When it comes to table software, it is customary to compare Numbers and Excel, but after using Numbers for some time, you will find that they belong to two different "species". Numbers is more like a traditional table, with tables, charts and text **** with the same to organize the content and layout, in the presentation of data at the same time to present to us a beautiful result. Excel belongs to the table-based data analysis software, full of "units" interface style highlights the importance of its data, in the data analysis means and a variety of professional functions also exceeds the Numbers a long way, but also by a lot of Numbers does not have the function, such as: OLE objects, macros, external data, pivot tables and so on.
Numbers has a lot of features that Numbers doesn't have.
Numbers strength lies in its ease of use and layout, if you are not an accountant, usually just want to use the form to carry out some statistics, calculations and screening, Numbers is enough. It is built-in nearly 30 templates is more like a guide to how to use the example, rather than style on the style. From the template classification and template naming we can trace the positioning of the use of Numbers, such as personal classification: calendar, schedule, running records, home decoration, travel plans, recipes; financial classification: personal budget, personal savings, loan comparison, mortgage calculator; business classification: employee schedules, invoices, breakeven analysis; education classification: attendance registration, gradebook, probability experiment. These tables describe what Numbers is about: producing reports and presentations for data presentation purposes, analyzing data based on the data on the page, and using it as a checklist and scheduling document.
Unlike Excel, which is a screen full of cells when you open it, Numbers tables are placed on a blank page as an object, and you can have multiple table objects on a single form, and in addition to the table you can easily insert pictures, text boxes, and charts. You can also drag and drop the size of the table.
Numbers is the "table that moves" and Excel is the "world in a grid". The first time you open Numbers you can click on the "Tips" icon on the toolbar, which will help you understand the features and layout of the software in the form of annotated tabs. Holding down the dot icon in the upper left corner moves the table around the page, and adding columns and rows is done in an intuitive button fashion.
More settings for rows and columns can be seen by clicking the expand triangle icon directly on the row or column. For example, in the row's function menu in the image, you can hide the table name, set a header row, hide rows, and add and remove rows. This pattern of interaction is also reflected in the rest of iWork, which is to provide interaction around elements as much as possible, along with the responsiveness of the settings panel on the right, to provide an intuitive and convenient experience for the user.
Each Numbers file can contain multiple forms, each of which is equivalent to a page, and each of which can contain multiple tables and other objects (charts, text boxes, images, media). Each form has its own distinct and unique name.
Data references between different tables will start with the name of the table, the same table cells will be calculated in rows and columns as coordinates, for example: Column B, row 3 is "B3", Column B, row 4 to row 6 is expressed as "B4: B6", "$B$2" meaning is the second row of Column B, and at the same time, check the "reserved rows" and "reserved columns". If it is in another table on the same page to quote the second line of column B will be displayed as "Form 1::$B$2", if it is a formula call in other forms will be "Worksheet 1::Form 1::$B$2", cell positioning is the use of double colons to separate the "form name, form name, cell", the range of the content of the use of a single colon to indicate.
Numbers table in the format and content is divided into the body of the region and the title area, select the name of the table to set the "title and end of the table" "table frame", select a specific cell or click on the upper-left corner of the dot to set the form of the "grid lines", "line color", and the cell's "data format", "borders", and "fill".
Gridlines are also set differently in Numbers than in Excel, where you can decide whether to show the gridlines (vertical and horizontal) in the body or header area by highlighting the five icons below the Gridlines in the Tables panel. However, you can't change the thickness, style, and color of the default gridlines in the table style. If you want to set different grid lines, you need to go to Cell Settings and select the cell or area you want to set the overriding "Border".
While Excel sets the gridlines by circling a portion of the cells, the table inserted in Numbers exists as a standalone object and already has gridlines by default. "The controls for gridlines in the Table panel apply to the current table.
All settings in Cells override the table style, including the fill and border, which means that the fill and border settings for a cell remain in effect even if you change the table style to another one after setting the cell's border. To clear the settings for the cell, you need to expand the "Fill" ① select "Default Form Style", and the same for the border cleanup, select the cell, expand the border settings ② select "Restore", the cleanup and restore operations will allow the table to return to the default style of the form style.
Numbers in the form of grid lines and fill are based on the form style, applying different styles can quickly change the style of the form, the cell fill and border settings are only as a supplement to the settings.
Cells for individual cell fill or border settings will not be applied to the form style template, if you want to apply the border or fill changes to the "form style", in the selection of cells must by region, respectively, to select the entire body or header , and then adjust the fill, border thickness, line and color, ① set the border or fill, ① set the border or fill, ① set the border or fill, ① set the border or fill, ① set the border or fill, ① set the border or fill, ① set the border or fill, ① set the border or fill, ① set the border or fill. Finally, right-click on the table style ② "Redefine the style of the selected part", the modified style will be applied ③ to the table style.
Numbers template "checklist" demonstrates a practical use of the table, used to list matters, the first column of cells are check boxes can be checked, this and the traditional numbers, text, dates are not the same as the data format is very convenient in some occasions, and other special data formats are: star rating, slider, stepper, pop-up menus, time classification, and a special "duration" in the classification. There is also a "Duration" special type, which can be set to indicate the duration by week, day, or hour, and can be selected either individually or in multiples.
Use scenarios, checkboxes can be used to do shopping or planning lists, recipes, personnel roll call and other types of forms; star ratings because it is also easy to slide to change the star rating can be used in the software, songs or works of the label; slider and stepper specific settings include the maximum value and incremental value, in the record of the value of the growth of the change is more convenient than the input; pop-up menu in the sub-items can be Add their own, used to deal with form-filling type of form is very convenient, for example: the list of people in the gender, region, medical insurance hospitals and other items can be used to improve the efficiency of the pop-up menu.
The custom data format can be customized to represent date and time. In addition, the data format also provides a rule-setting mode for numeric types, for example, when displaying file sizes, you can add a rule to add a KB suffix to values less than 1000, and a MB suffix to values greater than 1000. (Here just use the rules of the data format to make an approximate judgment, can not accurately calculate the size)
Excel point by cell drag the lower right corner of the cell can be copied or sequentially filled to obtain the number of numbers, Numbers in the selection of one or more cells, will display a yellow control point, drag the yellow point can be directly to the content of the copy, so if the operation by Excel's operating inertia to select a cell, and then drag the control point will be found to get just copy the results, can not get the sequential numbering.Numbers logic to copy the sequential numbering you need to select two cells (so that the software understands that you want to be the order of growth, and incremental increase is also clear), and then drag the control point to get the results of the sequential filling, this way you can get "1, 2, 3, 4.... , 2, 3, 4 ..." You can also get "1, 3, 5, 7...". The exact order you want depends on the values you have filled in the cells.
The freezing of the header rows and columns, Numbers default table style has been set up to freeze the header rows and columns, which can be seen through the illustration of the table style, the header rows and header columns in the illustration of the use of darker areas of the body columns are different. That is, you insert the table according to the table style after the freeze has been set, you can select the row or column click on the small triangle on it to modify.
The benefit of frozen rows or columns is that the frozen rows or columns stay put when the table content extends beyond the page, or when you scroll through the page content. If the current page contains more than one table, there are separate settings for frozen rows or columns. Each table's settings are independent, with frozen columns, styles, color fills, and so on.
The above mentioned is mainly a difference in experience and habits. From the point of view of table arithmetic, the real difference is in the support for various functions, which is the gap between the average player and the pros. Specific function differences can be found in the Numbers and Excel compatibility lists on Apple's website.
Although Numbers simplifies a lot of the less common functions for professional calculations, most people actually have very little opportunity to use them, and the balance between ease of use and professionalism depends on your usual work environment and document exchange. For me, both I am using, in the Windows virtual machine to deal with the company and the exchange of Excel files, their own in the analysis and production of reports to complete the document with Numbers, because both seem to be a form of processing, in fact, it is really not the same, rather than choosing to have both.