How can I open the color wheel in numbers

Hi Glenn.

The wheel (and other colour controls) are part of the Colors palette. Here's one way to get there:

1. Click on the cell you want to fill to select it and make the table active.
2. Click the Format brush.
3. Select Cell.
   The cell section of the Format Inspector will display in the right side panel.
4. Use the pop-up menu to select "Color Fill"
5. Immediately below the menu you'll see a colour well, with a tab containing the Color Wheel icon.
   Click the icon to open the Colors palette. (This is a floating palette, so its location will not likely match that in the image above. Drag it to a convenient location. It may also look different from the image.)
6. Click the wheel button in the set at the top of the palette.
   The palette will change to resemble the image above.

Note the small boxes at the bottom of the palette. You can store colours here to make a custom palette.

Explore the other buttons at the top of the palette for other colour selection tools.

Regards,

Barry

Hi Glenn,

Another way. Menu > View > Show Colors (shift command c) to show the Colour (English spelling) color (USA spelling) window. That window "floats" above your document and you can drag it to a new position for ease of use.

Drag a colour to a table cell (even if that cell is not selected):

Or select some cells and then drag a colour

The shortcut (shift command c) toggles the colour window on and off

Tested in Numbers 2.3 (Numbers '09) and Numbers 5.2 both under macOS 10.13.6 High Sierra.

Regards,

Ian.