In Excel: add a Paste-Special Option to paste IN REVERSE ORDER.

In Excel, we have the ability to Paste-Special/Transpose a sequence of copied
cells:

When copying a horizontal line of cells, and choosing
Paste-Special/Transpose, the pasted cells are pasted vertically in order.

In the next upgrade of Excel, programmers should add functionality that will
allow a user to Paste-Special/Reverse a copied sequence of cells:

When copying a horizontal line of cells, and choosing Paste-Special/Reverse,
the pasted cells are pasted horizontally in REVERSE order.

I believe that this functionality enhancement would be found to be
significanly beneficial for intermediate to expert users of Excel
Spreadsheet.

Thanks!


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http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...heet.functions

stan-the-man wrote...
....
>When copying a horizontal line of cells, and choosing Paste-Special/Reverse,
>the pasted cells are pasted horizontally in REVERSE order.
>
>I believe that this functionality enhancement would be found to be
>significanly beneficial for intermediate to expert users of Excel
>Spreadsheet.
....

Why? Besides, expert users already know how to reverse ranges using
formulas. Given a 1D range Rng that should be reversed in A99:#99 (# a
placeholder for the final column),

A99:
=INDEX(Rng,COLUMNS(Rng)+1-COLUMNS($A99:A99))

Fill A99 right. That's the general solution. If you knew you had an 11
cell range, you could shorten the formula to

A99:
=INDEX(Rng,COLUMNS(A99:$K99))

Fill A99 right into B99:K99.

Your explanation explains why it would be much simpler to have the
functionality built into a few keystrokes (Copy - Paste-Special - Reverse) as
opposed to having to draw out an elaborate formula to do so for you.

Of the following, which would be more efficient to do:

To key in three commands (Copy - Paste-Special - Reverse), or
To write a formula 44-characters long?

Thanks for validating the usefulness of this new functionality idea.

"Harlan Grove" wrote:

> stan-the-man wrote...
> ....
> >When copying a horizontal line of cells, and choosing Paste-Special/Reverse,
> >the pasted cells are pasted horizontally in REVERSE order.
> >
> >I believe that this functionality enhancement would be found to be
> >significanly beneficial for intermediate to expert users of Excel
> >Spreadsheet.
> ....
>
> Why? Besides, expert users already know how to reverse ranges using
> formulas. Given a 1D range Rng that should be reversed in A99:#99 (# a
> placeholder for the final column),
>
> A99:
> =INDEX(Rng,COLUMNS(Rng)+1-COLUMNS($A99:A99))
>
> Fill A99 right. That's the general solution. If you knew you had an 11
> cell range, you could shorten the formula to
>
> A99:
> =INDEX(Rng,COLUMNS(A99:$K99))
>
> Fill A99 right into B99:K99.
>
>

stan-the-man wrote...
>Your explanation explains why it would be much simpler to have the
>functionality built into a few keystrokes (Copy - Paste-Special - Reverse) as
>opposed to having to draw out an elaborate formula to do so for you.
....

But the functionality would be useful to a very small subset of Excel
users, so, mercifully, it's extremely unlikely ever to afflict Excel.
The good news is that this feature is absent from the Excel 2007 beta,
so we won't be seeing it for years if ever.

So then what you are saying is that you are so small-minded that you don't
look for enhancement-opportunities. You only look for opportunities to show
how much of a smart aleck you can be: opinionated and derogatory.

If it is not showing up in the Excel 2007 beta, it is because they haven't
thought about it yet. Look for it in future versions. I am a visionary.
You are opinionated. The future will prove this statement to be true. Watch
and learn.

"Harlan Grove" wrote:

> stan-the-man wrote...
> >Your explanation explains why it would be much simpler to have the
> >functionality built into a few keystrokes (Copy - Paste-Special - Reverse) as
> >opposed to having to draw out an elaborate formula to do so for you.
> ....
>
> But the functionality would be useful to a very small subset of Excel
> users, so, mercifully, it's extremely unlikely ever to afflict Excel.
> The good news is that this feature is absent from the Excel 2007 beta,
> so we won't be seeing it for years if ever.
>
>

stan-the-man wrote...
>So then what you are saying is that you are so small-minded that you don't
>look for enhancement-opportunities. You only look for opportunities to show
>how much of a smart aleck you can be: opinionated and derogatory.

No, I'm saying many features requested by less experienced users are
unnecessary because the functionality already exists, though often it
requires formulas.

If everyone got to add a feature to Excel, it'd never be able to run.
There's a trade-off between more features and huge-and-slow. To me,
Excel is already huge and slow, so adding ever more unnecessary feature
only worsens the problem. Your suggestion would make Excel worse for
me, so I react acordingly. If you can't handle that, wait a few years
until you grow up, then come back to the newsgroups.

>If it is not showing up in the Excel 2007 beta, it is because they haven't
>thought about it yet. Look for it in future versions. I am a visionary.
>You are opinionated. The future will prove this statement to be true. Watch
>and learn.

You just don't know how to use the alternatives. Nothing visionary
unless you like the view ostriches have when they bury their heads.

I do agree that I'm opinionated. You're not?

This 'feature' has been suggested every couple of months or so in the
Excel newsgroups for that last decade at least. It's likely some of
those people have made the suggestion to Microsoft. It's not in Excel
2007 because Microsoft programmers can figure out for themselves that
it's not widely requested. It can be done using formulas. It can be
done by adding an adjacent row or column filled with sequential
numbers, sorting, and removing the added row or column. It can be done
by macros. Why add it to Paste Special? As for Paste Special >
Transpose, it could have been added for Lotus 123 compatibility way
back when Excel had less market share than 123.

I've watched Excel's progress since the first Mac version. I have no
doubt your pet feature won't make it into Excel during the remainder of
my working life (a few more decades). After that I won't much care. For
the next 3 versions at least, it'll be you who has the opportunity to
learn, but likely you'll miss the opportunity yet again.

You don't get it.

This argument is futile because you are not going to get it.

The future will prove you wrong on this point. When you see that Excel WILL
have this functionality built into it, you will learn that you did not get
this point.

Until then, ***** and moan all you want, because you don't understand enough
to get it.

"Harlan Grove" wrote:

> stan-the-man wrote...
> >So then what you are saying is that you are so small-minded that you don't
> >look for enhancement-opportunities. You only look for opportunities to show
> >how much of a smart aleck you can be: opinionated and derogatory.
>
> No, I'm saying many features requested by less experienced users are
> unnecessary because the functionality already exists, though often it
> requires formulas.
>
> If everyone got to add a feature to Excel, it'd never be able to run.
> There's a trade-off between more features and huge-and-slow. To me,
> Excel is already huge and slow, so adding ever more unnecessary feature
> only worsens the problem. Your suggestion would make Excel worse for
> me, so I react acordingly. If you can't handle that, wait a few years
> until you grow up, then come back to the newsgroups.
>
> >If it is not showing up in the Excel 2007 beta, it is because they haven't
> >thought about it yet. Look for it in future versions. I am a visionary.
> >You are opinionated. The future will prove this statement to be true. Watch
> >and learn.
>
> You just don't know how to use the alternatives. Nothing visionary
> unless you like the view ostriches have when they bury their heads.
>
> I do agree that I'm opinionated. You're not?
>
> This 'feature' has been suggested every couple of months or so in the
> Excel newsgroups for that last decade at least. It's likely some of
> those people have made the suggestion to Microsoft. It's not in Excel
> 2007 because Microsoft programmers can figure out for themselves that
> it's not widely requested. It can be done using formulas. It can be
> done by adding an adjacent row or column filled with sequential
> numbers, sorting, and removing the added row or column. It can be done
> by macros. Why add it to Paste Special? As for Paste Special >
> Transpose, it could have been added for Lotus 123 compatibility way
> back when Excel had less market share than 123.
>
> I've watched Excel's progress since the first Mac version. I have no
> doubt your pet feature won't make it into Excel during the remainder of
> my working life (a few more decades). After that I won't much care. For
> the next 3 versions at least, it'll be you who has the opportunity to
> learn, but likely you'll miss the opportunity yet again.
>
>

stan-the-man wrote...
>You don't get it.
>
>This argument is futile because you are not going to get it.

One of us doesn't get it, and only the future will show which of us
that is.

>The future will prove you wrong on this point. When you see that Excel WILL
>have this functionality built into it, you will learn that you did not get
>this point.

The immediate past (the last 10 years or so) have proven me right. The
next two years will continue to prove me right because the next version
won't have this feature. How far off into the future do you mean?

>Until then, ***** and moan all you want, because you don't understand enough
>to get it.

I don't have to whine. It's mercifully not in Excel now, it won't be
for certain in the next few years, and I'm quite confident it won't be
for the next few decades.