How to edit Numbers templates?

Question

Level 1

9 points

How to edit Numbers templates?

Hey there

I'm keen to start 2017 with a decent budget. I've tried various apps, but think a Numbers spreadsheet stored in iCloud for ease of access from Mac/iPhone is best.

There's a great template in Numbers Mac, but is it possible to edit things like the pre-defined Categories in the drop down menus to better reflect my needs? I've attached an image of what I'd like to be able to edit if possible.

Any help gratefully received.

Thanks

Adam

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Jan 5, 2017 8:00 AM

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Answer 1

Barry

Level 9

60,464 points

Jan 17, 2017 1:25 PM in response to mac98aop

HI Adam,

That was quick! Congratulations!

Two notes to add:

You can make a pop-up menu cell by entering the list of items in the order you want them in the cells of a column in a Numbers Table.

After entering the list, select all of the cells containing items, then open the Cell Format Inspector pane and set the data format of these cells to Pop-up menu.

Choose whether to start with the first value or with a blank cell.

Each of the selected cells is now a pop-up menu.

If you want only one, select the others, change the data format setting to Text, then press delete to delete the content of the selected cells.

If you want the same pop-up menu at other locations in your table, click once on the existing pop-up cell, Copy. Select the cell(s) where you want the copy to be placed, Paste.

The Categories on the pop-up menu are also used in the Summary table. The category names used in this table must exactly match the names on the pop-up menu for the formulas in the table to work.

Regards,

Barry

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Answer 2

mac98aop Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 17, 2017 1:29 PM in response to Barry

Hi Barry

Thanks for such a helpful answer. I've been busy tinkering, but fear I'm not getting very far. Your pop - up menu answer is a huge help, but here's where I'm coming unstuck....

I've ignored the template and am keen to set up a simple Income/Expenditure spreadsheet. Presumed a separate sheet for each month would be best. Having entered data for January so far, I'm just now wondering how to best set things up for my tax return, ie, when they ask, how much income for Child Benefit, or how much spent on utilities, it'd be brilliant to be able to simply see a summary or filter/sort the data.

Perhaps I could set up a Summary Coversheet with formulas that pulls all this across for each category of the Pop Up Menu?

Any tips on how I might learn how to do this?!

Thanks again. I know there's software I can buy, but I'd prefer something a little more future proof (the developer either stops the App or I get left behind with the OS they support!)

Thanks so much for any further light you can shed,

Adam

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Answer 3

SGIII

Level 8

38,138 points

Jan 18, 2017 8:28 AM in response to mac98aop

mac98aop wrote:

Presumed a separate sheet for each month would be best.

Hi Adam,

Bad idea! You'll be happier in the end if you keep your data in one table and use filters or SUMIF, SUMIFS to extract summaries, just as the Personal Budget template does.

It's much easier that way than trying to consolidate summaries from a bunch of different tables.

SG

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Answer 4

mac98aop Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 18, 2017 8:36 AM in response to SGIII

Thanks SG.

Most helpful.

The thing with the Personal Finance Budget Template, is it's quite... complicated! I essentially want to import my monthly bank statements in to a spreadsheet, with all entries tagged or noted so I know what they were and then a simple way of filtering/searching/sorting to see, for example - how much I spend on groceries, petrol.. between two dates/last month/on average/each year.

Any tips?!

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Answer 5

mac98aop Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 5, 2017 8:03 AM in response to mac98aop

I think I've solved this! Seems like Inspector>Cell>Data Format gives me what I need!

Thanks Apple!

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