Here's the thing about copying a formula down 94,837 rows: it should not require a Reddit post. The fact that a user had to ask how to do this, that they had to clarify the cells were not in a table and that the rows below were empty, tells you everything you need to know about the gap between what spreadsheets offer and what users actually need. This person wasn't trying to do something exotic. They were trying to repeat a selection down a long column. That is a basic, repetitive task. And yet, the default tools made it feel like a puzzle.
The proposed workaround, selecting the range, typing the row number into the name box, pressing Shift+Enter, then pasting, works. It is clever. It is also a symptom. When a user has to memorize a multi-step keyboard ritual to accomplish what should be a single intuitive action, the tool has failed them. The fact that the subreddit community supplied a working answer is a credit to that community, not to the software. The real solution is not a better shortcut. It is a system that understands intent. An AI-native spreadsheet should see a selected range, see 94,837 empty rows below, and ask: "Do you want to fill these down?" Not require a manual navigation trick.
This is what makes the moment interesting. The old paradigm treats the grid as a passive canvas. You supply the logic. You supply the navigation. You supply the patience to scroll. The new paradigm treats the grid as an active partner. It should recognize patterns, anticipate repetitive actions, and eliminate the friction between what you want to do and how you do it. Copying a formula down 94,837 rows is not a power-user move. It is a chore. And chores should be automated, not celebrated as hacks.
Our take is simple: the user who posted this question is not the problem. They are the evidence. The tool they were using was built for a world where 94,837 rows was an edge case. That world is gone. The next generation of spreadsheets will not make you ask how to copy a formula down a column. It will ask you what you want to do with the results. That is the shift that matters.