Numbers 4+

I was really enjoying this app, although a bit clunky in certain areas I was getting used to it, so much so that i converted some excel files I had over. All was well until I came to print it and noticed the header had an old date on it, so I thought it would be easy to change the header. There is nowhere in the app that allows me to change the header. After reading on the web apparently that’s one thing you cant do on the IPad version. To my simple mind that appears to be one of the easier functionalities that could have been included. Looks like its back to excel.

As a data scientist, I usually rely on tableau / R / python in order to get the results I need. Recently my MacBook was out of action and with a creeping deadline I needed to get some results done quickly.
Thankfully it was pretty basic stuff, but doing it in excel for iPad turned out to DOOM-esque nightmare, with macros and unwanted functions coming out the walls, and weird esoteric quirks that have been embedded in the user base since the early 90s that are just accepted as being “the right way”.
I am sure that excel is a fantastic application if you’re familiar with the desktop versions, but I have managed to avoid it altogether in my career so far. With only 8 hours left from my deadline, I thought I’d give the data another crack in numbers. What can I say, everything is laid out in such a sane way with the same functionality.
It appears that the apple guys really do still care about intuitive app design! I managed to get up to grips and bash the data into shape in less than 1 hour (I’d been struggling with excel for 3 hours that morning). Whilst it may be true that in terms of raw speed excel is faster, I found that for my needs - a relative spreadsheet noob - I was able to get the results I wanted very quickly.

TL,DR; if you already know excel, get excel. If you don’t - get Numbers instead and save yourself the headaches and steep learning curve.

Numbers is really rather good, it is excellent on a Mac. The iOS version has the functionality but inevitably it is going to be harder to use on an iPhone than on a laptop or desktop.

The iPad version presents you with an unfamiliar interface compared to a desktop spreadsheet but once you take time to learn how to use it, it’s great.

I missed the categories feature of the prior Mac versions which were a brilliant alternative to pivot tables, whilst that has not returned the improved sort functions are very versatile and easy to use.

Whilst I have large financial models using multi cell array formulas in Excel, I have found that with a bit of thought and digging deep the function set on Numbers is very powerful indeed.

Numbers has the feature of multiple tables per sheet as it’s normal method of operation and it’s integration with the Mac world means that I have moved all my financial modelling to numbers and it’s good and I find easier to use and can display information in a clearer fashion.

There is little that Numbers cannot do if you dig deep into the function set and use a little imagination, accordingly I will let office 365 go when the current annual subscription dies.

I am confident that we will see further improvements in functionality that keep its inherent simplicity and accessibility to newcomers and then I will give five stars !