Apple : Mac Tips: Numbers for Mac: 15 productivity-boosting tips

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• Mac Tips: Numbers for Mac: 15 productivity-boosting tips
• Mac Tips: Word for Mac 2016: How to use the best new features
• TechRadar Deals: Cheap MacBook deals in September 2015: the all the best prices

Mac Tips: Numbers for Mac: 15 productivity-boosting tips Posted: Tips 1-5 Data entry isn't most people's idea of fun, but the following 15 tips might change that. These shortcuts and advanced techniques will make quick work of your spreadsheets, so even the most tedious tasks breeze by. 1. Password-protect your documents You can do this for all iWork documents, but spreadsheets can contain especially sensitive data, so it's most appropriate here. To set a password, pick that option from the File menu. You can add the password to your keychain so you don't have to enter it when you open the file on your Mac, but be wary of this option. Unless you have other security measures in place, such as your Mac requiring a password to wake from screen saver, this could leave the file vulnerable. If you have to convert your spreadsheet to Excel for sharing with some recipients, you have the option of adding a password to the exported file – but remember that this password only applies to this exported version, not to your original Numbers document. 2. Special types of cells Numbers supports some special cells that make data entry really easy, including clickable checkboxes, star ratings, and pop-up menus so you can pick from a range of predetermined values. You can explore these options at the foot of the Data Format drop-down menu under the Cell pane of the Format sidebar. If you want to have a formula act on the data in these special cells, take a look at the window's bottom-left corner to see the actual, behind-the-scenes value that's recorded in that cell – such as FALSE for an unchecked checkbox and TRUE for a checked one – so you know what values to enter in your formula. 3. Copy and paste styles This one also works in all three iWork apps. The formal way to take a set of attributes (such as text size and color) from one object to another is to define it as a style – something you still have to do if you want to copy table styles – so you can easily reuse it or tweak it later, but if you want to do so quickly, you can just copy and paste it. Select some text, a picture, or a shape and then choose Format > Copy Style. Then select the object you want to apply that style to, and choose Format > Paste Style. 4. Copy and paste table styles If you tweak the formatting of a table on one sheet, you can then easily make all the others in your document match it by defining those tweaks as a style. Set up the table as you want it, select it, and then click the rightwards-pointing arrow in the Table Styles pane of the Format sidebar. Click the + in the top left corner. Once the style is defined, you can drag it to the first screen just to make it easier to access, and then select other tables and apply it to them. 5. Copy from Excel! If you're trying to do something complex in Numbers, it's often hard to find help on the web, since Excel is so much more common. The good news is that many formulae have the same names and work largely the same way in the two apps, so it's still worth reading tips designed for Excel. We can't guarantee they'll all work, but in our experience it's a handy first step to try out. Also check out discussions.apple.com/community/iwork/numbers. Tips 6-10 6. Enter carriage returns within cells Pressing Return usually advances you to the next cell down in Numbers, but if you hold Option as you press it, you'll get a carriage return so you can enter text on a new line within the same cell. 7. Concatenate cells The ampersand symbol (&) has a special function on a spreadsheet, and that's to bring together values from other cells into one. Note that it's not adding them mathematically – if you have the value 3 in one cell and 4 in another, using '&' would produce the result 34 – but it's handy for grouping stuff. Let's say you have a list of surnames in column A, forenames in B, and titles in C. In column D you could use the formula =C2&B2&A2 to produce, for example, Mr Christopher Phin. Actually, that would give you MrChristopherPhin, so the formula needs to be =C2&" "&B2&" "&A2 to concatenate in some spaces. After you've filled the formula once though – in row 2, say – you don't have to laboriously enter it for every other row, as you'll discover in the next step. 8. Quickly extend values and formulae You can quickly copy the values or formulae of cells to other cells, and Numbers is smart about how it does this. The quick way to do it is to select a cell then move your mouse to the center of any of its four edges so that a yellow handle appears. Like in the example above, select the cell that contains your formula and then drag the yellow handle on the bottom edge down to fill the formula into the cells below it. Numbers is smart enough to infer that the references to row 2 should be replaced with references to row 3 in the next cell down, and so on. It's also a quick way to populate a sheet with repeating numbers. Type 1, 2, 3 into the first few cells, then drag the yellow handle down. Numbers will continue with 4, 5, 6 and so on. This works for other data types too – if you enter a few dates that are a week apart and extend the box, it will keep adding dates that a week on from the last. 9. Conditional formatting You can have cells change their appearance – highlighting the cell with a color, changing the appearance of text, and so on – based on whether some criteria are met. For example, if you've set a monthly budget but you've gone over it, you might change that number's color to red. Select the cells you want to act on, and click the Format button to reveal the sidebar. Click the sidebar's Cell tab and then click Conditional Highlighting… at the bottom to set up formatting rules for the selected cells. As always, there are a load of useful preset styles, but scroll to the bottom of the list and choose Custom Style to set up your own. 10. Lock objects If you lock any element on a Numbers page (or in any other iWork app) it can't be moved or deleted, making it perfect for standing information such as a logo and a text box detailing terms and conditions on invoice sheets. Just select the object then press Command + L, or choose Lock in the Arrange menu. Now, even if someone selects it, either by clicking on it or by pressing Command + A, and then hits Delete, it will stay on the page. If you need to adjust the element, select it and choose Arrange > Unlock or press Option + Command + L. Tips 11-15 11. Filter your spreadsheet One really handy feature in Numbers is the ability to filter your tables. In this way, you can quickly focus on bits of data that you need to examine more closely. What's more, you can set the filters up and then switch them on and off with a checkbox, hiding or revealing data instantly. For example, if you used a Numbers spreadsheet to track invoices, you could set up a filter so that you can hide invoices that have been paid by clicking the Sort & Filter button at the top-right. There are a few ways you could do it, but if you have a column recording the dates your invoices were paid, add a filter for that column to match the condition "cell is blank." 12. Temporarily highlight a cell's column and row It's easy for your eye to skip a row or a column on big spreadsheets, so hold Option while the pointer is over a cell to highlight the cell's row and column in blue. (If you do this often, consider using Numbers' Alternating Row Color formatting option, which makes it easier to read across wide spreadsheets.) 13. Add headers and footers to printed pages When you print Numbers documents you get a page number automatically centered at the bottom of each page, but it's not clear how to remove it or add other information to the header and footer. Moving the pointer over the top or bottom of the print layout display you get after you press Command + P displays a thin grey box divided into three. Click in any one of these areas (including the one with the page number, which you're able to delete) and a text pane will appear next to the Page Setup options in the sidebar. Here you can change the format of the header and footer text, and choose whether they appear on all sheets or only the sheet you're typing in. Under the Insert menu you'll find options such as Page Number and Page Count – which you could combine by choosing Page Number, typing " of " and then choosing Page Count – and Date & Time. To change a date's format, click on it after you've inserted it. 14. Custom date and time formats As well as choosing from the extensive list of date and time formats built into Numbers, you can set up custom formats to mix dynamic data placeholders with entered text. For example, our friends at Mac|Life might track deadlines using a column of dates for their print edition and another column for their iPad edition, and in a third column note down how many days they have to build the latter after sending the former to the printers. By setting up a custom date format, they can display this as "[days] to make the iPad edition." 15. Reference cells on other sheets Like most spreadsheet software, Numbers lets you set up multiple sheets per document, and it's easy to refer across these sheets in formulae. You could, for example, have a price list on a second sheet and an order form on the first. If you enter "3" as a quantity in column B on the order sheet then, in the total cost cell of the same row, start typing =B2* and then click on the tab at the top of the document to switch to the price list and click the appropriate cell. Numbers will reference that cell's value to calculate what three of that product costs. If the price list is updated, the order form will be too. If you need to change a cell reference in a formula that you've already written, double-click the cell that contains the formula. This reveals the formula in a floating bar. Click once on the colored lozenge that points to the currently referenced cell – if that cell is on a different sheet, the view will switch to it – then click on the new cell you want to reference.

Mac Tips: Word for Mac 2016: How to use the best new features Posted: Mastering the new Word for Mac After an extended public beta period earlier this year, Microsoft finally took the wraps off Office 2016 for Mac - including the latest version of Word - in July, making it available first to Office 365 subscribers, with a standalone version set to arrive later this month. In addition to a more streamlined, Retina Display-ready user interface in line with the company's mobile apps, Office 2016 debuts new OS X-friendly options like full-screen view and multitouch gestures. But that's not all: Word 2016 has a few other tricks up its sleeve, and we're here to walk you through seven features you won't want to overlook in the latest edition of this venerable word processor. Ribbon: Now you see it, now you don't Office 2016 offers a leaner, meaner Ribbon that consolidates all of your favorite features and options into less screen real estate than ever, but let's face it: All that functionality still consumes a lot of space, even on a spacious desktop display. Thankfully, Word 2016 users can temporarily banish the entire Ribbon to... well, we don't exactly know where it goes when you click the small upward arrow in the right-hand corner, but the Ribbon neatly collapses out of sight until you choose to click the now-inverted arrow once more to bring it back. Save documents directly to PDF file This is one of our absolute favorite new features of Office 2016, and one that might be a little less obvious until you go searching for it. With previous versions, saving a Word document required calling up the Print option and using OS X's native Print to PDF service, which never really felt like the way things should work. Now, users can simply select File > Print and choose PDF from the available File Format options to export a lovely portable version of the open document, ready to share with others. Improved document navigation If you're the kind of writer who formats larger documents into sections — and really, who doesn't? — the new Navigation pane will come in ridiculously handy. This feature can be summoned from the View > Sidebar > Navigation menu, which will then display a list of sections to the left of the actual document. Click one, and you'll jump straight to that particular section, no mouse or trackpad scrolling required. But don't close the Navigation pane just yet: Word 2016 will highlight whatever section you're currently working on as the document is being edited, which is quite convenient for jumping around to copy and paste between sections, for example. OneDrive: Baked right in Earlier versions of Word for Mac have never been particularly great about integrating with Microsoft's cloud storage service OneDrive — at least not in the more natural Windows users have been able to do. Word 2016 finally rights this wrong, with the ability to open and save files directly from local storage as well as personal or business OneDrive accounts. Add one or more OneDrive (or SharePoint, for business users) accounts, and they will be instantly available on all of the Office 365 applications on your Mac from the swanky new Open dialog box, which mimics the UI first introduced on Microsoft's iPad edition. Best of all, this works even if you choose not to install the official OneDrive for Mac client. I like your style(s) Word has long offered a quick way to change formatting in a single click by applying various styles that affect typeface, color, and other options, but it's never been particularly easy to create your own or modify existing styles. A click on the Home Ribbon has changed all that: There's quicker access via the Styles Pane, while a click on the "Show style guides" option shows users at a glance which style is currently in use for the open document. The new Style Themes feature under the Design Ribbon is also available to change the document content for a more consistent look and feel. One-click document sharing Whether you want to collaborate with another Office user across town or around the globe, attach a document to an outgoing email, or create a public link anyone can use to access your file, Word 2016 is here to oblige with a better way to share. Simply click on the icon in the upper right corner — the one with the little person next to the plus symbol — and you'll be transported into a trio of options for inviting people, copying a link, or the coveted "Email as Attachment" feature. In all three cases, document permissions will be updated to allow the recipient(s) to edit the file, and naturally you'll need to store it in the cloud in order for them to gain access — but Microsoft makes that as easy as a second click of the mouse. Help improve Word 2016 After years of being viewed as an evil software empire, Microsoft has made great strides to open itself up to criticism and work harder to improve the products being released. This newfound openness extends to the Office 2016 for Mac applications themselves, because users of Word can now click the little smiley-face button in the upper right corner to send the folks in Redmond an encouraging word or complain about something that's driving you nuts. Hey, Microsoft extended the olive branch...now it's your turn to grab it and help make the software even better.

TechRadar Deals: Cheap MacBook deals in September 2015: the all the best prices Posted: If you're looking for the best cheap MacBook deals, you've come to the right place. The decision of whether you should buy a new MacBook is a simple one: does it play to your strengths? Perhaps you need the lightest and most portable OS X machine out there today, one with good battery life. Maybe you appreciate an incredible, vibrant display that's equally as good at rendering your crisp documents as it is displaying the same amount of a spreadsheet as a 24-inch monitor. Follow @TRDeals on Twitter for the latest offers Or maybe you just don't like Windows? Whatever your reason, there are plenty of deals out there... Our system checks the prices of every model of MacBook on all major retail websites so you can be sure you're always getting the best deal. All you need to do now is work out whether it's a MacBook, a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air that you want! NEW! 13-inch MacBook Air 2015 deals Now with faster storage and better battery life Like a pair of old trainers, Apple's 2015 MacBook Air is boring, familiar, reliable and more than up to the task. If you don't need tons of screen real-estate (or a half-decent screen for that matter), or prefer to hook your laptop up to an external monitor, it remains the most solid all-rounder out there today, whether you're desk-bound or frequently travelling. See the best PRODUCT NAME deals MacBook 2015 deals The latest MacBook has only one port for maximum thinness The New MacBook is the future, but it isn't for everyone just yet. The lack of USB ports and the need to buy an adapter (if you have peripherals and a monitor) will likely be the first dealbreaker, followed by its price. If you're still onboard after those potential pitfalls, the new MacBook is one of the most luxurious, compact and fun notebooks to use today. See the best Apple New Macbook 2015 Deals MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina display (early 2015) deals The fastest small MacBook Pro yet is a force of nature The new MacBook Pro for 2015 hasn't undergone a dramatic reimagining like the one above, but then there wasn't anything particularly wrong with it in the first place. Improvements to its performance mean it's better value than before, and the noticeably improved battery life makes it even more of a mobile workhorse. As ever the cost of adding memory and storage soon sends the price tag into orbit, but even the stock MacBook Pro is an incredibly versatile computer and arguably Apple's best ever laptop. The new MacBook may be more portable, but the Pro has all the power. See the best MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina display (early 2015) Deals MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina display (2014) deals Last year's best MacBook Pro is still a brilliant laptop There's plenty to like on the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina: from the still-impressive display to its excellent build quality, great keyboard and good (but not excellent) battery life. It may not be as portable as the MacBook Air, but it's far from cumbersome and its top notch build quality means you won't be worried about its welfare when carrying it around. See the best MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina display (2014) Deals MacBook Air 13-inch 2013 deals The slimmiest, most powerful MacBook Air ever Apple's often imitated but never bettered ultra-portable laptop puts in a strong, though not faultless, performance with this mid-2013 release, the sixth-generation of the MacBook Air. It offers significant improvements in its solid state storage speed, graphical power, battery life and wireless capabilities, but the processor's clock speeds actually take a backward step. But as we'll see, for most real-world applications, the MacBook Air 2013 matches or out-performs its predecessor. See the best MacBook Air 13-inch 2013 Deals More models of MacBooks coming soon

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