First of all, Excel is not Numbers, and Numbers is not Excel.
There are some fundamental differences in approaches that mean things don't always work the same way you expect them to, but investing a little time in understanding these will save you time (and money!) in the long run.
> Data Sorting. In Excel you can highlight a single column of numbers and go to Data and sort easily. In Numbers you can't do this which seems absolutely basic? When you try to it sorts data on either side of it too which wasn't wanted.
This is one of the key differences between Numbers and Excel.
Excel is monolithic - each sheet is a single range of (potentially) millions of cells. All cells share the same row/column space.
Numbers adds one extra layer, in that a sheet contains one or more tables, where each table is distinct (has its own row/column addressing scheme).
Now, most of the time we don't deal with thousands of columns of data, and millions of rows, so most Excel users get around this by logically breaking the sheet into sections, just moving off screen to hide. Some of this is a hangover from a time before Excel supported multiple worksheets in a single document, but it's pervasive.
When you have a single sheet in multiple logical chunks, it makes sense that you would want (nay, need) the ability to sort separate chunks independently.
However, in Numbers' model, all the data in a given table is expected to be related, and therefore you absolutely want to maintain row-level integrity when you sort.
Consider the following Transaction data (taken from Numbers' Personal Budget template):
Now, if I were to sort this by category (column C) it's critical that all the other columns in this table follow suit, otherwise I'm losing which transactions occurred on each day, and the first 'Groceries' transaction would appear in the 'Auto' category, which is fundamentally wrong.
Now, in Excel, you may have additional non-related data over in columns X, Y, Z that you absolutely don't want to sort with these transactions, and THAT is why you need to be specific about which columns you want to sort in Excel. In this example, there is NEVER a case where columns A, B, C, and D should be sorted independently from each other, but you do want them separate from X, Y, and Z.
The Numbers' approach would be to put those X, Y and Z columns in a different table (even if on the same sheet). Now you can sort this transaction table at will, knowing that the other table is immune to any changes.
It's really quite useful once you get to understand it.
> In Excel you can highlight a row or column press Command and pick multiple locations to paste to which has do be done individually in Numbers.
I'm not sure what you mean here. In Numbers, I can absolutely select a cell/range/column and copy it, then select some other cells/ranges/columns, using Command-click to select discontiguous areas, then paste and the copied data is filled in just like I'd expect.
Here, I made a little movie to show:
So I'm not sure what's not working for you.
> I highlight particular cells using the colour palette in Excel. In Numbers this palette is unavailable to the same extent.
Need a little more information here as to what you're missing.
I think both Excel and Numbers have pretty similar tools for basic cell coloring. Excel puts it in the ribbon, Numbers in the Inspector. Excel has a better concept of palettes with complimentary colors, so there is that, but Numbers adds support for complex color gradients in-cell and images, while Excel does better for heat-mapping. Without knowing what features you're looking for, it's hard to know what to advise here.
At the end of the day the apps are not the same. They're both spreadsheets, but they have different background and target audiences. There's going to be some learning curve in switching between them (either way), but you're always welcome to provide feedback if there's something you feel worth raising: Feedback - Numbers - Apple
