Fill data automatically in worksheet cells

For fast data entry, you can have Microsoft Office Excel automatically repeat data or you can fill data automatically.What do you want to do?

Automatically repeat items already entered in the column

Use the fill handle to fill data

Fill data into adjacent cells

Fill formulas into adjacent cells

Fill in a series of numbers, dates, or other built-in series items

Fill data by using a custom fill series

Automatically repeat items already entered in the column

If the first few characters that you type in a cell match an existing entry in that column, Excel automatically enters the remaining characters for you. Excel automatically completes only those entries that contain text or a combination of text and numbers. Entries that contain only numbers, dates, or times are not automatically completed.

Do one of the following:

• To accept a proposed entry, press ENTER.

  The completed entry exactly matches the pattern of uppercase and lowercase letters of the existing entry.

• To replace the automatically entered characters, continue typing.
• To delete the automatically entered characters, press BACKSPACE.

Notes:

• If you don't want entries that you type to be completed automatically, you can turn off this option.

  How to turn automatic completion of cell values on or off

  1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
  2. Click Advanced, and then under Editing options, clear or select the Enable AutoComplete for cell values check box to turn automatic completion of cell values on or off.
• Excel completes an entry only when the insertion point is at the end of the current cell contents.
• Excel bases the list of potential AutoComplete entries on the column that contains the active cell . Entries that are repeated within a row are not automatically completed.

Use the fill handle to fill data

You can use the Fill command to fill data into worksheet cells. You can also have Excel automatically continue a series of numbers, number and text combinations, dates, or time periods, based on a pattern that you establish. However, to quickly fill in several types of data series, you can select cells and drag the fill handle .

The fill handle is displayed by default, but you can hide it.

How to hide or display the fill handle

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
2. Click Advanced, and then under Editing options, clear or select the Enable Fill handle and cell drag-and-drop check box to hide or display the fill handle.
3. To avoid replacing existing data when you drag the fill handle, make sure that the Alert before overwriting cells check box is selected. If you don't want to receive a message about overwriting nonblank cells, you can clear this check box.

After you drag the fill handle, the Auto Fill Options button appears so that you can choose how the selection is filled. For example, you can choose to fill just cell formats by clicking Fill Formatting Only, or you can choose to fill just the contents of a cell by clicking Fill Without Formatting.

If you don't want to display the Auto Fill Options button every time you drag the fill handle, you can turn it off.

How to turn Auto Fill Options on or off

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
2. Click Advanced, and then under Cut, Copy, and Paste, clear the Show Paste Options buttons check box.

Fill data into adjacent cells

You can use the Fill command to fill the active cell or a selected range with the contents of an adjacent cell or range, or you can quickly fill adjacent cells by dragging the fill handle .

Fill the active cell with the contents of an adjacent cell

1. Select an empty cell below, to the right, above, or to the left of the cell that contains the data that you want to fill in that cell.
2. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Fill, and then click Down, Right, Up, or Left.

   

Tip To quickly fill a cell with the contents of the cell above or to the left of it, you can press CTRL+D or CTRL+R.

Drag the fill handle to fill data into adjacent cells

1. Select the cells that contain the data that you want to fill into adjacent cells.
2. Drag the fill handle across the cells that you want to fill.
3. To choose how you want to fill the selection, click Auto Fill Options , and then click the option that you want.

Note If you drag the fill handle up or to the left of a selection and stop in the selected cells without going past the first column or the top row in the selection, Excel deletes the data within the selection. You must drag the fill handle out of the selected area before releasing the mouse button.

Fill formulas into adjacent cells

1. Select the cell that contains the formula that you want to fill into adjacent cells.
2. Drag the fill handle across the cells that you want to fill.
3. To choose how you want to fill the selection, click Auto Fill Options , and then click the option that you want.

Tips

• You can also fill the active cell with the formula of an adjacent cell by using the Fill command (on the Home tab in the Editing group) or by pressing CTRL+D or CTRL+R to fill a cell below or to the right of the cell containing the formula.
• You can automatically fill a formula downward, for all adjacent cells that it applies to, by double-clicking the fill handle of the first cell that contains the formula. For example, you have numbers in cells A1:A15 and B1:B15, and you type the formula =A1+B1 into cell C1. To copy that formula into cells C2:C15, select cell C1 and double-click the fill handle.

Fill in a series of numbers, dates, or other built-in series items

Using the fill handle, you can quickly fill cells in a range with a series of numbers or dates or with a built-in series for days, weekdays, months, or years.

1. Select the first cell in the range that you want to fill.
2. Type the starting value for the series.
3. Type a value in the next cell to establish a pattern.

   For example, if you want the series 1, 2, 3, 4, 5..., type 1 and 2 in the first two cells. If you want the series 2, 4, 6, 8..., type 2 and 4. If you want the series 2, 2, 2, 2..., you can leave the second cell blank.

   More examples of series that you can fill

   When you fill a series, the selections are extended as shown in the following table. Items separated by commas are in placed in individual adjacent cells.

   Initial selection	Extended series
   1, 2, 3	4, 5, 6,...
   9:00	10:00, 11:00, 12:00,...
   Mon	Tue, Wed, Thu,...
   Monday	Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,...
   Jan	Feb, Mar, Apr,...
   Jan, Apr	Jul, Oct, Jan,...
   Jan-99, Apr-99	Jul-99, Oct-99, Jan-00,...
   15-Jan, 15-Apr	15-Jul, 15-Oct,...
   1999, 2000	2001, 2002, 2003,...
   1-Jan, 1-Mar	1-May, 1-Jul, 1-Sep,...
   Qtr3 (or Q3 or Quarter3)	Qtr4, Qtr1, Qtr2,...
   text1, textA	text2, textA, text3, textA,...
   1st Period	2nd Period, 3rd Period,...
   Product 1	Product 2, Product 3,...

4. Select the cell or cells that contain the starting values.
5. Drag the fill handle across the range that you want to fill.

   To fill in increasing order, drag down or to the right. To fill in decreasing order, drag up or to the left.

Tips

• You can also specify the type of series by using the right mouse button to drag the fill handle over the range and then clicking the appropriate command on the shortcut menu . For example, if the starting value is the date JAN-2002, click Fill Months for the series FEB-2002, MAR-2002, and so on; or click Fill Years for the series JAN-2003, JAN-2004, and so on.
• If the selection contains numbers, you can control the type of series that you want to create.

  How to fill cells with a series of numbers

  1. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Fill, and then click Series.

     

  2. Under Type, click one of the following options:
     • Click Linear for a series that is calculated by adding the value in the Step value box to each cell value in turn.
     • Click Growth for a series that is calculated by multiplying the value in the Step value box by each cell value in turn.
     • Click Date for a series that fills date values incrementally by the value in the Step value box and dependent on the unit specified under Date unit.
     • Click AutoFill for a series that produces the same results as dragging the fill handle.
• You can suppress AutoFill by holding down CTRL while you drag the fill handle of a selection of two or more cells. The selected values are then copied to the adjacent cells, and Excel does not extend a series.

Fill data by using a custom fill series

To make entering a particular sequence of data (such as a list of names or sales regions) easier, you can create a custom fill series. A custom fill series can be based on a list of existing items on a worksheet, or you can type the list from scratch. You cannot edit or delete a built-in fill series (such as a fill series for months and days), but you can edit or delete a custom fill series.

Note A custom list can only contain text or text mixed with numbers. For a custom list that contains numbers only, such as 0 through 100, you must first create a list of numbers that is formatted as text.

How to format numbers as text

1. Select enough cells for the list of numbers that you want to format as text.
2. On the Home tab, in the Number group, click the arrow on the Number Format box, and then click Text.

   

   Tip You may have to click More to see Text.

3. In the formatted cells, type the list of numbers.

Use a custom fill series based on an existing list of items

1. On the worksheet, select the list of items that you want to use in the fill series.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
3. Click Popular, and then under Top options for working with Excel, click Edit Custom Lists.
4. Verify that the cell reference of the list of items that you selected is displayed in the Import list from cells box, and then click Import.

   The items in the list that you selected are added to the Custom lists box.

5. Click OK twice.
6. On the worksheet, click a cell, and then type the item in the custom fill series that you want to use to start the list.
7. Drag the fill handle across the cells that you want to fill.

Use a custom fill series based on a new list of items

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
2. Click Popular, and then under Top options for working with Excel, click Edit Custom Lists.
3. In the Custom lists box, click NEW LIST, and then type the entries in the List entries box, beginning with the first entry.

   Press ENTER after each entry.

4. When the list is complete, click Add, and then click OK twice.
5. On the worksheet, click a cell, and then type the item in the custom fill series that you want to use to start the list.
6. Drag the fill handle across the cells that you want to fill.

Edit or delete a custom fill series

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
2. Click Popular category, and then under Top options for working with Excel, click Edit Custom Lists.
3. In the Custom lists box, select the list that you want to edit or delete, and then do one of the following:
   • To edit the fill series, make the changes that you want in the List entries box, and then click Add.
   • To delete the fill series, click Delete.

See also:

• Enter data manually in worksheet cells