Using Shortcuts To Add Data To a Numbers Spreadsheet

A new action in Shortcuts for Mac allows you to add a row of data to a Numbers spreadsheet. You can prompt for information and then record a time and some data. Numbers version 12 is required. An older technique allows you to change existing data in a Numbers spreadsheet.

Comments: 13 Responses to “Using Shortcuts To Add Data To a Numbers Spreadsheet”

    Mark Stacks
    2 years ago

    Gary, Thanks for this video on "Using Shortcuts". I've wanted a way to enter the date and time in a cell without having to manually enter the characters. When using formulas, I haven't managed to automatically populate the new date/time in the next data row without the date/time changing every time I open the spreadsheet. This shortcut does the trick without multiple cells converting to a static date.

    Thanks again. Mark

    Gene
    2 years ago

    Good video Gary. I have a master spreadsheet. I take data (CSV files) each month and add it to the master. They monthly sheets contain all of the columns of the master but not in the correct order. Is there a way to use Shortcuts (or Automator) to automatically move the columns around so that the incoming table will match the columns of the master sheet? Thanks in advance.

    2 years ago

    Gene: There may be a way, but it would never be worth it. If you only do this monthly, just bring the CSV into a new Numbers document, drag and drop the columns to arrange, and then copy and paste those rows into your main spreadsheet. You'd have to do that for 12 months a year for decades in order for it to be worth automating.

    Anthony
    2 years ago

    Excellent video Gary. I tried following you step by step using my iPad, when I got to the quit step, I was not able to find the "Quit App - Numbers" It's not available. Is there another way of doing it? I need to quit after entering the data. Thanks again.

    2 years ago

    Anthony: This is a tutorial for Mac. I was just quitting to show the app launches when you use this. You don't need to quit on the iPad. But I don't know if this will work at all on the iPad. I never checked.

    Anthony
    2 years ago

    Have you done a shortcut to enter data quickly into the business spreadsheet(video), where you can just enter the expense or income from the shortcut directly into the spreadsheet app, then close it?

    2 years ago

    Anthony: It sounds like you are asking for exactly what I am showing in this video.

    Nathan
    2 years ago

    Great info. The Javascript returns "Error: Error: Can't get object." What I'm I missing? Thanks.

    2 years ago

    Nathan: Check your code carefully around where that error occurs.

    Erkki
    2 years ago

    Hey Gary, Thank you for this stuff, love it!
    I read that you have not tried this on ipad. I did not know that and used this video on ipad and it works quite well around my devices that are connected to same icloud. I even dont have to copy paste the shortcut. But a problem has come up. Using same numbers file from 4 different devices, some rows go missing. Any thoughts? Numbers file versions something to uncheck? (the shortcut i created puts the entry to a new file name)

    2 years ago

    Erkki: Rows go missing? Like you see 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8? That would be a filter that you have turned on. Turn off filters to see all rows.

    Tom Lillis IV
    2 years ago

    I enjoyed the video - it helped me find a bug…er…unexpected results.

    If the first column is a condition for filtering it will be pre-populated by the last entry and the data “Add” will be offset horizontally by one. So, in your video, if the table was set to only show this week's events the "event" field would contain the date and (if you had a third column) that would contain the event.

    Unfortunately there is no way to test if the table is filtered prior to running the Shortcut.

    Captain Randy
    2 years ago

    I created a shortcut to do exactly what you described. Each time I got a "Sheet Not Found Error". The spreadsheet I chose has many sheets so I tried another sheet and it worked. It took many trials but I think I've discovered that even though Numbers accepts a sheet name with an apostrophe the Shortcut will not. As soon as I renamed the sheet without the apostrophe it worked fine. Oddly enough the Table Name does have an apostrophe and it works perfectly. This seems like an odd flaw.

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