then give it an order:

"Do this!"

Numbers 3.2 retains the glorious Colour Window of Numbers 2. Menu > View > Show (or Hide) Colors (shift command c)

Select the cell(s) where you want a backgound fill:

Now drag a colour (for example, Honeydew from the Crayons Palette) to one of the selected cells:

Edit:

is there a way to set up a dozen or so of my favorite colors somewhere so I can select a cell then just click the one I want?

Yes. Salmon dragged from the Crayons Palette to a Custom Palette at the bottom:

Still there after I Quit Numbers without Saving 🙂. Drag from the Custom Palette to selected cells:

Regards,

Ian.

Message was edited by: Yellowbox. Custom Palette.

Hi Ian,

Fantastic user tip. I always wondered how to use those little squares down at the bottom, which for me were always blank. And I never knew about shift-command-c.

With Excel you select the cells and click once eitther the Fill Color or the Text Color icon in the ribbon:

In Numbers with the palette is open I now realize (after reading your post) that you can just drag and drop a background color where you want (without having to first select the cells). Very nice.

Drag and drop seems only to apply to background color. For font color it seems that in Numbers you have to select the cell first and then click the color. In any case, with the palette open, it's one click, very similar to Excel, with the advantage over Excel that there is quck access to an easily constructed custom palette of colors if wanted (Excel gives quck access to "Theme Colors" that don't seem that easy to customize).

SG