You can add content to a table in several ways. You can type new content, copy and paste content from somewhere else, or let Numbers complete patterns for you with autofill. No matter what you do, you can always edit or clear a cell after you’ve added content.
Do the following:
Select a cell: Click it.
Select a range of cells: Click a cell, then drag a selection handle (a white dot) any direction to encompass the range of cells you want to select.
Select discontiguous cells: Click a cell, press Command, then click any other cells.
When you select a table cell, the Smart Cell View appears at the bottom of the Numbers window. The Smart Cell View shows you the actual value of a selected cell (for example, “Apr 3, 2014 12:00 AM”), or the formatted value of a cell if you’re editing it (for example, “4/3”).
If the selected cell contains a formula, the Smart Cell View shows you the formula. If you are editing the formula, the Smart Cell View shows you the formula result.
You can also select a range of cells to see quick calculations for those cells, such as the sum, average, minimum value, maximum value, and count.
If a table cell is empty, click the cell, then start typing.
To edit a cell that already has content, do any of the following:
Edit content: Double-click a cell to make the insertion point appear. To move the insertion point, click where you want it to appear in that cell.
Replace content: Click the cell, then start typing. The existing content is overwritten.
Delete all content: Click the cell, then press Delete.
As you type in a cell, Numbers shows a list of autocomplete suggestions. This list includes any text previously entered in that column, but not header or footer text. Press Tab to use a suggestion in the cell. To turn off autocomplete, choose Numbers > Preferences (from the Numbers menu at the top of your computer screen). In the General pane deselect “Show suggestions when editing table cells.”
Tip: Insert a paragraph break in a cell by pressing Option-Return.
See Format cells to display different types of data to learn how to add formulas.
Select cells, then press Delete.
Deleting removes the content from the cells but preserves the cells’ data format, text style, and cell style. To remove all data, formatting, and styling, select the cells, then choose Edit > Clear All (from the Edit menu at the top of the computer screen).
You can quickly add the content from selected cells to adjacent cells without typing it. You can also fill a row or column with a logical sequence of data—for example, a series of digits, dates, or letters.
Do any of the following:
Autofill the content from one or more cells into adjacent cells: Select the cells with the content you want to copy, then move the pointer over a border of the selection until a yellow autofill handle appears. Drag the handle over the cells where you want to add the content.
Any data, cell format, formula, or fill associated with the selected cells is added, but comments aren’t. Autofilling overwrites existing data with the value you’re adding.
Autofill sequential content or patterns into adjacent cells: Type the first two items in the series in the first two body cells of the row or column you want to fill; for example, type A and B. Select the cells, move the pointer over a border of the selection until a yellow autofill handle appears, then drag the handle over the cells you want to fill.
You can also autofill cells using a pattern of values. For example, if two selected cells contain 1 and 4, the values 7 and 10 are added when you drag over the adjacent two cells (values are incremented by 3).
Autofilling doesn’t set up an ongoing relationship among cells in the group. After autofilling, you can change the cells independently of each other.
When you autofill cells, any formulas that refer to those cells are updated automatically to use the new value.
When you copy a cell, or move a cell’s data to a new location in the table, all of the cell’s properties are also copied, including its data format, fill, border, and comments.
Select the cells you want to copy or move, then do one of the following:
Move the data: Click and hold until the cells rise off the table, then drag the cells to another location in the table. Existing data is replaced by the new data.
Paste and overwrite existing content: Choose Edit > Copy (from the Edit menu at the top of your computer screen). Select the top-left cell where you want to paste the data, then choose Edit > Paste.
If your data range contains formulas, choose Paste Formula Results.
Paste without overwriting: Choose Edit > Copy, select the destination cells, then choose Insert > Copied Rows or Insert > Copied Columns (from the Insert menu at the top of your computer screen). New rows or columns are added for the copied cells.
Paste a cell style: Choose Format > Copy Style (from the Format menu at the top of your computer screen), select the cells where you want to copy the style, then choose Format > Paste Style.
Paste cell contents without the style: Choose Edit > Copy (from the Edit menu at the top of your computer screen), select the cells where you want to paste, then choose Edit > Paste and Match Style. The pasted cells adopt the formatting of the new location.
Paste outside of an existing table: Drag the cells where you want them. A new table is created with the pasted cells.
If you copy a range of cells that include hidden data (either hidden or filtered), the hidden data is also copied. If you paste to a range of cells with a matching arrangement of hidden cells, the hidden data is also pasted. Otherwise, the hidden content isn’t pasted.
For information about copying and pasting text styles, see Use paragraph styles.
You can use hover-highlighting to focus on only the row and column for a specific cell.
Press the Option key while you move the pointer over any cell.
As you hover, the row and column for that cell are temporarily highlighted in blue.