how to cause negative numbers in a chart to show in a different color

Jeff's tone may be off. But I must confess I'm highly sympathetic to his predicament. Indeed, having the same one led me to this thread. I use Numbers for business data, calculations and forecasting. When you're charting profit and loss for a business it's elemental to be able to readily distinguish one from the other. Yes, profits show above the 0 axis and losses below. But distinguishing them by color is very helpful - particularly if the numbers tend to cluster around breakeven. It seems like this just isn't a native function in Numbers. And that seems odd to me because businesses are major users of spreadsheet programs. So that's my use case - needing to more readily distinguish positive and negative numbers when showing profit and loss. If anyone can help on this, I'd be greatful.

This forum is answered by fellow users. Complaining here does nothing. We have proposed solutions and they have been rejected for one reason or another. You can post feedback to Apple directly by using the Numbers menu item "Numbers > Provide Numbers Feedback"

I really don't think I was complaining at all. I was trying to see whether there was a function that directly accomplished this and I expressed surprise that Apple hasn't created such a function. I appreciate everyone's responses and input.

I have not because from what I can tell it makes the spreadsheet and the chart more complicated than the benefit of the color change, if that makes sense. (I should note that I need to present these charts to other people - so if the formatting or spacing between the bars is inconsistent that's a problem.) And no, I have no done it in the past. But I have long wondered why there's no way to do it since, as you noted above, the functionality exists for the spreadsheets, just not the charts. I'm certainly not complaining about it to anyone in this thread: I appreciate the information and clarification.

tpmer wrote:

I have not because from what I can tell it makes the spreadsheet and the chart more complicated than the benefit of the color change, if that makes sense. (I should note that I need to present these charts to other people - so if the formatting or spacing between the bars is inconsistent that's a problem.) And no, I have no done it in the past. But I have long wondered why there's no way to do it

Curious why you haven't actual tried the solutions suggested to see if they really are as complicated as you imagine and if they somehow result in "inconsistent" spacing that you can't present to other people. If you haven't tried, maybe it's premature to conclude "there is no way to do it."🙂 Just a thought.

SG

I have never seen any charting tool that allowed the same series to change color. Since you have never done this in another tool I am curious why you expect that since a spreadsheet can conditionally format cells that a chart should do the same.

Personally I do not think the solution is onerous and am surprised at the resistance to using the solutions from others (especially considering some solutions we have proposed for other problems).

you can post feedback to Apple using the menu item "Numbers > Provide Numbers Feedback"

Good luck. and all the best.

tpmer wrote:

You misunderstood me.

Perhaps everyone here understands you. You don't seem to want to try the solutions presented, you haven't provided a solution of your own, yet you want fellow users here to take time to try to "understand" some inchoate feeling you have about some shortcoming you see in Numbers. There doesn't seem to be much that can be offered here to help you. Best of luck in developing your spreadsheet skills.

SG

Umm, no. I wrote that I had not done this before in Numbers and the reply took that to mean that I had never found a software package that has this function. That is not the case - a simple, factual misunderstanding, not some general desire to be 'heard' or 'understood'. Every subculture has its pain points and peculiarities certainly. I came here simply to see if a program function existed which i could not find on my own. It doesn't. In addition I have also discovered that the folks who hang out in the Numbers user forum react to even the mildest criticism of the Apple spreadsheet application with the same sense of hurt and quivering lip most associate with an adolescent fan who discovers not everyone loves his favorite bad quite as much as he does. People, please get a grip. As for me, I have to head back to planet earth to finish my spreadsheet presentation.

tpmer wrote:

I came here simply to see if a program function existed which i could not find on my own. It doesn't. In addition I have also discovered that the folks who hang out in the Numbers user forum react to even the mildest criticism of the Apple spreadsheet application with the same sense of hurt and quivering lip most associate with an adolescent fan who discovers not everyone loves his favorite bad quite as much as he does.

Don't think you'll find fanboys here. You will find people who use Numbers (as well as other apps; for example, I'm a big fan of Excel) and people who like providing solutions for other people who come here actually looking for solutions and are willing to roll up their sleeves and try to implement one.

Speaking of solutions, as Ian asks, have you tried Wayne's approach yet?

SG

This works well and avoids the problem which the previous solution had of the two series being half-width and differently aligned when plotted. As the answer says, this works for a single series of data. I wanted this type of plot for one series and a line graph for another series. I did this by plotting the line graph and bar chart separately but using the same scaling for the axes and overlaying the two graphs. A bit fiddly but looks great. Maybe could achieve in Excel but I much prefer the look of Numbers charts.

Hi tpmer,

I came here simply to see if a program function existed which i could not find on my own. It doesn't.

Did you try Wayne's solution?

Regards,

Ian.

OK. Let me know when you find that way. I love learning new things.

Hi Jeff,

I will paraphrase Wayne here.

"You should use the tool that suits your needs"

quinn