Adding Shapes
- Go to Insert - Shape
- or -
Use the Shapes button on the Toolbar
(Your shape appears in the middle of the sheet on a new layer.)
- Grab to move it and
- change it using:
the Format Bar
the Graphic Inspector
the
Metrics Inspector
Make Your Shape Editable
- Select shape
- Go to Format - Shape - Make Editable
- Red handles appear that you can drag and use to re-shape.
- Double-Click a shape to add text. It may turn on its side when you do this, but after you add your text and click outside the shape - it will go back to the position it was in.
return to top
Adding Images
In Numbers you can add all QuickTime-supported formats, including the following file types:
- TIFF
- GIF
- JPEG
- PDF
- PSD
- EPS
- PICT
- Go to Insert - Choose...
- or -
Use the Media button on the Toolbar
- or -
Drag and Drop from a Finder window
- Your image appears in the middle of the sheet (on a new layer) with handles for re-sizing.
- If you want to make further adjustments:
Go to View - Show Adjust Image
Make Your Image a PDF
To maintain the crispness of greatly enlarged or reduced images, you can convert them into a PDF files before importing into Numbers.
- Open your image and enlarge or reduce it for Numbers.
- Now, open Grab (in your Applications/Utilities folder) and
- go to Capture - Selection and capture your re-sized image by
- dragging across it with your cursor (a red outline appears while you are dragging).
- When you release your mouse your captured image appears on the desktop.
- Then, while your're still in Grab
- go to File - Print...
- Click the PDF button
- and Save as PDF...
return to top
Masking Images
There is no crop tool in Numbers, so you may need to use a mask.
- Select image
- Go to Format - Mask - or - Mask with Shape
The default mask shape appears over the image. You can resize the mask and also move the image around under the mask:
- The Edit Mask slider lets you resize your image under the mask.
- The Edit Mask button lets you move and resize your image around underneath - or - move and resize your mask outline over the image.
- Shift-Hold to constrain size while using any handles to re-size.
To edit your mask further - do a search under edit mask in Numbers Help because this is a cheat sheet, not a how-to-do-everything sheet.
Create your own Mask Shape
- Create a shape to be used as a mask
- Select your image to be masked
- Shift-Hold and select your shape
- Go to Format - Mask with Selected Shape
return to top
Instant Alpha
Make image colors transparent:
- Select image
- Go to Format - Instant Alpha
- Instructions appear
(Option-Hold while dragging will make non-contiguous areas lose the same color. Contiguous means “sharing a common border; touching”.)
Goofed up? Go to Format - Remove Instant Alpha.
Insert Audio and Video Files
- Go to Insert - Choose...
- or -
Use the Media button on the Toolbar
- or -
Drag and Drop from a Finder window
- Double-Click the icon to hear/see your file.
- Use the QuickTime Inspector to make changes.
(Note: Loop Back and Forth literally plays your file forward and backwards. It’s quite fun.)
return to top
Layer Objects
- Select an object/image
- Go to Arrange and send its layer:
- Back (bottom layer)
- Backward (one layer back)
- Forward (one layer forward)
- Front (top layer)
Align and Move Objects
To align various objects/images:
- Move an image around and use the guide lines
- or -
Select - or - Shift-Select - or - Marquis-Select multiple images
- Go to Arrange - Align Objects - or - Distribute Objects
If you need to make objects move together:
- Shift-Select - or - Marquis-Select them until all their handles appear and
- go to Arrange - Group to make them a single object.
Any questions?
return to top |
