https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=149356
--- Comment #31 from ady <adylo811...@gmail.com> ---
We are once again suggesting behaviors and shortcuts without careful
consideration.
Using different shortcuts or obtaining different behaviors in different tools
just makes it more difficult to (most) users, and the more-specific shortcuts
and behaviors are only used by a minority of users, who must be specifically
aware of them. Minor difference in behavior and users get annoyed and confused.
The use of F4 in Calc comes to mind (as a very simple case), but not only that
one.
Considering Eike's comment 23:
> Note that the current implementation looks for (preferred) data left of the
> start of the selection, or if not found looks for data at right (apparently
> no one noticed, because everyone tested with existing data to the left?).
It is a hint that users might not really need _shortcuts_ for different areas
to be considered for AutoFill, and that having data on the left-side column is
the most common situation. Moreover, the right-side column is already being
considered (according to the same quote), just not with the algorithm that
Colin would want for his needs.
Parallel situation: VLOOKUP (index must be first column) vs. alternative Calc
functions.
There should also be an additional consideration: clicking or grabbing by
mistake just the AutoFill handle instead of the inside of the cell, while
pressing some additional key (alt, ctrl, shift, whatever); the result would not
be the original intention. Mispositioning the mouse pointer is more common than
you might think, especially for users with accessibility problems.
IIRC, MS Excel takes the longest of the adjacent columns when double-clicking
the AutoFill corner handle. Unfortunately, I don't have access to MS Excel ATM
for me to corroborate this.
Since Calc is already considering both adjacent columns (see comment 23), my
suggestion would be to also take the longest of the two as priority (with same
considerations as the current ones, such as finding an empty cell), instead of
adding shortcuts just to modify the precedence. Same as Excel (IIRC).
>From users' perspective, the algorithm is simple to understand and to use. RTL
layouts would behave exactly the same. And in case the desired AutoFill
expansion would be for the shortest column, deleting ("extra") data after the
initial AutoFill is simple enough with already-known shortcuts.
Ideally, Calc should allow for keyboard+mouse shortcuts to be configurable just
as keyboard-only shortcuts, but that would be a different request report.
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