In Numbers, you have multiple tables that are entirely separate row:column spaces that can be resized and positioned arbitrarily and independently, with small finite extent by default such that they fit on screen. That UI makes the capability to have multiple tables on one sheet more discoverable, and easier to comprehend what it's doing. When you drag and drop a CSV file onto a Numbers sheet, it creates a new table rather than populating cells in an existing table. When you resize column A in one table, it doesn't affect the column A of any other table.
That finite vs seemingly-infinite distinction is a fundamental difference in conceptualizing what a spreadsheet is, which can have pretty far-reaching consequences. I've encountered programs with a "CSV export" feature that generates a CSV file that's more or less what you'd expect to get if you wrote a report in a single Excel sheet, and then exported that to CSV: you get a file that contains tabular data embedded in it, but so polluted with unrelated text and unstructured metadata that having it as CSV format barely helps with parsing and you'd be better off trying to extract data from HTML.
The Wikipedia article even mentions Numbers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Improv
Tables in Pages behave similar to Numbers spreadsheets. Pages layout mode is very similar to Keynote. Data vis in Keynote is the same as Numbers.
Because you can have multiple tables in a single sheet in excel, but I guess the columns filters don't play nicely with multiple tables.
A “spreadsheet” or tab in Numbers is like a canvas where you can put tables, text boxes, , charts or shapes.
The classic spreadsheet is one of these table objects. If you want it to behave like a classic spreadsheet, you can have a single table object that takes the whole canvas; otherwise, you can have multiple. Each is like a spreadsheet with columns and rows; formulas can refer to cells in other tables.
It’s handy to create dashboard-like views or visually organize your work.
In other words, Excel tables are a special region in your spreadsheet; Numbers tables are individual spreadsheets on a canvas.
Their "office" apps remind me of the lightweight non-LibreOffice options on Linux, like Gnumeric and Abiword, but better integrated, less janky, and I've never once seen any of them crash. I like that I can forget I even have them open in the background, they're so light. Which should be the case for practically everything given how powerful modern computers are, but, unfortunately, Electron exists.
Same with Pages vs Word. I'm sure has power features some people can't live without. I can live without ‘em, in exchange for getting an ergonomic app that runs nicely on my OS.
I'd reach for Pages every time over Word, which, ironically, in my opinion is not very good at processing words. (99% of the time I use iA Writer in a Markdown workflow. If I specifically need WYSIWYG for something, it’s Pages every time.)
That text was Lorem ipsum [1]. I had never seen that before and assumed that I had somehow gotten the templates for some other language installed with my English Pages install.
I then spent a few hours trying to figure out how to change template language settings or install English templates.
I eventually copies some of the text and Googled it, hoping to find someone else who had this problem and had found the fix and then learned about Lorem ipsum.
Nowadays when you create a document from the templates that come with Pages the placeholder text is in your language and is usage instructions for the template.
It's just convenient and works.
Just held back by the need to import/export Excel files.
How do you determine, from this support article, the scope where it applies?
* name
* priority
* DUE
* status
* notes
And a formula that sorts based on due / priority. Typing "done" in status removes it with a filter.
I really wish there was a fully compatible Microsoft Office that I could use across my Apple devices that doesn’t shove some random cloud solution and end up with my files spread all over the place. I would pay more to have a OneDrive less office.
Worth a try at least.
We just broke down and bought a Windows based machine because MS Excel is so limited on a Mac that it was forcing our accountant into time wasting inefficiencies and general hair pulling.
What were the sticking points that made it unviable?
I have had people in my org who are terrified of running Calc over Excel due to compatibility with other organisations- but I wasn’t aware that it was functionally incomplete as a competitor.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/introduction-to-p...
