Names | Apply names

Both OAK and Excel offer Apply names commands.  Both versions of the command search through a spreadsheet for opportunities to replace coordinate references in formulas with names that have been defined by the user.

There is a lesson on the use of the Excel version of the command in Lesson E of the tutorial on names in this help.

The OAK version of the command is closely modeled on the Excel one, but has one very small convenience.

In early versions of Excel, it was possible to select a portion of the list of names offered by the Apply Names dialog by choosing one name, then holding down the Shift key while using the cursor up and down keys to extend the selection to neighboring entries.

A particular case of this facility was that it was possible to select the entire list of names with two keystrokes, Home (to get to the top of the list) and Shift+End to get to the bottom of the list, selecting as you go.

OAK restores this convenient facility which was lost when the way Excel handles list boxes was altered with release 5 of the program.  In that and all subsequent versions of Excel, selecting 20 names from the list requires 20 clicks of the mouse, or 20 presses of the space bar and 19 presses of an up or down arrow key.

Why you might want to USE it

To enthusiasts of using names in spreadsheets, selecting a single cell (Apply names follows the One-Cell rule) and applying every one the names that have so far been defined is a common and useful action.  Excel's dialog manager makes this impossibly slow.  OAK permits this in a few quick keystrokes and allows it to be performed whenever a few more names have been defined in a worksheet.

What you could do if you didn't have OAK

As noted, the OAK command is closely modeled on the Excel version and merely extends it.  All the actions it performs are achievable through the Excel user interface, but with considerable work.