In Numbers Mac version 13.2 how to get cells to go in numerical order?

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Level 1

36 points

In Numbers Mac version 13.2 how to get cells to go in numerical order?

I have a column that I want to go down in the order ie. 1, 2, 3, 4 etc.

Im ignoring the first 3 cells in the column, so when I select the 2 cells (as selected with the numbers 1 and 2) in that column and select the yellow autofill button to drag it down, it copies the numbers not autofilling it as 1, 2, 3, 4. I am missing something here but can't figure it out.

Please help. I know there was previous posts about this but I tried them and it didn't work for some reason or Im just clueless.

One thing I did notice that when I looked at the bottom left of the screen in Numbers the Sum section would be on 0 whereas if it worked the sum would show the total?

Thank you.

Posted on Sep 15, 2024 3:17 AM

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Answer 1

SGIII

Level 8

36,134 points

Sep 15, 2024 5:25 AM in response to clairemissy

Try selecting the cells and changing the Data Format (a dropdown under the Cell tab in the right panel) to Number or Automatic.

See how the values in the cell are currently left-aligned? That typically means the Data Format has been set to Text, which is not what you want in this case.

SG

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Answer 2

SGIII

Level 8

36,134 points

Sep 17, 2024 7:38 AM in response to clairemissy

When you copy-paste you are not just copying the values but also the formats.

You could try copy, select other cells that you have formatted as Number, and then Edit > Paste and Match Style. This will paste the value but not the original formatting.

Or, instead of copying and pasting you could simply try creating a new table and entering the values again.

Does that work?

SG

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Answer 3

SGIII

Level 8

36,134 points

Sep 17, 2024 9:24 AM in response to clairemissy

clairemissy wrote:

So I selected the column and made sure that the cell tab was showing the Number option and selected 2 cells, (1 and 2) add new rows,

Maybe this is part of the problem? First select the cells and then change the Data Format. Always make the selection first and then perform the action.

Not sure what your goal is with the column that contains numbers and then names of jpg files. In general you will find it more efficient to keep like data in a column, rather than a mixture of different-looking data.

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Answer 4

clairemissy Author

Level 1

36 points

Sep 17, 2024 8:51 AM in response to SGIII

The copy and paste and match style didn't work either and inputting values into a new table would have been really tedious considering its a large table with loads of values.

I think I found what was causing the problem all along. Maybe? After your explanation about how the cell tab worked, I experimented a bit.

I realised then that when the column was selected, it was showing multiple. So I selected the column and made sure that the cell tab was showing the Number option and selected 2 cells, (1 and 2) add new rows, and were able to drag it and get the outcome I wanted. But I experimented again and strangely both Text and Automatic in the cell tab also worked for what I wanted. Maybe when it shows multiple I run into problems? I don't know. So weird.

But I then had another issue in that same column, with cells that had text beside a number. I also wanted them to go in numerical order. (Example shown) so what I did was remove the .JPG in the selected cells and everything worked. It's a pain to have to add the .JPG manually afterwards, but I have a better understanding at this moment of how the cells/tables work so hopefully things will go much faster for me now!

I hope im making sense!

Thank you!

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Answer 5

clairemissy Author

Level 1

36 points

Sep 17, 2024 7:29 AM in response to SGIII

Thanks for your help, I tried what you suggested but I had no luck. When I selected automatic, the numbers looked like I had copied and pasted the selected cells into new cells like 1, 2, 1, 2 repetitively and even if I selected Number from the cell tab it kept reverting back to Automatic and same thing happens? I even tried changing the selected column to Number from the cell tab it didn't work.

Any other suggestions?

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