defaultsformattingnumbers
In Numbers, I've seen how to change the default cell colour and font, based on table styles.
But how can one change the default number formatting? The default "American" formatting for dates, for example, drives me nuts, and it's often the first thing I change in every new spreadsheet I create!
I would like dates to automagically take on YYYY-MM-DD format — especially if I enter them that way! But currently, they revert to DD mon YY format.
Unfortunately, it does not appear so. In fact, when you check the "Accounting Style" button, you may notice that the $ symbol up in the toolbar actually gets deselected. From Numbers's perspective, accounting style is different from the standard currency style present in the toolbar.
You can, if you like, define your own custom cell style that does what you want. You can see here, I've added an "Accounting" style in the drop down menu:
And my "Accounting" style is defined like this:
Really, though, I don't know that accessing things through the drop-down menu is going to be any more convenient for you than just hitting the "Accounting Style" checkbox.
I found the following tutorial at Apple that has the answer to my own question: The default table styles are always taken from the table style list that you choose from the panel on the bottom-left corner of the screen.
The solution to my problem is to use the Create New Table Style command under the Format menu and adding a brand new table style. As long as this new style remains selected, it is the one that the table will keep as a whole.
I have tried this at home and it works as advertised.
Best Answer
You do not change it in Numbers.
You change the the system date format from the Language & input system Prefpane. Change the Region to United Kingdom.
Next time you launch Numbers the format will be as you want.
You can use the Custmize buttons to set the look of the dates