display engineering format in macos Numbers

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Level 1

4 points

display engineering format in macos Numbers

I saw the other posts regarding set up engineering format display in numbers, I am not successful of it.

how can I set up engineering notation in … - Apple Community

I am able to set it up properly in excel and when I open the excel using numbers, the format looks correct to me but the custom format display cannot be cloned to other numbers format.

As you noticed the example output is 1.34e-7, but what i expected in engineering format output should be 134e-9.

once I modified the above format, it will roll back to something different.

In a summary, the only way to make the engineering format work in macos numbers is to open the engineering format in excel file and then copy the format there to numbers.

Let me know if there is a way to set up the engineering format from scratch in numbers.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.5

Posted on Aug 20, 2025 02:34 PM

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Answer 1

SGIII

Level 8

37,172 points

Aug 20, 2025 06:47 PM in response to CnMuggle

I don't think there is a way in Numbers to apply an engineering format to a number.

It seems possible, but kludgy, to display engineering format as text with something like this, with the number in A2:

=FIXED(A2÷POWER(10,INT(LOG(A2,base)÷3)×3),6,TRUE)&"E+"&INT(LOG(A2)÷3)×3

But not being an engineer I don't know if that gives correct results.

Use ; instead of , in the formula if your region uses , as the decimal separator.

If the Excel route is working for you then that is probably better.

SG

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Answer 2

Badunit

Level 7

29,772 points

Aug 21, 2025 07:02 AM in response to CnMuggle

Given that the custom format settings appear to let you choose how many digits you want to the left of the decimal but then ignores that choice leads me to believe this is a feature they didn't finish implementing. The only way I see to make and use this format is to get it from Excel (and make sure you never edit it in Numbers).

You can send your request (or bug report) to Apple via the menu item Numbers->Provide Numbers Feedback

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