Turning Off AutoFill for a Workbook

The AutoFill feature of Excel can be a great timesaver when entering information. However, you may want to disable the feature for a particular workbook; perhaps you don't want the feature to be used by anyone using your workbook. Doing so is easy if you create a macro that can recognize when you are working with that particular workbook.

To turn off the AutoFill feature for a particular workbook, follow these steps:

1. Open the workbook for which you want to disable the AutoFill feature. (It should be the only workbook you have open.)
2. Press Alt+F11 to open the VBA editor.
3. Using the Project window, select the ThisWorkbook object within the workbook you opened in step 1.
4. Press F7. The Code window appears for the ThisWorkbook object.
5. Within the Code window, enter the following two macros:

Private Sub Workbook_Activate()
    Application.CellDragAndDrop = False
End Sub

Private Sub Workbook_Deactivate()
    Application.CellDragAndDrop = True
End Sub

6. Close the VBA editor.
7. Save your workbook.

The first macro is only run when the particular workbook is activated. In other words, when the workbook attains focus or is selected. When a different workbook attains focus, then the second macro is executed.