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From: Sak Wathanasin on 6 Jul 2010 08:28
How does one

1) suppress zeroes (ie if a cell's value is 0, I want it blank)
2) suppress priniting of grid lines
3) set a default colour , thickness &c for lines etc?

The "help" isn't much help (or I'm looking in the wrong place).

What I'm trying to do: a form with many boxes. I select a cell or
cells, click on the appr icon to select cell outline, then I have to
select style, and colour each time (because it reverts to the defaults
each time you make a new selection). This is horribly slow and clumsy,
so there must be a better way.
From: David Empson on 6 Jul 2010 09:12
Sak Wathanasin <sw(a)nan.co.uk> wrote:

> How does one
>
> 1) suppress zeroes (ie if a cell's value is 0, I want it blank)

This works if the cell is displaying the result of an expression:

=IF(expression=0,"",expression)

Another option (which also works for an entered number) is to set up
conditional formatting on the cell, with a rule that says

Equal to 0

and edit the style to choose the same colour for the text and fill
(typically white).

> 2) suppress priniting of grid lines

Select All (or appropriate range), in the toolbar click on the border
style tool (normally says "Thin") and choose "None". (You can also
access this via the Table inspector.)

The cell borders will still be visible while editing, but will not be
printed.

> 3) set a default colour , thickness &c for lines etc?

Investigate "Styles". There are several default ones (shown in the lower
left corner of the window if you open a new empty spreadsheet), and you
can create your own.

Start with one that looks roughly like what you want. You can adjust the
cell border style and colour for all cells in the table using the
toolbar or Table inspector, confirm that they are behaving the way you
want if the table is resized, and then create a new Style if you want to
reuse it later. You can also save a template if you want to start with
the same basic layout in a new document.

> The "help" isn't much help (or I'm looking in the wrong place).

Have you downloaded the manual? It goes into a lot more detail. Select
"Numbers Users Guide" from the Help menu, which takes you to a page on
Apple's web site, where you can download it (PDF). There is also a
"Formulas and Functions User Guide" (but I find the Function Browser is
very good for learning about formula items).

I keep copies of all the iWork manuals alongside the applications,
should I need to refer to them.

(I didn't need it for any of the above - most of it was stuff I've
already done.)

> What I'm trying to do: a form with many boxes. I select a cell or
> cells, click on the appr icon to select cell outline, then I have to
> select style, and colour each time (because it reverts to the defaults
> each time you make a new selection). This is horribly slow and clumsy,
> so there must be a better way.

Not sure if everything I covered above is sufficient, but it will
hopefully point you in the right direction.

--
David Empson
dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
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