Controlling randomization without VBA?

crochenemg

New Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2014
Messages
1
Greetings,

Currently, I have a spreadsheet of text data that I need random blocks of. I have managed to take the data from the source column and arrange it "randomly" over five columns, but it isn't quite random. For example, the first row only contains values from the first row of the source column (a a a a a, rather than a e g x u). Additionally, each row that follows only takes reference from the previous rows in the source column (1 - a a a a a, 2 - a a b a b, 3 - a a b c b).

Is there a way to assure that there is no repetition across columns?
a b c d e
a x c y e
is OK,
a a b c d
is not OK.

This is what I have:
=IF($D$2:$D$500="","",(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(RANDBETWEEN(ROW($D$2),ROW($D2)+ROWS($D$500)-1),RANDBETWEEN(COLUMN($D$2),COLUMN($D$2)+COLUMNS($D$500)-1)))))

Suggestions? Please :) Thank you!
 

Excel Facts

Select all contiguous cells
Pressing Ctrl+* (asterisk) will select the "current region" - all contiguous cells in all directions.

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