macOS/OS X Numbers 3.2 inserting date / time

Question

I want a cell to take on the date and time of "this moment", and then leave it.

Contrary to some experiences I've read about, the Insert menu does have Date & Time, but it doesn't seem to respect the format I've specified for the cell. I used the Cell formatting inspector to declare the cell as Date & Time, 1/5/14, 7:08 PM. I entered text-insertion mode on the cell, and selected Insert > Date & Time. It inserted Friday, July 4, 2014 (and no time). When I then selected the cell (you know, one click, which outlines the cell, as opposed to two clicks which puts you into text insertion mode), the inspector said the cell's format had reverted to Automatic. I switched it back to Date & Time but now it reads 7/4/14 12:00 (it's really more like 1:50).

The whole thing is anti-intuitive and zany to me. Can someone tell me what's the right way to command Numbers to insert the current date and time into a cell, and then leave it? (=NOW continues to update)

UPDATE 1

The three methods I've tried for entering the current date and time into a cell are:

• Enter text-insertion mode in a cell, Insert > Date & Time (which enters just the Date, as Friday, July 4, 2014), enter cell-selection mode on the cell, and change the format to Date & Time (which changes it to Friday, July 4, 2014 12:00 AM). So, not that one.
• Enter text-insertion mode in a cell, type =NOW (which enters 7/4/14 1:31 PM and changes all other instances of cells with =NOW to 7/4/14 1:31 PM !!). So, definitely not that one.
• Enter text-insertion mode in a cell, type 7/4/14 1:34 pm which gets changed to 7/4/14 1:34 PM (i.e. 'pm' got capitalized), indicating that Numbers did recognize it as a date/time. This works. But it's less than satisfactory, to put it mildly.

I can't imagine this is working as Apple intended.

Answer 1

I believe Insert > Date & Time (and its two companions) are intended for use in headers and footers. These are available after choosing File > Print. When used there, the inserted date can be clicked for a little popup formatter and button to manually reset the time to now.

The feature you want, an auto-generated NOW cell that does not change, is apparently not available.

Option A: Put the NOW function into a cell somewhere. It shows the current time. Copy the cell, then Edit > Paste Formula Results into the cell you want to have the unchanging time.

Option B: Use a general macro app (like the amazingly capable Keyboard Maestro) to generate your date/time text and paste it into a cell.

In both cases, choose the date and time formats you want on the final cell.

(Numbers 3.5.3 used for this answer)

Answer 2

Taken from this post by Andy Taylor

Apple Script snippet do shell script "date +%Y-%m-%d\\ %H:%M\\

Open Automator.app

Create a new Service

Set it to receive selected text in any application

Check the ‘Output replaces selected text’ tick-box

Insert the ‘Run AppleScript’ action

Copy and paste the above AppleScript

Press run to make sure it works

Save the .workflow file to ~/Library/Services

Open the Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts system preference pane, select Services in the left column, then find the Service you just created.

Assign a keyboard shortcut. I use Command + Option + d

As Andy notes, the requirement is that this text replaces selected text. So in Numbers.app select some text, trigger your script via hotkey, and the text will be replaced.

Please note that you will have to restart Numbers.app to get this to work if you have it open while creating your Automator / Applescript / Keyboard-shortcut work.

Answer 3

Insert the Date & time into your a cell in your spreadsheet. Immediately cut that cell's contents (Cmd-X) then Paste Formula Results (Cmd-Shift-V). This pastes the contents as static text, formatted as you've formatted the cell: the value will not change, even after re-opening the spreadsheet. Note that you can still change the cell formatting after pasting -- it will use the original value that you pasted, so you can "add" hours, minutes, and seconds after the fact.

Answer 4

I'm assuming this refers to excel. in formula bar type =now() then press F9 (while cursor is still in the formula bar). Cell should now contain current date and time.

Answer 5

Try entering function as = DAY(NOW())&"/"&MONTH(NOW())&"/"&YEAR(NOW())

Answer 6

it should work if you first enter the content (in your case =NOW) and then format the cell.

if you enter a formula as content it goes per default always to automatic.

If you wana now why? - It's because this. Thinking from the View of a Developer what would happen if a user adds in a formula witch generates text and not a date/time but has before assinged a Dateformate to the cell -> the Whole Application would crash so -> no go -> needs to have an other solution -> so what else maybe detect that it won't work and ask the User to change to a possible format -> what when the user sometimes does it correct (also show the Format choose dialog or not also what if he knows what hes doing, and don't want to see any dialog) -> result Dialog message is not a good solution so what else maybe doing a switch to automatic always -> its always the same so users get used to it and it works although a user doesn't know what hes doing. Only down point users have to get used to it to first enter data and then formating it. But wait shouldn't they even been used to it caused by Text/Letter Writing Applications . YES its really the same there first enter content/text then formatting it.

So i hope now it is clear why you have to first enter the formula and then second change the formate of the cell.