Copying Cells to Fill a Range

Summary: Excel provides two really helpful shortcuts you can use to fill a range of cells, either horizontally or vertically. These shortcuts will help make you r data-entry tasks a breeze. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

Excel provides a pair of nifty shortcut keys that can be used to copy cells down and to the right. For instance, let's say you want to copy the contents of cell C3 to the fifteen cells just below it. All you need to do is select the sixteen cells (making sure that cell C3 is the top cell in the selection) and then press Ctrl+D. Cell C3 is copied to all the other cells below it.

Likewise, if you want to copy cells to the right, you can simply make a selection and press Ctrl+R. The value of the left-most cell in the selection will be copied to its right, filling out the selected range.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2353) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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