Iam using a table in numbers to plot daily graph lines. If I fill a cell with a text box at say zero it plots the graph. I can't actually set the cell value until the actual day but the graph plots it at zero when I don't want it to plot anything. Is tho

Question

I am using a table in Numbers to plot daily graph lines. Mood swings of how I am on the day, i"m a depressive.
If I fill a cell with a step box at say zero it plots the graph. I can't actually set the cell value until the actual day but the graph plots it at zero when I don't want it to plot anything. Is there a work around. so thatbgraph only plots on the day?

Answer 1

The answer is (sort of) in your subject, but edited out of the problem statement in the body of your message.
When you use a stepper or a slider, the value in the cell is always numeric, and is always placed on the chart if that cell is included in the range graphed by the chart.
But if you use a pop-up menu cell, you can specify numeric or text values in the list of choices for in the menu. Numeric values will be shown on the chart. Text values will not.
For the example, the values list for the pop-up menu was:
5
3
1
Choose
-1
-3
-5
The first pop-up was set to display Choose, then the cell was filled down the rest of the column. Any text value (including a single space, if you want the cell to appear blank) may be used instead of Choose.
For charts with negative Y values, the X axis will not automatically appear at Y=0. If your value set will include negative values, I would suggest setting the Y axis maximum and minimum to the maximum and minimum values on your menu list, rather than letting Numbers decide what range to include on the chart. Place a line shape across the chart at the zero level, and choose to NOT show the X axis.
Regards,
Barry