How to Use Excel Spreadsheet as Numbers Template

johnfromplattsmouth wrote:

I know that my Mac can read the Excel spreadsheet, but have no idea how to turn it into Numbers.

Have you tried launching Numbers, choosing File > Open and navigating to the .xls or .xlsx document to open it? Depending on the formulas used, that is successful with many Excel documents.

it is an expense tracking spreadsheet. If there are good pre-made apps that would do that, would like to get pointed to them, too.

In Numbers go to File > New in your menu and choose the 'Personal Budget' template. It is good at tracking expenses and also is a good example of how to put Numbers to work.

Numbers has its own table-centric style and it's best not to just think of it as an Excel clone. Excel 2016 for the Mac, by the way, is excellent too and would be a good choice if you were working with large datasets. For personal projects I think you'll find Numbers has its charms and will make some things easier than what you may have been doing in Excel.

SG

Another option that you may want to investigate is LibreOffice. It is more like Excel than Numbers and it is free. https://www.libreoffice.org/

Should add that if the 'Personal Budget' Numbers template doesn't fit your expense tracking needs (it's pretty nice, sleeker than most Excel templates I've seen, and a lot of people here can explain how to customize it with your own categories, etc.) and if you really like the Excel template you found, then my advice would be to go with Excel. It's reasonably priced these days and constantly updated so you don't have to depend on volunteer availability in an open source project to plug security holes or smooth out rough edges in the interface. Also both Numbers and Excel work great on iOS mobile devices, with easy syncing to/from your Mac.

SG

Hi John,

Numbers does not have the Excel freeze pane feature, but hope I can get Numbers to do something halfway similar.

Going "halfway" you can set some rows and columns as Header Rows and Header Columns in a table

You can have up to 5 Header Rows or Header Columns in a table, then you can "Freeze" them

Be aware that Numbers slows down with multiple Header Rows, Header Columns and Footer Rows in a table.

Please reply with your overall aim. The what, not the how 😉.

Regards,

Ian.

johnfromplattsmouth wrote:

Across the top I have dates from 1 to 31 (or 30), and down the side I have expense categories and subcategories. I would like to be able to see the date at the top (so I get the right date) and go about 30 rows down to gasoline and see that I am on gasoline ( as oppose to car insurance, etc.).

You mean something like this?

That's how Numbers tables work by default when you've defined a Header Row and a Header Column. You don't have to go to the menu to Freeze Panes the way you do in Excel. Unlike Excel, tables are central to the Numbers design (Excel has tables too, but they're harder to use).

I do urge you to have a look at the 'Personal Budget' template at File > New. Working with a 30-column table is, I think, probably doing things the hard way.

SG