Introduction

When tax software came out for the Mac, I ignored it for several years. And my return was not all that simple, what with self-employed forms to be filled out, as well as those for dependent childcare expenses, and so on. No, I didn’t like working on paper. Nor did I skip my taxes.

Instead of canned tax software, I had my spreadsheets. They looked like the tax forms, with text on each line, and a cell at the right margin to hold the numbers. I enjoyed setting up the interlocking of those cells, since a formula could refer to cells elsewhere on the sheet (and later, on other sheets). I could fill out the Business Use of a Home worksheet, and its total was reflected in a list of deductions on Schedule C, which was used to calculate the annual profit, which was used to figure the Social Security tax, which was partly deducted from taxes owed…. Okay, so I’m sorta geeky. But it all led me to exploring the ins and outs Numbers, which led me to sharing the results of my explorations with you.

Are you new to spreadsheet software, to Numbers in particular, or to Numbers 3? Have you had time to skim only the surface of the app and want to be more proficient? Are your formula-building skills limited to SUM and AVERAGE but you need more from your data? Do you wonder if it matters whether you use a line chart or a bar chart, or when a pie chart is the way to go? At the risk of sounding like an infomercial: If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, this book is for you. If you have other questions, this book is for you. If you don’t even know what questions to ask, this book is for you.

This book is about Numbers 3.5 on a Mac running Yosemite (OS X 10.10). It does not specifically cover Numbers on iOS devices or Numbers for iCloud, currently in beta form (but be sure to check it out by signing in at icloud.com and clicking the Numbers icon).

Almost all the information in this book, however, is directly applicable to Numbers for iCloud because Apple is making a concerted effort to match the interfaces of the Web and Mac versions.

The fundamentals in this book, such as how to construct formulas, which charts to use for what kind of data, and filtering and sorting data, apply to the iOS version. But you’ll be surprised—I know I was—to see how much of the information here is relevant to the iOS version. Sometimes you have to just translate “click the column label” to “tap the column label.” Elsewhere, it helps if you’re versed in the iOS interface so that you’re comfortable tapping around to find pop-up menus, or working in popovers instead of the Inspector panes.

Even with the focus of covering only the Mac version, it was impossible to pack everything I wanted to show you into this ebook. In addition, while I know that hands-on experience is the way to quickly, and solidly, learn a procedure, I assumed you wouldn’t have time—or, at some points, enough knowledge—to construct tables with which to hone your skills. So, I’ve created more than two dozen hands-on sheets that you can use with the examples in this book; read about this file in the sidebar just below.

(Yes, I use tax software now. But I work with the forms, not just reply to an “interview” and let everything get done behind my back. I still like knowing where my numbers go, and putting them there myself.)