Converting from Excel to Numbers

It was the same for me when I first tried Numbers. As you've discovered, it doesn't try to be an Excel clone.

My suggestions: Have a look at Help > Numbers Help. It explains some of the interface aspects that may be frustrating you.

Also have a look at the templates at File > New (then use Template Chooser).

One significant difference in the design compared to Excel is that Numbers is table-centric, not sheet-centric. Every cell is in a table, and tables are on the "canvas" of a sheet. Modern versions of Excel have tables too, of course, and using them is good practice. But many people don't use them; they aren't as easy to use as tables in Numbers. And instead of being on a canvas, in Excel tables are embedded into the grid of a sheet. The Numbers design thus encourages use of smaller, single-purpose tables rather than working in "one big grid." A look at the templates will help illustrate.

If you need precise printout of documents or if you work with large datasets or you need to collaborate frequently with Excel users then you won't be happy working exclusively in Numbers and will probably want Excel 2016 too. But once you get the hang of it, Numbers is great for personal projects and some business applications too.

SG

Gene,

Welcome to Mac OS X, Macintosh and these forums!

Numbers is NOT MS Excel. There are things that are different (not good or bad... just different). There are also common features.

Things that are the same:

a cell

a formula

a sheet

a document

Things that are different:

Tables (a finite number of cells grouped together as a single, namable, addressable, entity)

Numbers does not reference cells of table of a sheet in a different document

Numbers does not translate MS Excel macros

Terminology:

a file contains a document

a document contains sheets

a sheet contains a canvas on which you can place tables, graphics, text media

a table contains cells

cells contain numbers, date/time values, durations, text formulas

Without knowing the specifics of what you are trying to do it is difficult to provide comments regarding how to make what you-were-trying-to-do-that-you-didn't-share-in-this-post easier.

You can post screenshots (see this user tip: How to Post a screenshot to the Apple Discussion Forums)

Post back with specifics for specific assistance for your situation

MD_Gene wrote:

But, is there a simple way to edit an existing formula? To me, it seemed I had to click a number of times just to get in edit mode next to the digit I wanted to change.

The Formula Editor takes some getting used to! A double-click in a cell calls it up. It's not obvious, but you can resize it by dragging at the edges. When you want to reference, say, A1 in a particular table, is usually easier to just click on the cell (or whole column) rather than type A1 or A.

And be sure to take advantage of Header Rows, Header Columns, and Footer Rows in Numbers. They can make many things a little easier than in Excel.

SG

Hi Wayne,

I have assumed that a file and a document are the same. Do I have this wrong?

quinn

t quinn wrote:

I have assumed that a file and a document are the same. Do I have this wrong?

Hi quinn,

A "document" in Numbers is analogous to a "workbook" in Excel, also sometimes called a document there too.

I understand a Numbers document is not really contained in a "file"; it's contained in a "package." A package is a folder of files that appear in Finder as one item, thus appearing to the user to be one file.

So, if we were purists, we wouldn't be using the term "file" when we mean a "document." But we do anyway.🙂

SG

P.S. Contrary to what I've seen written here from time to time, an Excel Table is quite like a table in Numbers: nameable, addressable, etc. The difference is, you must use a table in Numbers and a table can easily be arranged anywhere on the canvas. In Excel tables are optional, and are tied to the underlying grid of cells in a sheet.

Quinn, SG,

as far as a document being contained in a file... strictly it is not but logically (and from the point of view of a user) it is. The package is a folder structure containing xml plists and media. The latest Numbers allows you to select whether the document is stored as a package or a file:

If you stored as a file, then Numbers zips the package. If you store as a package then Numbers creates a folder (that, in the Finder) appears to be a single file but is, in fact, a folder structure very similar to the contents of the zip file.

I think my description of a table as being different because it is namable, and addressable, missed the main distinction which is that a Table in Numbers is a finite collection of cells whereas a sheet in excel is a sea of cells.

Hi Wayne, SG,

I had forgotten the package aspect of a Numbers thing. I remember it being an issue when Dropbox was mishandling them. I quess I will have to stop equating document and file.

quinn

MD_Gene wrote:

" ...think my description of a table as being different because it is namable, and addressable, missed the main distinction which is that a Table in Numbers is a finite collection of cells whereas a sheet in excel is a sea of cells." to me this is very descriptive. Having been on Numbers for a few real hours now, your table description is right on.

Hi MD_Gene, Wayne, quinn,

Complicating the issue, though, is the fact that tables are very much alive and well in Excel. Though not mandatory as in Numbers, using them is good practice. An Excel Table, like a table in Numbers, is a finite but expandable, addressable collection of cells. The main difference is that an Excel Table lives "in the grid" of a sheet, whereas in Numbers a table floats on a canvas.

The real distinction, I suppose, is really at the sheet level, not at the table level. In Numbers a sheet is a vast canvas that does not itself have cells. In Excel a sheet is a vast grid that can have cells that are not in tables.

Thanks, Wayne, for the reminder on the two options we now have for saving documents. I confess to being vague on the precise definition of a "file" anyway; a collection of bits on "disk" organized in a certain way, perhaps... Anyway I think I know one when I see one (even though it may really be a package or zipped package).

SG