FORMATTING IN NUMBERS

Spreadsheets needn’t be dull. Get creative and make the figures pop

Be more creative with your spreadsheets

it will take

30 minutes

you will learn

How to use Numbers’ formatting controls to get sheets looking just the way you want

you’ll need

iOS 12 and Numbers

the way numbers thinks about a spreadsheet is a bit different from the likes of excel, and makes structuring it more like looking at page of paper. A blank document in Excel is an endless grid of cells into which you can type numbers, formulae and text labels; if you add charts or graphics, they float over the top, like interlopers.

In Numbers, cells only exist within tables. When you pick the Blank template, it starts you off with a table of an arbitrary size, titled ‘Table 1’. You can adapt that, or delete it and start from an empty page. The default table is sized to fit across A4, as you’ll see if you tap the three dots in the small toolbar at the top right of the screen for the More menu, then pick Print. The cogwheel at the top right then has further print settings, albeit minimal.

Cells versus text

Any content you want to add that uses spreadsheet functionality – references, formulae and so on – must be placed within a table cell. If you then want to title or label something but Numbers for iOS’ limited style and position settings make the built-in option unsatisfactory, you can create a table with just one cell, referencing the relevant data. If you just want to type some text, on the other hand, add a dedicated Text box from the Basics set in the shapes available on the third tab under the icon in the toolbar. This gives you more style options, accessed as always from the brush icon.

A nice touch: insert a graphic (in the same way as the text box in step 6), then under Style from the brush icon, reduce its Opacity before positioning it over the table as a watermark. From Arrange, choose Lock so you don’t move it while editing cells later.