Thanks Brian and Tom for your answers. I often use calc as a simplified database, where Base would be an overkill, and there I would often want several successive cells (vertically, corresponding to several records) to have the same value. Another problem is that it also works on strings which end in a number, so if I have "string001" and use autofill, I get "string002, string003" etc. I guess sometimes this can be useful and sometimes not. Your tip for holding down control should help there, too.
And I still think it's inconsistent - the 'wrong way round!' I'll check out edit>fill sometime, it sounds interesting. Thanks again /Gary ________________________________ From: Brian Barker <b.m.bar...@btinternet.com> To: users@global.libreoffice.org Sent: Tuesday, 16 September 2014, 13:04 Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] autofill in calc At 12:25 16/09/2014 +0100, Gary Collins wrote: >I've been using autofill and noted some things, not so much bugs but >queries about the way it works and if it could be better. No answer to your general points, but a few comments: >9) starting with a single cell, say, 2 in B1, and extending using >autofill, the 2 is incremented to 23,4,5.... etc., i.e. there is an >assumption that the increment should be 1. >Strictly speaking, it should be 0, since a single value doesn't have >an incremental value. To obtain a column containing the same figure >in all cells, it is necessary to enter the same value twice into >adjoining cells. Two points here: o It is generally bad practice to repeat the same value a number of times: it can be a recipe for mistakes. If you need the same value in multiple rows, it should appear in any necessary formula either as a constant or a reference to single cell elsewhere. Having it in a separate cell also makes it easier to modify, if that becomes necessary. o If you really do want to autofill cells without increment, you can do so by holding down Ctrl whilst dragging the fill handle. In addition, you can do cleverer things by first selecting the result range and then using Edit | Fill > | Series... . I trust this helps. Brian Barker -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
