Numbers Reviews

I love Numbers! My primary uses are for a monthly budget and a daily complex TV schedule (2 households, multiple recordings, 4 DVRs+). I would love to see the following three features added: (1) the ability to click/tap on an image (or just several merged cells containing text) and pop-up a larger version of the image/merged cells**. (2) the ability to use multiple merged cells to hand write notes using the Apple Pencil (varying nib sizes, move the merged notes around and/or cut/delete like any other cell or merged cells). (3) the ability to insert a moveable and removable window (either set or expandable size, like 4 cells wide and high to 6 cells, or more, wide and high) that would accept animated GIFs and/or video clips. Features 1 and 2 are features I could use immediately. UPDATE: Feature request 3 was added in the latest update. I have a new feature request... the ability to see the history of shared access, like number of visits and date of at least the most-recent visit.

**This would really help my friend (with poor near-vision) read the individual blocks of information on the TV schedule.

I thought it was just me not understanding how to enter dates and durations as easily as I did in previous versions. But I'm not the only one who's frustrated and bewildered that Apple did away with the data entry keyboards based on cell format type. It used to be incredibly easy, and fun to use. Now it's not worth my time. Enter dates using querty keyboard instead of just tapping?! Forget it. I still can't figure out how to enter durations. After struggling to use the Help guide, I finally see how to format the cells to take the data, I just can't actually enter the data in an easy, quick manner. And the input forms don't match all the columns in the table, mysteriously skipping over columns formatted with pop up menus. They show up, but are skipped when hitting return, so I can't enter data unless I go back and click on that particular field, out of order. The pop up selections are indeed there, I just don't know why it doesn't cycle through. yeah, this isn't working for me. Apple loves to tinker and ruin things. Do they have that much time on their hands? Cuz I don't, so I won't be using this.

UPDATE: Just noticed that Microsoft Excel for iPad has a toggle switch in the iPad app settings to turn the Apple Pencil always draw feature off. Come on Apple, please up your game. I like to brag about how much better you are than Microsoft, yet they are clearly beating you on this one (and with your own Pencil feature at that). Downgrading my 3 star rating to a 1 star rating until you fix his issue. Please do so quickly.

ORIGINAL: For the most part, I love this app. I use it daily. It has worked great for my purposes. But with the last update, they added the ability to draw on the spreadsheet with Apple Pencil. Nice feature but there is no ability to turn it off and use the pencil as I have been (to click and highlight/drag cells, etc.)
Now everytime the tip of my pencil touches the sheet it draws a line. I hate that. With my iPad Pro, the pencil gave me the reach to get cells in the middle of the screen without slowing me down. Please add a toggle switch to switch between draw mode and the old functionality and I will be back to 5 stars.
I used pencil the most with this app and now I can’t use it at all.

I am trying to convert to Apple from PC. I think it’s a good app that I would love to be able to use, but this bug is breaking my resolve.

I do a lot of spreadsheet work. I need constant access for updating my spreadsheets and I can’t use Numbers this app on my iPhone without extreme frustration. Every time I freeze the headers, as soon as I put my cursor in a cell where I want to enter a formula “this cell = another cell,” the HEADERS UNFREEZE. I can’t get my headers to stay frozen. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to have to count column this app and row this app every single time I want to enter a formula in a specific spot BECAUSE MY HEADERS UNFREEZE. I can’t tell you how often I HAVE TO SET FROZEN HEADERS because THEY DISAPPEAR EVERY TIME I SET THEM.

I have complained online about this to Apple multiple times with no result. I am now complaining here. I have been pushed to zero patience with this bug. Fix it! If the ability to set and maintain frozen headers is available and I just haven’t figured out how to make that happen, for heaven’s sake let me know.

This new version appears to not be working for most people. The solution I found is to uninstall, hard reboot and the. reinstall Numbers . All of your files should be saving to you Icloud, but you may want to verify before you delete Numbers . Mine were and all of my files were available when I went through these steps. I tried several other things like just re-downloading the software, but the hard reset was required for me to use my existing files and/or create new ones.

I don’t use Numbers much therefore giving it a neutral rating in the middle. My rating doesn’t have anything to do with the actual functionality as Numbers is basic enough for me to see excel files using my phone.

I have used Numbers for years with my job as a baseball scout. I have designed 10 different templates for my needs and they have all been so easy to put together. With the updates sometimes it takes me a minute to think along with Numbers designers to be able to execute what I need, but every time it works out well. The updates, over the years, have been helpful. Really appreciate being able to use the apple pencil. Good luck!

To the designers of Numbers, I do have some constructive requests for the next time you guys are looking to tweak this. It would be helpful, if it is possible, to be able to automatically save the apple pencil work instead of having to touch the screen elsewhere to get rid of the adjustment boxes everywhere. Thanks.

I’m happy to update, and say that the Apple Pencil works again as a fine selection tool, the “mouse” of the iPad, with just a flip of a switch in the Settings app. Thank you to the development team for listening and adapting!

If you’re looking for an office suite that meets the majority of content creation needs, and aren’t locked into MS Office for one reason or another, then you can’t do better than the free, Apple iWork suite. It does what it is designed to do, and does it well.

While MS Office is utilitarian at its core, iWork’s design embraces creativity and presentation at every level. It is much easier to create something that looks good in iWork than it is in Office. I’ve created simple advertisements in Pages on my iPad Pro, and sent them straight to the printer.

On the flip side, some feature omissions limit iWork from being a five-star product. Most, you’ll likely never run into, as they’re useful to a small group of users. Others, though, like this app not having a hide/unhide key command, just don’t make sense.

Ultimately, I recommend you give iWork a try, if you haven’t already. It’s free, so there’s nothing to lose, and you may well find you like it better for your uses than some of the paid alternatives.

This Spreadsheet in iPad format is very easy to use for simple spreadsheets... interactive format is simple, easy to use, without the intense formula & formatting issues of the more high Power Spreadsheet of the Mac. I like it better than the Mac Format for my “Household & Recreational” Spreadsheets.

Only negative that is a bit frustrating is the “editing” within a cell functionality ... it is a bit erratic when selecting text or insertion points within a cell. Sometimes requires selecting the Keyboard icon @ the lower right on the screen, other times insertion point directly “clicks in” where positioned similar to the way it works on the Mac & in the Pages App. When working with the Spreadsheet, I have not found a reason for this “2 options” issue for cell editing. Rating loses one Star for this issue.

It’s amazing how robust Numbers is, given that it works on a phone. The recent updates are nice; the text options are pretty, and I appreciate how a couple of months ago Apple fixed a glitch I was experiencing where the contents of my pop up menus would get deleted any time I edited them.

There are two functions I very regularly miss in this app compared to options I get with Excel: a function like MINIF or MINIFS, and the ability to make conditional formatting work based on a formula rather than just Apple’s predetermined options. The lack of a formula option also prevents the ability to format a cell based on the contents of another cell.

Bonus points if there could be an option that let me hide non-editable fields in a form.

As the huge glitch that had greyed out my work and made lots of work lost, the latest ios update corrected it. I will overlook that I had to catch up with 40 checkbook entries but glad it wasn’t more than that. Pages and this app were effected by whatever had caused it. Fixing the issue of the ipad rebooting and as well semi-waking up with no help, that ios update fixed what went wrong with these issues. I was so hoping it would be fixed and had it not with an update of this app I was going to delete this app and never use again. But the ios update did work. The news said to not allow any notifications to be on before doing the update. And I did do that. Thanks for fixing the issue.

I need a lightweight spreadsheet program for calculations that calculator cannot handle. It does the job, with some annoyances. It is very easy to wreck a spreadsheet. I would give it 3-4 stars, because there is room for improvement.

However, I hate the general this app paradigm shift. I mean the input modes, having to switch between this app, text, formulas, and functions. I just want to type the formula in the cell, but I could not figure out how to do it. It takes my input as text regardless of what I do. Also, I have to double click in order to see the formula in the formula bar. The formula is also a mix of the said modes. Not a plain text formula. I cannot simply copy it and paste it somewhere else. All this is very weird and inefficient. That was almost a non-starter for me. However, because the spreadsheets I create are relatively small, the paradigm shift does not affect me too much.

I tried many times to have columns add up to one Total cell. It would not add more than one row. I figured out a work around and had to sum up each row and then sum up that column. Numbers looks really nice though.

Also, the iCloud folder icon is gone and won’t come back, even after uninstalling. Apple support tried to walk me through it. The this app folder only creates an app/system folder on my phone and not in iCloud. The folder doesn’t even get re created. I deleted it many years ago and it won’t get re created. I can create it manually, but it doesn’t have the icon like Pages, Keynote, and other apps.

I am new to the world of Apple specific software, such as “Pages”, “this app”, and such. But, after deciding that Microsoft office was no longer a yearly expense we needed, we tried it all out. While some of the features were unfamiliar and seemed odd to an excel user, they quickly became user friendly and very simple. The biggest satisfaction that could be had from especially the “this app” app, is the ease of collaboration! That alone is worth the switch to Apple’s productivity software! Even after whatever update people are complaining about, this spreadsheet application is an amazing replacement for that other stuff. Thank you so much for your efforts!

This is a pretty good substitute for Excel or Neo office. But the ultra thin scroll handles at the bottom and side for moving the spreadsheet around are infuriating and un-useable. I have some pretty large spreadsheets and whenever I re-open them after editing them over the cloud, they always start at the upper left corner. So I have to try and scroll though 200+ columns as fast as possible to make-up the time wasted trying to use the little scroll handles that appear when I move the sheet around.

Tyrannosauruses are pointing at them with there tiny, useless arms and laughing. For once, there is something even more tiny and useless.

Only useful for very simple spreadsheet activities. Eg; No ability to build macros; trendlines only can be very basic analysis; difficult to input and format data and charts compared to excel; will not automatically interpolate across data gaps (eg: you don’t have data for day x, so charting just stops there and leaves blanks; leaving you to create your own formulas to generate interpolated data for those days - big pain when you have intermittent data and frustrating when gaps are only 1 day or 2days); Displayed trendline formula appears to not match sense compared to line plotted, etc. In short, took work okay for simple plots where you have all data and lots of time to enter and format. As full analytical tool it has a long way to go.

This is much better than the skeuomorphic version from a long time ago, but some features are annoying. Namely, the fact that tables don’t stay fixed to the edge of the screen, like every spreadsheet app ever created in the history of the universe, and that the formula/cell data field isn’t a dedicated fixed box on the screen.

Numbers can’t decide if it’s a spreadsheet or word processing program as it shares many of the same features as Pages. I have no desire to drag tables around the page. There is no reason for a table to be movable. I am not designing a presentation or book report—I just want this app.

In its current iteration, you have to tap a cell, THEN wait for a keyboard icon to appear, THEN tap the keyboard button, THEN tap another button at the top right of the keyboard to toggle between an formula or text, THEN enter your data. Numbers should be smart enough to know whether I want to enter raw data or a formula. I should be able to double tap a cell to launch the keyboard and begin typing.

It’s a shame because the iOS version has many good features that Google Sheets on iOS doesn’t.

I’m not sure why people are whining about this app.
I have to use Excel at work and been using it for a longgg time and it’s fine with me, it gets the job done. But I do use this app for personal projects for home. It took me a while to get used to this app on IPad but I definitely like Numbers. Apple is more intuitive than Microsoft/ Windows ........ period!
It’s also still free versus Microsoft Office 365 subscription.
this app has beautiful features Excell doesn’t have.
I’m using a Bluetooth keyboard from Fintie and it works just fine with my iPad and this app. I still give it a 5 ⭐️ !

This issue is messing with my business at this point. It really needs to be corrected as soon as possible. But not only that I have been having strange issues with my iPad for the past 2 to 3 weeks now. I feel like I have a faulty product but it seems all of these problems just started occurring when updates were being made. Why is it that every time there is an update it’s like it totally reset my iPad?It doesn’t delete the things that I had on it but it’s like I have to resubmit my identity again and again every time there is an update. I think that that is stupid considering that the update was made under my ID so clearly all the information should still be there and as long as I have my pin to use to open it why would I need to keep verifying my Apple ID?

For anyone that’s starting, it’s a great tool to click and process. If you have the least amount of knowledge in the spread sheet work space, then you’ll be fine in this landscape. Yet, complex formulas are both available and adaptable to form spread, graphs and charts to accommodate the most complex with a build necessary to formulate on this platform! WELL DONE APPLE! If you want to complain after all they’ve put into this for the price, go build your own. We who are experienced in the old appreciate the new and at the price too. 21st Century APP solutions are great! We used to do this in paper form when I was (millennial age) :) ... AWESOME APP!

November 4, 2018
The same problem with the date we saw last year after switching back to standard time from daylight savings. It’s inserting yesterday’s date.
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July 22, 2017
A problem occurs when sending a copy of your spreadsheet as an Excel file. The Line Break feature used to use a Pilcrow symbol. This works fine. Now the Pilcrow symbol has been replaced with a Line Break symbol. This works fine as a Number file, but not at all as an Excel file.
If I were to put this in a cell:
1
2
3
It will show up as this:
123
When sent as an Excel file.

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November 5, 2017

Found a new problem after the last iOS update.
When using the Cell>Today’s Date feature, it is now inserting yesterday’s date.
Now that I think about it, I noticed this after the switch from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time.
I hope this helps.
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November 6, 2017
The date problem was fixed.
Thank you!

Had an excel file that worked fine and opened in all previous versions prior to 4.2. I updated to the newest version and now my file will no longer open in it. It makes the spin icon as if it wants to load but does not. If the developer reads the reviews, please look into this issue. The file in question was made with an older Microsoft office (excel) 2002.

UPDATE:
I wrote this review a few days back. I tried something tonight and it seems to work though Numbers still might have a bug:

I uninstalled it fully from my iPhone (iPhone SE). This also deleted my file (which is fine). I then reinstalled the program and using my computer, transferred the excel file back into this app. Now in this app when I clicked on my file it takes a good couple seconds (previous versions loaded right up) but it then tells me that a font (Cambria) is not present and that my list might look different. Issue here is my list was in Ariel not Cambria, and as mentioned before previous versions opened it. At any rate I clicked “ok” to this and now it offered a slightly smaller in size duplicate file under my original one in the selection screen. I click the newer file and in a few seconds this opens up and works fine in the program. So clearly we still have a small bug in the program, but I found a good work around for it.

There are a lot of basic expectations about office applications: they let you input data, they let you organize it, and they let you save that data. Except Numbers frequently doesn’t even do that last one. I’ve specifically told it not to save on iCloud so as to avoid that pitfall, which means that it saves changes to my iPhone. Except that it doesn’t. And it doesn’t even tell you it isn’t saving your changes. In order to actually save my changes, I have to keep Numbers open for ten additional seconds after I’ve already made a change for that change to actually be saved. Do you know how much data I’ve lost because of this? How much time I’ve spent assuming that the data I was inputting was being saved? This is absolutely unacceptable for an app that doesn’t even let you manage your own files. **** you apple. Fix your own stuff!

With the last release, Apple added several key features that finally make this app world class, and on iOS, a desktop replacement app. In my opinion, this app is the best spreadsheet because of its flexibility to create compelling, clear documents. In short, this app goes beyond the “excel grid.”

I look forward to seeing what is next: use of camera as input? Pivot tables? More sophisticated analysis and design tools? Whatever the iWork team has in store for us, I’m happy Apple is investing in these apps. They are very important to those of us who work at companies where communication and good design matter.