If, however, you hold down Ctrl while you drag the fill handle, Excel then fills out the series (17, 18, 19, and so on).

For example, a worksheet may require you to title the columns with the 12 months, from January through December, or to number the rows from 1 to 100.

Drag And Drop Rows In Excel How To Fill Out

In most cases, AutoFill is smart enough to figure out how to fill out the series for you when you drag the fill handle to the right (to take the series across columns to the right) or down (to extend the series to the rows below).

If you drag a cell selection with the white-cross mouse pointer rather than the AutoFill handle, Excel simply extends the cell selection to those cells you drag through.

If you drag a cell selection with the arrowhead pointer, Excel moves the cell selection.

You can then fill a series by dragging this fill handle with your finger or a stylus.

For example, you can fill the series or copy the entry to the range to the left or right of the cell that contains the initial values, or you can fill the series or copy to the range above or below the cell containing the initial values.

You cant, however, fill or copy the series to two directions at the same time (such as down and to the right by dragging the fill handle diagonally).

After extending the range with the fill handle, Excel either creates a series in all of the cells that you select or copies the entire range with the initial value.

To the right of the last entry in the filled or copied series, Excel also displays a drop-down button that contains a shortcut menu of options.

You can use this shortcut menu to override Excels default filling or copying.

But, if you wanted a sequential series (such as 10, 11, 12, and so on), you do this by selecting the Fill Series command on the AutoFill Options shortcut menu.

To do this, you simply enter Jan in cell B2 and then position the mouse pointer (or your finger or stylus) on the fill handle in the lower-right corner of this cell before you drag through to cell G2 on the right.

To display this menu, you click the drop-down button that appears on the fill handle (to the right of Jun) to override the series created by default.

To have Excel copy Jan into each of the selected cells, select Copy Cells on this menu.

All the sample series shown above change by a factor of one (one day, one month, or one number).

You can tell AutoFill to create a series that changes by some other value: Enter two sample values in neighboring cells that describe the amount of change you want between each value in the series.

Make these two values the initial selection that you extend with the fill handle.

After selecting both cells, drag the fill handle across the cells to the right as far as you need to fill out a series based on these two initial values.

When you release the mouse button or remove your finger or stylus from the screen, Excel follows the example set in the first two cells by entering every other day (Wednesday to the right of Monday, Friday to the right of Wednesday, and so on).

To copy a text entry to a cell range, engage the Ctrl key while you click and drag the fill handle.

Drag And Drop Rows In Excel Plus Sign Appears

When you do, a plus sign appears to the right of the fill handle your sign that AutoFill will copy the entry in the active cell instead of creating a series using it.

If you decide after copying an initial label or value to a range that you should have used it to fill in a series, click the drop-down button that appears on the fill handle at the cell with the last copied entry and then select the Fill Series command on the AutoFill Options shortcut menu that appears.

Drag And Drop Rows In Excel For Mac