# 25 yearsof Excel



## VoG (Jan 2, 2011)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-...software-that-changed-the-world-25-years-ago/


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## Evagrius Ponticus (Jan 2, 2011)

Thanks for the article Peter - very interesting - I enjoyed the comments as well; some were hilarious


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## ziad alsayed (Jan 2, 2011)

thansk VoG, interesting article.


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## steve case (Jan 3, 2011)

Good read, thanks for posting. 
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## Felix Atagong (Jan 4, 2011)

Excellent article, 25 years already, I'm really getting old! (I used to work with Excel on DOS a century ago.)


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## Lewiy (Jan 10, 2011)

One thing that jumps out at me from that article (good link by the way!)<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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> For instance, he says, some of the options in the “Paste Special” function still seem obscure. “We did them because it seemed really cool that we could,”


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I wonder what he finds obscure about the Paste Special options?  Perhaps “Column Widths” is a bit odd (although arguably useful if you ever remembered to use it!), but I think I could find a reasonable purpose for everything else!


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## cornflakegirl (Jan 10, 2011)

Yeah, I wondered about that too. I think I've used everything except for Validation and Column Widths.


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## SydneyGeek (Jan 10, 2011)

I've used Multiply but have yet to use Add...

Denis


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## Lewiy (Jan 10, 2011)

SydneyGeek said:


> I've used Multiply but have yet to use Add...
> 
> Denis


 
I can’t say I’ve actually used all of them in “real life”, but certainly Add is one that crops up now and again for converting text to numbers over a large range of data.  And, in fact, you could use any of the operations for the same purpose.
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o> </o>
I think, perhaps they could streamline it a bit more, e.g. what’s the point in having “Formulas and number formats” when you could have check boxes instead of radio buttons for selecting the parts of the data that you want.  In all honesty, I have created a custom ribbon tab which covers all of the paste special items I use regularly as I find it annoying to have to go through the dialog window every time, but that’s not to say that the functions aren’t useful!!


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## SydneyGeek (Jan 10, 2011)

Lewiy said:


> I can’t say I’ve actually used all of them in “real life”, but certainly Add is one that crops up now and again for converting text to numbers over a large range of data.  And, in fact, you could use any of the operations for the same purpose.


I use Multiply for converting text to numbers. One of those either / or settings I guess.
<o></o>


Lewiy said:


> I think, perhaps they could streamline it a bit more, e.g. what’s the point in having “Formulas and number formats” when you could have check boxes instead of radio buttons for selecting the parts of the data that you want.  In all honesty, I have created a custom ribbon tab which covers all of the paste special items I use regularly as I find it annoying to have to go through the dialog window every time, but that’s not to say that the functions aren’t useful!!


Yep, I know what you mean. I once tried to rewrite the charting wizard, but it turned out to be a much bigger job than I expected at the time. 
Nothing wrong with trying to set up Excel as you want it 

Denis


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## Domski (Jan 10, 2011)

I know I've used them all at some point or another. Column widths is quite useful.

Dom


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## snowblizz (Jan 11, 2011)

Domski said:


> I know I've used them all at some point or another. Column widths is quite useful.
> 
> Dom


But why is there no row height?

I know I've used the "Add" once for something. And it really really helped me. And yes it was something banal like adding a +1 to everything.


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## xenou (Jan 21, 2011)

I use pastespecial columns frequently - I guess I'm into symmetry.   But "paste all except borders" is something I've never used, not even once.  Not even to see if it works   And I don't even know what "paste all using source theme" _means_.  Edit: Must be this is something new for 2010...those banded tables and such.

Interesting article.  I didn't know 2010 was a 25th anniversary but XL 2010 is a fine milestone for it.  Many more...

ξ


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## texasalynn (Jan 24, 2011)

I use most of paste special functions, but I admit I never paid attention to those other options such as column widths, all except borders.  Thanks for sharing the article.


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