Who created this monster!

[Robert Murrell]

I knew how to do this the last time I used Excel last year.

I have Excel 2000. I have a worksheet with a number of columns. Row 1
contains column headings. Row 2 contains data. Most of the cells are text.
Some are numbers. A few have formulas, like =(C2*10) + (D2*5).
Row 3 contains some column totals and is always meant to be the last row.
Now I have entered all the data in row 2 and at the last column of my data.
How do I open a new row following the row I just entered maintaining the
formulas but automatically adjusting the references? This would be a new
row 3. The totals row would now be row 4. Underneath the column that has
the formula =(C2*10) + (D2*5), there should be a new formula
=(C3*10)+(D2*5).

Using the Insert Row menu command, a new blank row is inserted, but none of
the formulas are replicated. And copy/pasting the formula from the previous
row doesn't change the cell references. I would expect entering Ctrl-Enter
at the last column would do what I want, like adding a new row in a Word
table. Why is something so fundamental to a spreadsheet so hard to do? Why
is that annoying animated graphic that is supposed to help so useless? Why
are there no tutorials with this product?

Remove '-dummy' to reply, or just post here.

 

[Robert Murrell]

Will relative references automatically be added to cells that have formulas
when I insert a new row? I can copy and paste a row and the absolute
references will automatically adjust. So I have a blank template line that
I can paste in. However, I have to insert a row, copy the template, paste
it in the new row, and fill in the cells. This seems insane to me. I just
want to add a new line and fill it out.

 

[RWN]

Not sure what you're getting at, but;
Inserting a row will not automatically bring down any contents of the
prior row (and, believe it or not, you wouldn't want it to!).

 

[Robert Murrell]

I want to be in data entry mode. Enter a line of data, hit return, enter a
line of data, hit return. I don't want to enter the formulas each line. I
want the values in the numeric cells to be processed in a different cell,
and then I want that column totalled in the last row. It seems like a
simple, fundamental thing that any spreadsheet should do.

 

[Jonathan Rynd]

I want to be in data entry mode. Enter a line of data, hit return,
enter a line of data, hit return.

Sounds like you want a database rather than a spreadsheet. Databases can
have calculated columns.

Two ways I see to do this in Excel:
1. Use a macro that automatically copies down the formulas to that line.
2. Copy down the formulas yourself as far as they need to go.