Getting Started with Numbers on Mac: Lesson 7 - Understanding the concept of Tables and inserting multiple tables on a Sheet

In this episode of the AppleVis Podcast, Gaurav returns with Lesson 7 in the ongoing series on mastering Numbers, Apple’s free spreadsheet app for Mac.

This lesson focuses on organizing data efficiently in Apple Numbers. Unlike Excel’s single-grid layout, Numbers offers a more flexible, canvas-like approach where multiple tables can coexist on a single sheet. Gaurav demonstrates how to manage tables for different quarters of budget data, making it easier to structure and access your information.

Key Concepts Covered

Understanding Tables in Numbers

• Numbers allows multiple tables per sheet, treating each sheet as a flexible workspace
• Distinct from Excel’s traditional grid-based format

Using the Sheet Navigator

• Access the window spots menu with VO + U
• Navigate through and interact with sheets
• Rename, duplicate, or delete tables as needed

Working with Multiple Tables

• Add multiple tables to a single sheet
• Use VO and arrow keys to move between them
• Rename each table for clarity and structure

Managing Tables Effectively

• Customize titles and captions
• Remove unnecessary rows and columns
• Organize data by period (e.g., Quarter 1, Quarter 2)

Advantages of Using Multiple Tables

• Quickly shift between distinct data sets
• Enhance visual clarity, especially for sighted users

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI Note Taker – VoicePen, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Gaurav: Okay folks, so in this lesson we are going to discuss about tables. Now tables are different tables you can have on your sheet in Numbers. And what you want to understand is that unlike Microsoft Excel, Numbers doesn't treat each sheet as a massive grid. It instead treats it like a blank canvas where you can have multiple tables. In Excel, it is treated as one massive grid.

Gaurav: Now I'll show you what I mean by that and why it's useful to work with various tables on your canvas on a sheet in Numbers. So I'm back on my Numbers table. I'm going to hit VO plus U for umbrella to open the window spots menu.

GauravVoiceOver: Sheet navigator tab group. I'm going to go here, hit enter.

VoiceOver: Sheet navigator tab group.

Gaurav: I'm going to VO shift down arrow to interact.

VoiceOver: In budget sheet selected tab.

Gaurav: Budget sheet. That's the name I've given to this sheet where we have our January, February, March budget. Here I can hit VO shift M for menu or do the contextual click.

GauravV/oiceOver: table one rename ellipsis duplicate show sheet options cut sheet copy sheet paste sheet delete table one rename ellipsis so here currently i have various options of what options i have with this sheet i'm just going to rename it duplicate rename ellipsis you are currently i'm going to rename it to

Gaurav: My budget. I'm going to go back into the Sheet Navigator menu. VOU.

VoiceOver: Sheet Navigator tab group.

Gaurav: VOU shift down arrow to interact.

VoiceOver: My budget.

Gaurav: So that is the name we have now given to the sheet where we have the January, February, March budgets. It is called my budget. That's the name of the sheet. That will become important later on. But just remember, it's always good to give a name to each of your sheets so that you know which sheet you're working on. So let's now go into the sheet.

VoiceOver: In text, out of text, my budget, sheet menu, button, sheet menu, my budget, my budget.

Gaurav: My budget.

VoiceOver: You are currently on a, in text, my, out of text, sheet, sheet name.

Gaurav/VoiceOver: sheet selected radio button one of one here in again let's go back into the sheet navigator menu view view shift m

Gaurav: And here you can see that in the sheet options we have table 1. So it's showing that we only have one table where we have January, February, March and all of its values. It is being treated as one single table. Now let's go VOM to go into the menu bar. Table.

Gaurav/VoiceOver: Insert. Here we are. Into the insert menu. We're going to hit down arrow. Table. Here we're going to press right arrow to explore this table menu.

VoiceOver: Table. Submenu. Headers. Basic. Headers.

VoiceOver: Basic. Plain.

Gaurav: Here I'm getting different types of tables which I can insert into my existing sheet. I'm going to select headers.

Gaurav: Table 2. So now it's inserted a second table into my sheet called My Budget. Let's just explore again. VO plus U to go to the Windows Sports menu.

VoiceOver: Sheet Navigator.

Gaurav: Enter. Interact. In My Budget. And here VO Shift M for contextual click. down arrow. So you can see that now when we do a contextual click it is showing that there are now two tables in the sheet called my budget. Let's see what we can do with these two tables.

Gaurav: I'm hitting VO plus left and right arrow and as you can see on the sheet we are now jumping between the two different tables on the sheet.

Gaurav/VoiceOver: one caption empty caption nine row table two ten rows five table one so now i'm on table one i'm going to hit vo command space actions menu open up an actions menu edit caption remove catch deselect all edit table title remove unused rows remove unused columns remove unused rows and columns press Remove unused rows and columns.

Gaurav: I'm going to first remove the unused rows and columns so that I don't have extra rows and columns in this table.

VoiceOver: One column removed. Actions.

Gaurav: And now I'm going to hit again VO command space to go into the actions menu on the table.

VoiceOver: Actions menu. 10 item. Edit caption. Remove caption. Deselect all. Edit table title. Remove unused. Edit table title.

Gaurav: Edit table title. I'm going to hit enter.

VoiceOver: Edit text. Actions available.

Gaurav: And I'm going to now type. Quarter 1 for the title of this table because it's covering January, February, March. Quarter 1. Now that's the name I've given to this table. So now let's explore VO left and right arrow keys.

Gaurav: So table 1 has now been renamed to quarter 1. So that means it's all the budget I want in the first quarter of the year, January, February, March. And that's in one single table. I can now navigate to the second table, VO right arrow. I'm going to interact, VO shift down arrow. And here now I can...

Gaurav: navigate and explore within the second table in my sheet called My Budget. So here I'm going to put in, in the first table I had January, February, March. In this table I'm going to put April, May, June.

VoiceOver: So row header cell cell column header cell row header cell cell A1.

Gaurav: I'm in cell A1 of table 2. I'm going to go to B2.

VoiceOver: Column header cell caps lock off. cash log off in ppl column header cell cell c1 actions in a y column header in u and e april empty april column header cell april column header cell cell b1 may column header cell cell c1 june column header cell cell d1

Gaurav: Okay, so I have April, May, and June now across the top, and I'm going to come back. And I have now got two tables. The first table has data for April, May, and June. I've created a second table. Sorry, the first table is January, February, March. The second table is April, May, and June. And now I'm going to insert the data into the second table.

Gaurav: So I have now created a second table within my sheet wherein I have got the quarter two data.

Gaurav: I'm going to rename this table as well. I hit V or shift up arrow to come out of the table.

Gaurav: I'm going to hit VO command space.

VoiceOver: Actions menu.

Gaurav: Add caption.

Gaurav/VoiceOver: Edit table title. And now if we hit VO left and right arrow keys. You can see that now we are jumping between two different tables on the same sheet.

Gaurav/VoiceOver: One is quarter one, one is quarter two. So this is useful for you to be able to quickly separate and jump between different pieces of information on the same sheet. And also for sighted people, it's a great way to visually separate out content on a single sheet. Hope that's helpful. Thank you.