Numbers

By AppleForAll, 2 June, 2021

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hello everyone,
I bought a new Macbook Pro with a M1 chip last year. My original plan was to work with Logic Pro and this seems to work quite well for me. The hardware is amazing. so I thought I could try out some other apps, again. Many years ago I worked on a Mac for quite a while but I moved back to Windows because of to many VoiceOver related bugs and inconsistencies .
So I took a look at Numbers and first I liked it a lot. It seems to be easy to navigate and it offers all I need to do my calculations. But I realized that one of the core parts, the formula editor, does not seem to be accessible. When I press equals "=" on a cell I can type in a formula but VO doesn't read the numbers I'm pressing and I also cannot move around with the arrow keys. I first have to chose a convert to text option to be able to read it. I also have no access to the list of formulas and functions. Sometimes, when I press the first letter of a function, I can chose from a list by pressing Arrow Down but it is unpredictable if it works.
What are your experiences with Numbers? I'm not sure if it is worth to be explored 'cause MS Office just seems to have a far more accessible navigation. Is Apple working on better accessibility here or should I just stick with Logic on the Mac and forget about the rest?
Sorry for my slightly negative tone but sitting in fromt of such a powerful device with a just not so well-developed VoiceOver support is frustrating. :(

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Comments

By Andy Lane on Saturday, May 29, 2021 - 18:28

Hi, as subject said I wanted to use Numbers about 5.or 6 years ago but it just wasn’t possible because of longstanding bugs like the one you identified that apple appears to have no interest in resolving. Also keyboard support was better in Excel.

By AppleForAll on Saturday, May 29, 2021 - 18:28

Um, it's just kinda weird. Next to my Macbook Pro, wich is the best performing device I ever owned, sits a Surface Pro 7. Its look is kinda old and its speakers are terrible. Also in regards of performance it is far behind the Mac. Still, I have to do all my office work on it 'cause I'm just so much faster and NVDA is such more efficient and consistent. I really hope Apple decides to bring their focus to VO on the Mac. It would be such a great device. But in the end you have to be able to do your professional work on these devices. And at its current state I can use it for my audio editing and for doing Zoom calls and stuff. But I'm absolutely depending on my Surface.. and probably will depend on it for a long time. :(