Excel equivalent for a 1-2-3 range selection keyboard shortcut?

[OxfordCurmudgeon]

Suppose a table with 6 columns and 1000 rows, so A1:F1000. I want to insert a column between C and D. That's easy and I now have A1:G1000 and all the cells in column D are empty. I fill cell D1 with a formula, format it -- and now I want to copy it to D2:D1000. This was trivially easy in 1-2-3. Control-C to copy cell D1 to the clip board. Click on cell C2 then Ctrl-Shift-Down Arrow which selects C2:C1000. Shift-Right Arrow selects C2:D1000. So far we're set; the same keystrokes work in Excel. In 1-2-3, I would now press the period key. That would move range anchor from C2 to D2. (If I pressing it, the anchor would move to D1000, then C1000 and then back to C2.) With the anchor in D2, I can press Shift-Right Arrow and now D2:D1000 are selected, and Ctrl-V Paste completes the copy operation.

In Excel, the only way to select cells D2:D1000 that I have found is to either scroll all the way down, press Shift and click on cell D1000 -- or put D1000 in the Name Box in the upper left corner and press Shift-Enter. While that technique is certainly fine, it only works if I know the cell address. The Lotus approach was simpler, faster, and more versatile. It's also so ideologically simple, I can't believe it doesn't have an Excel equivalent. Yet each time I've gone looking, I've come up empty. I'm hoping someone here can enlighten me.

 

[OxfordCurmudgeon]

Everything you mentioned seems to work fine in Excel you might need to be a little clearer on what you are trying to achieve.
eg
• Select ctrl+shift+down on C
• Shift right to select C & D or more
• Ctrl + Period to select the right corner
• Shift + right arrow to move the selection to Column D (and beyond if required)
• Ctrl D to copy down OR if you did a copy at the start ctrl+V to include formatting or another paste option if you didn't want the formatting
(for multiple columns Ctrl+R then Ctrl+D vice versa is also an option - but does include formatting)

I'm being given suggestions on how to create a new selection, and how to perform specific tasks, but none of them are as versatile as the capability that was provided in 1-2-3.

I'm not bashing Excel; in so many ways it is more powerful than 1-2-3. But I'm surprised to find one area where it is less powerful. Being able to move the range anchor may sound like a trivial capability, but it was VERY useful and more efficient than the Excel workarounds others have been kind enough to provide.

It would be trivial to implement in Excel, the user interface is already defined, and it doesn't conflict with the existing user interface. But the fact that it doesn't exist in Excel is evidence that it is not a feature others have been requesting. If Microsoft hasn't seen fit to add it yet, I'm not holding my breath.

 

[RoryA]

If you have an actual table (you said table in the original post but I suspect you just meant a range?) you wouldn't need to do anything other than enter the formula in D1 - it would autofill for the rest of the column.