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I was trying to explain an issue with currency and VAT treatment on a website.
the final column was intended to show how the values were calculated, using FormulaText()
In G2, the FormulaText worked as expected. So I replicated it down. This resulted in a mess of non-sense formula output … different from that in G2, but the final result was consistent with G2.
How can I overcome this inconsistency in Apples code?
Thanks.
iPad Pro
Hi IHadaName,
Numbers 13.2 under macOS Ventura 13.3.1
I can't reproduce that problem here.
Formula in F2 and filled down is FORMULATEXT(F2).
For some reason it is inconsistently applying Numbers > Settings > General > Cell References > Use Header Names as Labels.
"Curiouser and curiouser." said Alice.
I'll leave it for other users to have a try.
Regards,
Ian.
You have the Numbers preference "Use header names as labels" turned on. Turn it off. Alternatively, make column A a regular column not a header column (Format sidebar, Table tab, set the number of header columns to 0). Personally I recommend turning off the labels.
The reason the first formula is using "C2" "D2" etc and the last is using "C6" "D6" etc. is because the labels need to be unique. Numbers uses the value from the header row (row 1) and the value from the header column (column A) to make the labels. In column A, the value in A2 is the same as that in A6. Therefore, the "label" for cell C2 would end up being the same as that for C6. Because they are not unique, it reverts back to using C2 and C6. Same with the other cells in those two rows.
The labels make more sense in some cases but they always make the formulas longer (sometimes so ridiculously longer it is hard to debug) and it makes it a lot harder to provide formula help here. I turned them off and never looked back, except when I have to turn them on temporarily to help someone.
I think you are not able to on the iOS version but maybe someone else may know differently. I apologize for suggesting it. This used to be a forum for the MacOS version of Numbers only. The iOS version had its own forum. Now they are combined and any advice that involves the user interface requires paying attention to the requester's signature to see which OS they are using (unless the screenshot or text gives it away). I didn't notice your "iPad Pro" signature.
Hi IHadaName,
This may throw some light (iPhone, but iPad is the same):
https://help.apple.com/numbers/iphone/5.0/#/tan727173a8 (Refer to cells in formulas).
Having a play with Numbers on my iPhone, I was able to refer to a whole column by typing either SUM(<label in Header>) or SUM(C)
In other words, by typing we can choose to use either header labels or row & column references in iOS. I don't know how to force row & column if we enter a formula some other way. How did you enter those formulas? By typing or by tapping cells?
Regards,
Ian.
Thank you. That sort of helps … like the table layouts allowing overlapping tables, or the lack of paste button when editing formulae, there are some design decisions that just seem confusing. In this case, using numbers as labels makes the resulting formulae unreadable. If Column A contained text, then sure, use it as cell labels … but numbers.
So the solution … make sure column A is not header column! (It is now working 😁)
Thank you again.
Thanks again.
I am trying to follow your advice but failing utterly to see where I can turn off using labels in formulas on an iPad.
Anybody know where to find the ‘do not use labels’ setting in iPadOS?
Thanks.
formulatext inconsistencies … how do I resolve them?
