If you do not know what flash fill is, like me, this page shows a video of the feature: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/save-time-with-fl...
Seems like a lot more work than doing Data > Text to Columns :)
Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
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Re: Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
#12Fun fact: Powershell 5.1 has a `Convert-String`[1] cmdlet that is a Flash Fill implementation for CLI. You can do these inferences in Command Line.
[1]https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft...
Re: Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
#13This is very cool and I was unaware of this feature. Are there any open source libraries that perform similar tasks? I can think of a few uses for this in data cleanup as long as it can handle the input not being super clean.
As I understand it, this technology is heavily patented.
Re: Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
#14This is very cool and I was unaware of this feature. Are there any open source libraries that perform similar tasks? I can think of a few uses for this in data cleanup as long as it can handle the input not being super clean.
Powershell has the same functionality in Convert-FromString
Re: Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
#15> I went from searching for the hardest problem I can solve to searching for the simplest problem that will have the most impact. This is a fantastic framework to pursue when, for instance, joining a new organization. You can quickly have an outsized impact just by looking for common pain points. As a corollary, it’s very useful to spend lots of time using your own product and talking to the users!
this is something I'd pay to be addressed in most companies / institutions.
Every tool they buy (physical or digital) is always 60% fit, but adding a few bits on top would propel it above 80% and make everybody's days a bliss.
Most applications I've seen are designed for generic tasks, except that workers have a very regular set of tasks, if software could be tailored a bit to this (prefill stuff, save clicks) you cut fatigue and errors buy a huge figure.
This can have a serious social impact, last gig there were thousands of lawsuits waiting in a hall because nobody wants to type them in since the software requires to rewrite everything from scratch even if 80% of the data is identical.
Re: Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
#16am I the only one that finds this feature distracting and unhelpful? Most of the times the recommendations are wrong, and then it's just more visual noise/keystrokes.
Do you try giving more examples? I find it usually only takes a few corrections to get it right.
You can turn it off if you don't like it. https://superuser.com/questions/766967/how-can-i-turn-off-fl...
Re: Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
#17Fun fact: Powershell 5.1 has a `Convert-String`[1] cmdlet that is a Flash Fill implementation for CLI. You can do these inferences in Command Line. [1] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft...
I was hoping to browse the source for that cmdlet on github but it’s missing :-(
Re: Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
#18> I went from searching for the hardest problem I can solve to searching for the simplest problem that will have the most impact. This is a fantastic framework to pursue when, for instance, joining a new organization. You can quickly have an outsized impact just by looking for common pain points. As a corollary, it’s very useful to spend lots of time using your own product and talking to the users!
this is something I'd pay to be addressed in most companies / institutions. Every tool they buy (physical or digital) is always 60% fit, but adding a few bits on top would propel it above 80% and make everybody's days a bliss. Most applications I've seen are designed for generic tasks, except that workers have a very regular set of tasks, if software could be tailored a bit to this (prefill stuff, save clicks) you cu…
This is one advantage of the world switching to webapps over desktop apps. It’s trivial for me to create a chrome extension that enriches or modifies the UI of a bought product.
Add an extra menu of common tasks- no problem. Add a datalist dropdown of options to a textbox where the options come from another service dynicamlly? - again no bother but usability of the vendor product went up substantially.
Re: Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
#19am I the only one that finds this feature distracting and unhelpful? Most of the times the recommendations are wrong, and then it's just more visual noise/keystrokes.
It's mostly correct in my experience, but maybe it's because I've learned what it can/can't do. And when it does what it is supposed to do, it can be very useful.
Re: Story of the Flash Fill Feature in Excel
#20How does it handle middle name, or composite first name and second name ?