Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2017 July 13

= July 13 =

Excel
Formulas:

Result:

Is there a way to do this? --Loroon (talk) 01:31, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Just to make sure I understand, you want to a way to define Bn=2An, right ? Do they have a way to define a formula on columns, as opposed to cells, to give us B=2A ? StuRat (talk) 01:36, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * My $C$1 is an incredibly lengthy formula whose value is defined by a specific other value. These other values shall be listed in Column A, in no particular order. Then, I want every cell in Column B to refer to the 'template' formula in $C$1, so as to avoid typing that lengthy formula in every single cell in Column B. --Loroon (talk) 01:50, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * OK, so my description was correct, except that you want talk about it in general terms, so Bn = f(An), rather than the Bn = 2An example ? StuRat (talk) 04:32, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Yes. So how to do it? --Loroon (talk) 07:26, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * You could create a custom function in VB, it takes minimal coding experience, there are plenty of online guides. If you can do complex formulas you'll be able to do it. - X201 (talk) 07:42, 13 July 2017 (UTC) - X201 (talk) 07:42, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * It probably takes minimal coding experience, but I have none at all, and have no idea where to start. Could you show me what to do exactly? --Loroon (talk) 11:14, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * You probably don't realise this, as you say "to avoid typing that lengthy formula in every single cell in Column B" - but if you create the formula in cell B1, and copy and paste it to the other cells in column B, the formula is automatically adjusted to point to the cell in column A that you want it to. So there's no need to do a lot of typing - just type it once and copy and paste it. Phil Holmes (talk) 15:13, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * I'm aware of that, sorry for using the wrong term. The problem is that it's a list of several thousand values already, and will be growing. So good ol' copy-pasting the formula or dragging it down results in a massive file size, so I'm looking for ways around this. And by the way, the template formula in fact contains more than one parameter (there are also ☎, ♜, ☕), but I guess I'll easily figure out how to do them all once you teach me how to do just ★. --Loroon (talk) 16:20, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Well, you can use the CELL function to return the address of a cell, and then SUBSTITUTE can substitute this address for ★ (or any other string) in the template formula that you have stored in $C$1. So in each cell in column B you can store a string which represents the formula that you want to evaluate. But then you need some way of telling Excel to interpret the string contents of a cell as a formula (the opposite of FORMULATEXT) and I don't think Excel has an built-in function that does this. Gandalf61 (talk) 12:09, 14 July 2017 (UTC)

Youtube comments
How do you put a paragraph break in Youtube comments? Because I've written a yuge comment regarding military strategy in a possible war with North Korea, and tried to break it up into several paragraphs, but Youtube just keeps collapsing it into one humongous paragraph which is well-nigh unreadable! 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:0:0:0:CDF0 (talk) 05:30, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * I've encountered this problem before, where they strip out the blank lines and return characters. I suggest multiple posts, one for each paragraph.  The only other option is using some character they won't strip out, like a bunch of periods, to create a separation between paragraphs.  That will look ugly, but at least should be more readable.  Some type of a numbered list also helps with the problem of the person recalling where they stopped reading, if they don't read it all at once. StuRat (talk) 13:07, 13 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the bad news! So the only solution is either to break it up into multiple posts, or else fill out the line with periods when starting a new paragraph? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:0:0:0:CDF0 (talk) 00:15, 14 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Anyone who reads comments frequently will see that there are a lot that just stop in mid-sentence. Looks like YT may be taking steps to stop the tactics suggested here. Akld guy (talk) 11:04, 14 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Probably not.... You should always take care about people who offer general advice without any actual experience with the particular thing they are commenting on. Certain people on the RD seem to do that a lot. While it's true somethings refuse to let you use line breaks or paragraphs, sometimes even though their edit window lets you insert them, I regularly use paragraphs on Youtube using line breaks without problem. Just to check, I tried just now and had no problem. This applied to both direct comments to a video, and replies to a comment. As well as comments to person's profile and replies to comments to a person's profile. If you are commenting somewhere else on Youtube, well I can't say for sure you can use paragraphs there but I suspect you can.  I have no idea what your particular problem is since you've given very few details. For example is the stripping happening before or after you post or in another load of the page after you post or what? All I can say for sure is it's fine for me on the desktop website, and IIRC using the mobile app. (I'm not sure if the line breaks show up on email and other notifications etc.) If you are writing your comments somewhere else and copying them to the edit window and the paragraph breaks are you lost after you copy, a combination of interactions between the browser edit window, browser paste format and interpretation, original source copy formats etc may result in the breaks being lost. I suggest you copy to a simple text editor, e.g. Notepad on Windows beforehand and then copy something else to the clipboard e.g. a single word and make sure it worked, and then copy the whole text from the text editor before pasting into the edit window. (The intermediate step isn't really necessary but will reduce possible confusion if you fail to copy from the text editor for some reason.) If it still doesn't work, then probably just re-insert the breaks after pasting to the edit window. You sometimes need to use shift+enter to insert line breaks but not generally with Youtube, although I can't recall offhand what happens if you're editing comments. If your breaks are lost after posting and it's the desktop site, it's possible this is some interaction between your browser and Youtube so I'd try a different one. Note that weird stuff can sometimes happen when you edit comments (especially with rich text editors), Youtube isn't quite so bad but still if at all possible try doing things refresh rather than editing.  Incidentally I thought you were going to give up on "contributing anything useful to this terrorist propaganda project anyway?!"?  Nil Einne (talk) 14:32, 14 July 2017 (UTC)

Where does
'My Saves' folder of Google sit, e.g., in my mobile ? (I can see my saved pics only by 'view saved'). Is it on a 'cloud', accessible from any device ? בנצי (talk) 06:22, 13 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Is it so difficult or unknown issue ? Destined to remain an orphan question ? Looking forward. בנצי (talk) 07:24, 15 July 2017 (UTC)

Compass app
Could you refer me to a good and reliable compass that doesn't require internet or GPS and all other on-line connectivity rubbish. I wish to use it off-line. Also, without the hassle of calibration issue please. 116.58.205.146 (talk) 16:19, 13 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Is this OK? Ruslik_ Zero 20:36, 13 July 2017 (UTC)
 * When buying a physical compass, you must be aware of compass balancing. Compass110.22.20.252 (talk) 23:42, 13 July 2017 (UTC)
 * A .apk file type from Google Play Store. 116.58.202.34 (talk) 18:44, 14 July 2017 (UTC)
 * They all use your phone's built-in compass sensor, so their accuracy will be the same.
 * If your phone's compass sensor requires calibration, then every app will make you calibrate. That's just how your phone works.
 * I use Compass Pro by Gamma Play, it works fine offline. You might find that many of the free ones will insist on internet access so they can serve advertisements. ApLundell (talk) 22:12, 15 July 2017 (UTC)

On the line alternative to MS Access
I am buying a new computer and although I could probably port my MS Office license, I aim to jump to Google Docs to replace MS Word and Google Sheets to replace MS Excel. What can I use to replace MS Access?

["On the line" is a reference to a joke in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.] Hayttom (talk) 19:05, 13 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Google does not have an application similar to MS Access. So, you will need a third party application like here. Ruslik_ Zero 20:34, 13 July 2017 (UTC)