Looking for easy-to-follow guide for Numbers on iPad Pro

I think your question is likely too broad.

Spreadsheets mean many things to many people. I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all answer. Do you want a spreadsheet for financial tracking (whether checking account, stock portfolio, budgeting, savings?). Or maybe you want it for time tracking, or business invoicing, or to-do lists, or calendaring, or travel planning, or... a million other things.

At the very least you need to have some idea of what you're trying to do with the app, so that you can focus on that and not get sidetracked by all the other knobs, bells, whistles and features that you don't care about (yet).

The manual is only good at telling you what each button does when it's pressed. It's not good at telling you which buttons you need to press for your given use case.

At its heart, Numbers (and any spreadsheet) is simply a collection of rows and columns. Each cell in the column can contain data, and formulas can be used to relate and associate different cells together. But that's the technical low-down. It's power comes from being able to visualize, manipulate and perform calculations on your data, but only you know what what data is, and what you're trying to do with it, which is why a universal 'how-to' is so hard.

So the best way, in my opinion, is to have an idea of what it is you want to do, then strive towards that (and many people here and in other places will be happy to help). You can use the templates that come with Numbers as a starting point for ideas (but don't try to understand yet how they work their magic... just get an idea of what is possible, then forge your own path).

If you haven't done so already be sure to spend some time studying the built-in templates.

They are excellent examples of effective document design in Numbers, some more sophisticated than they first appear. They are a quick way to see some of the ways Numbers differs from Excel. Imagine, for example, trying to replicate the Calendar template in Excel!

Note that in Numbers you'll mostly want a formula to refer to an entire column rather than a range within a column as you would do in Excel. To do that just use the column letter (A not A:A).

Excel users often trip up on the way Numbers treats "times." Numbers has a Date & Time data format that stores a point in time as a date-time string, whereas Excel stores a point in time as a serial number. Numbers also has a Duration data format that expresses a span of time. Excel does not have a direct equivalent to Duration. Duration can greatly simplify date math because you can just subtract one date-time from another; no need to fuss with MOD and the like.

Also bear in mind that, unlike Excel, Numbers does not support most "array" functions. Excel can hold arrays in memory but with Numbers you have to put the arrays in a ranges of cells.

Otherwise, as an Excel user you will probably find Numbers quite familiar. For many light to medium tasks, it is more convenient than Excel. For large datasets, though, you will miss Excel.

SG

I think you miss my point... or maybe I missed yours.

If you're familiar with Excel, then you have some understanding of spreadsheets.

At its heart, Numbers is a spreadsheet application, just like Excel, and there is a direct correlation between the two when it comes to the basics (rows, columns, references, formulas, etc.) to the point where most things just work the same way. Even the formula syntax is identical. So it isn't clear what part of Numbers you're struggling with.

The most significant difference is that Excel uses a monolithic approach (each Excel sheet contains millions of cells (≈1m rows x 16,384 columns)), whereas Numbers adds one level of indirection in that a sheet contains one or more tables, where each table has its own set of rows and columns, and can grow independently:

Excel: Document -> Sheet(s)

Numbers: Document -> Sheet(s) -> Table(s)

For small setups (e.g. a single table per sheet), the difference is transparent to the point of irrelevance, but for larger setups the table separation can make for easier handling.

(Note: Excel does have a concept of 'Tables' for laying out tabulated data, but it's still integrated into the main grid on the sheet, not a distinct space as in Numbers).

I will say that Excel does have way more 'bells and whistles' that don't always have a direct equivalence in Numbers, but that's why I said that the learning curve depends a lot on what you're trying to do. If you're a power user and are looking for an equivalent to Excel's macros or VBA scripting, then you're out of luck since these aren't supported in Numbers. Likewise with Excel's array-based functions, which Numbers doesn't support.

When it comes to charting I find both Excel and Numbers equally frustrating... easy to get a basic chart, but both require a lot of tweaking to get the visual I'm looking for. Excel probably has the edge with a few additional chart types/features, but again it depends on what you're aiming for.

So, like I said before, the basics are very similar. Excel has some additional features/functions. Numbers is generally seen as easier to use. If you want to share specific 'how do I...?' questions I think you'll find lots of people here willing to step in and help out, but there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer to that question.