AutoFill

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'AutoFill' topic. Click the article's title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

AutoFill Won't Work as Expected
AutoFill is a great tool for filling cells with data. What do you do when it doesn't work like you expect, however? Here's some ideas to examine.

AutoFilling from a Custom List
AutoFill can be a real timesaver if you often work with set lists of data. You can define your own custom lists and then use them over and over again, as described here.

AutoFilling with the Alphabet
Creating your own custom word search puzzles in Excel can present you with an interesting problem: how to fill a range of empty cells with letters of the alphabet. It turns out that there are several different ways you can accomplish the task, as this tip details.

AutoFilling with Weekdays
You can easily use Excel's AutoFill feature to place the days of the week in a range of cells. With a small change in how you use the feature, you can also fill the range with only the weekdays Monday through Friday.

Fast AutoFill
Want to fill a long column with predictive data? It's easy to do by using AutoFill and a double-click of the mouse.

Quick AutoFill Variations
The AutoFill feature of Excel can be very handy. Most people are not aware that there are a number of ways you can use the feature, and all those methods are only a right-click away.

Skipping Rows when Filling
Using the fill handle is a great way to quickly fill a range of cells with values. Sometimes, however, the way to fill cells with what you want may not be immediately clear. What if you want to fill a range of cells but skip every other cell, leaving it blank?

Turning Off AutoFill
AutoFill can be a great timesaver when adding information to a worksheet. Even so, some users may not want the feature to be available, so Excel provides a way to turn it off.