How to "lock" a cell reference in Numbers??

HELP! I am a recent convert from Windows based machines to Apple. I am very familiar with Excel and need to figure out how to do something in Numbers....
I need to know how to lock a cell reference so that when you drag the formula down or across it keeps the same cell reference. In Excel you can do this by picking the cell and then hitting F4 to either lock the column, row or both.
Anybody out there help a newbie?? Thanks

Thanks Jerrold, I'm using them that way. My request has to do with
using them as an Absolute Reference versus a relative reference.
If I specify a header ref for a cell in a formula, when I drag that
formula to some other cells I want Numbers to treat it as absolute,
ie. as if I had said $A$5. What I am finding is that it does it's default
behaviour, ie. it is translating the formula reference to a new cell just
as it would do for a reference like A5.
ie. with header references, what is the equivalent of specifying $A$5?
($header name doesn't work ).
thx, rob

Similar Messages

How to "lock" a chart reference

I use numbers to track daily activities for my business. Each row is a day and the columns each represent the different activities I track.
I use a pie chart to visualize how my work day is split up between these tasks.
Creating a year-to-date pie-chart was simple... Creating a chart from a footer row totalling each column.
HERE'S MY QUANDRY:
I like seeing a "today" chart as well... Since as each day passes I add a new row to the top of the sheet - I initially tried creating my chart from that first row. However - the following day when I add a new day (row) above the previous day - the pie chart reference stays with the original row I defined it as. I must be missing something... somewhere... (?) - I'd like to tell my pie chart to ALWAYS and ONLY reference the second row of the table. (b2).
I thought I'd be clever by adding another table with a single header (matching my primary logging table) and a single row and in each cell of that row referencing it's counterpart in the main table. Again - the references shift as soon as I add another row.
ARRRGgh!! I mean - yes... I can (and have) simply been redefining the chart references daily as a workaround. Pretty painless on the desktop version. Though on the iOS version - this is a pain. It would be wonderful if there's a way to simply tell that one pie chart to ONLY look at Row 2 for data.
Here's a screen shot:
Hopefully this is something just so incredibly easy I'm overlooking it.
Someone - please make me feel dumb! :-)

Try something like this...
I made two tables similar to yours. The top one is name "Entry" then bottom one is named "Today"
In the table "Today" enter the following:
A1=OFFSET(INDIRECT("Entry::A1"), 0, COLUMN()−1)
this is shorthand for... select cell A1, then type (or copy and paste from here) the formula:
=OFFSET(INDIRECT("Entry::A1"), 0, COLUMN()−1)
select cell A1, copy
select all the cells in row 1, paste

How do you format cell size in numbers for multiple cells at the same time?

How do you format the cell size of multiple cells at once in numbers?

select the cells you want to format by clicking at the top-left most cell, then shift click the bottom-right most cell.
Then open the inspector by selecting the menu item "View > Show Inspector", then click the table inspector segment:
now use the row height and column width fields to adjust as needed.
You can also select multiple rows and columns by clicking in an active tables row/column header, then dragging to select rows (or column), then hover the cursor on the line the separates rows (or columns) until the cursor changes to a bar with arrows, then click, hold, and drag as needed.

How to "unchain" a cell reference?

Hi!
I try to do the following:
The field A2 is linked to the upper table B2 to get the worth that is in it A3 to A4 are the same.
The fields from C1 to E4 are linked to another table (not visible) by a query depending on the worth in B2.
If i sort now the upper table by Rank the linked cells stay connected. But now A2 is connected to the upper B4. I understand that this is to maintain connections and make in many cases sense.
In this case i need to "unchain" this. I simply want Numbers to look what is in the upper table in cell B2 regardless of sorting. I have tried with absolute and relative references but it doesn't work.
In OOCalc this is possible across tables.
Can anyone give my a hint in wich way to look?
Thanks
A. Wolff

HI Alexander,
I would suggest looking at OFFSET, ROW() and COLUMN().
INDEX might also be useful.
Regards,
Barry

How to define a cell name in numbers?

How do I define a cell name to use in a formula. I want to calculates costs for a dinner function where the number of guests, costs etc are variable. I want to use the number of guests in different formulas in the spreadsheet.
So I need to have a cell where I enter number of guests once and this will then reflect in all formulas where I use the cell name: 'number_of_guests'
Thus cell A1 will have the name 'number_of_guests' and I could type any number in there.
A formula in a later cell will then be =$100.00*'number_of_guests' to get a total cost, etc.

Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 26 décembre 2011 12:03:51
iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 12 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.2
My iDisk is : http://public.me.com/koenigyvan
Please : Search for questions similar to your own before submitting them to the community
For iWork's applications dedicated to iOS, go to :
https://discussions.apple.com/community/app_store/iwork_for_ios

How to print selected cells in numbers

Does anyone know how to print selected cells in a Numbers spreadsheet, rather than printing the entire sheet?
Also, how to save the selected cells as a pdf file without saving the irrelevant cells?

Hi nmygs,
How about this?
Cell A1 is a Pop-Up Menu containing names of the various "Departments"
Other cells contain formulas to find a match for whatever is chosen in A1 from the Very Big Data Table.
Reusable Print Me table.
Regards,
Ian.

How to express cell format in Numbers?

In Numbers on Mac, I want all positive numbers in cells to display in blue with comma separators and a leading + sign. Example: the value 4135 should appear as +4,135
I want all negative numbers in cells to display in red with comma separators and a leading - sign. Example: the value 2167 should appear as -2,167
I know how to create this in Excel with the custom format [Blue]+#,##0;[Red]-#,##0
When I create a spreadsheet in Excel, then open the spreadsheet in Numbers, this cell format is not recognized by Numbers. Does anyone know how to create this cell format in Numbers? Thx

Hi pomme4moi,
You can get the "+", the "-" and the commas in the custom format menu.
For you colors you need conditional formatting as shown by Wayne.
quinn

Absolute cell references with named cells?

I know how to make a cell reference absolute with numbered cells, as in $A12.
But what if the formula includes named cells, as in:
=Table 1 :: 'Electric - Tank' Annual Fuel Cost+Table 1 :: 'Electric - Tank' annual maintenance
I have tried the $ in various places, no luck so far. Please help...

I found another similar thread, and the folks there helped me figured out what I was doing wrong.
You need $ before EACH reference, both the cell's Row header AND column header. This made sense for the "old" cell label way, but the header names confused me at first. So:
=Table 1 :: $Electric Tank $Annual Fuel Cost+Table 1 :: $Electric Tank $annual maintenance

Building Expressions with Repeated Cell References

I have noticed a difficulty with building an expression using the 'Point and Click' method of inserting Cell References in Numbers 09.
The first time a particular cell is clicked, its reference is inserted properly in the expression at the cursor. If another reference to the same cell is required in that expression, clicking on the cell again does not result in another reference to it at the cursor, instead the cursor jumps to the previous reference to that cell.
The two options for adding a second or third reference to a particular cell are to type the reference or to keyboard-navigate to the cell with the Option key.
Am I missing something?
Jerry

Jerrold Green1 wrote:
Yvan,
A solution looking for a problem in my case! I like the drop-down menu for reference type,
I like the drop down menu too but I don't understand why the ƒx button appears only when I type = in a cell.
I always send the mouse to the format bar before typing = (as I did in AppleWorks and Numbers '08).
I may understand why they moved the Cancel and Accept buttons to spare some pixels for the formula but from my point of view, moving this ƒx button is boring
But maybe I'm the unique user with this epidermic reaction.
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE jeudi 19 février 2009 18:28:03)

JExcel API : Locking a cell

Hi all,
Can anyone please suggest how to lock a cell so that it becomes non-editable/disabled using the WritableCellFeatures in JXL..
Thanks in advance.

Use CSS to style your table.
table {
    width: 600px; /**adjust width as req'd**/
    margin: 0 auto; /**width width, this is centered**/
    border: 1px solid #666; /**optional border**/
th {
    background: #333;
    color: #FFF;
td { padding: 0; }
.bg { background: #C69 url(your_background.jpg) no-repeat; }
HTML:
<table>
<tr>
<th>Table Heading</th>
<th>Table Heading</th>
<th>Table Heading</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="bg">This cell has a background</td>
<td>This cell has no background</td>
<td>This cell has no background</td>
</tr>
</table>
Nancy O.

In Numbers, how can I make a cell reference a constant in a formula?

This is a basic question, but I am not sure of the answer. I am trying to calculate a previous SUM that I have by a column. But when I calculate it, it keeps looking for data in the cells after the SUM that I already have.
In other words, how can I get a constant cells value into my equation?
Any help would be great!
(In excel, I could do it just by placing $ around my cell field. Like H23 would be $H23$. THanks!)

JJ,
Numbers works exactly like Excel in this regard. To change H23 from a reference that will change if the formula is moved to a fixed cell reference, make it $H$23.
Regards,
Jerry

How do you lock individule cells in numbers on ipad

how do you lock individule cells in numbers on ipad

Wayne, are you sure its iOS numbers that can lock the table? If so, could you please show me how? Havent figured it out yet.
Thanks
Jason

How can i lock a cel so that you can't Change it

How can i lock a cel so that you can't Change it (on iPad)

Dont think you can on ipad numbers.
Jason

My cell references have changed from coordinates to header names in numbers

When i opened a SS i have been using for quite some time to add new data, I noticed the cell references in some cells had changed. Originally all had been cell coordinates and now most, but not all, are using header names. I've tried re-entering the data, filling down from a cell that still shows coordinates. Nothing works to get them back to using coordinates. Any ideas on why this happened and how to change things back?
Message was edited by: annmerb Reading another post I got a hint to check Numbers Preferences. I know I had never gone in and checked "Use header names as references" but it was selected. I deselected it and references went back to coordinates. Since Had never changed the Preferences I hadn't thought to check there. Sorry to bother!

Ann,
The default in the Blank Template is for Header Named cell references turned off. However, that may not be the case with all the other templates. Do you recall how this document began its life?
Jerry

I have two cell phone, different numbers. Each has their own apple id. How can i merge them so apps on one show on the other but keep their emails addresses separate on their own phone?

Have two cell phones, different numbers. Each has their own apple id. How can I merge them so apps purchased on one phone show on the other. But.as each has their own email address, I want to keep these email addresses separate on their own phone? Thanks.

We do this in my family now. We have one account for purchases, so it is used to share music and apps (I think that is in Settings/iTunes & App Stores). Each iDevice has this configured.
Then, each of us has our own iCloud account that is configured under Settings/iCloud. That then allows us to have our own Mail/Contacts/Calendars/Reminders/Safari Bookmarks/Notes/Passbook/Photo Stream/Documents & Data/Find My iPhone/and Backup. That Backup piece is pretty sweet and comes in handly if you replace your iDevice. You can just restore from it.
So we all share the Apple Store account but we all have our own iCloud accounts to keep the rest seperate or things like you mentioned are a nightmare.
In answer to what iCloud does for you: http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/
Think of it as an internet based ("cloud") area for all of those items listed in my response. What you need to remember is photo stream only maintans the last 1000 pictures so don't count it as a complete backup solution for your pictures. Even though I rarely sync with a computer these days, I do still try to sync my phone with iPhoto (I have an iMac) so that I have copies of all of my pictures. 1000 may not stretch as far as it sounds.
Message was edited by: Michael Pardee

How to "lock" a cell reference in Numbers??

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for