Copying Formulas using a Pattern

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 24, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


10

Suppose you have a worksheet that contains a series of formulas in cells A1:A3. Cell A1 contains the formula =Sheet1!B4, cell A2 contains =Sheet1!B18, and cell A3 contains =Sheet1!B32. You might need to continue this pattern down the column, such that A4 contains =Sheet1!B46, etc.

The problem is, if you simply copy the cells, the pattern isn't continued. Instead, the formulas are adjusted based on the target cell's relation to the source cell. Thus, if you paste A1:A3 into A4:A6, then A4 will contain =Sheet1!B7, which is not what you want. (This happens whether you specifically copy and paste or fill the cells by dragging the fill handle.)

There is no way to continue a pattern while copying a formula. Instead, you need to revisit how you put the formula together in the first place. For instance, consider this formula:

=INDIRECT("Sheet1!B"&((ROW()-1)*14)+4)

This formula constructs a reference based on the position of the cell in which the formula is placed. If this formula is placed in cell A1, then the ROW function returns 1, the row in which the formula is placed. Thus, the formula becomes this:

=INDIRECT("Sheet1!B"&((1-1)*14)+4)
=INDIRECT("Sheet1!B"&(0*14)+4)
=INDIRECT("Sheet1!B"&0+4)
=INDIRECT("Sheet1!B"&4)
=INDIRECT("Sheet1!B4")

What is returned is the value at Sheet1!B4, just as originally wanted. When you copy this formula down the column, however, the ROW function returns something different in each row. In effect, the ROW function becomes a way to increase the offset of each formula by 14 rows from the one before it--just what you wanted.

You can also use a slightly different approach, this time using the OFFSET function:

=OFFSET(Sheet1!$B$4,(ROW()-1)*14,0)

This formula grabs a value based on the row in which the formula is placed (again, using the ROW function) and offset from cell Sheet1!B4. Placed into the first row of a column and then copied down that column, the formula returns values according to the pattern desired.

Another approach is to create the desired formulas directly. You can best do this by following these steps:

  1. Start with a new, blank worksheet in a workbook containing a worksheet named "Sheet1."
  2. In cell A1 enter the formula =Sheet1!B4.
  3. Since the formula pattern is every 14 rows, highlight the range A1:A14. Only the first cell should have the formula; the other 13 are blank.
  4. Drag the fill handle (the small square at the lower-right corner of the selection downward for a good number of rows--perhaps 1,000 or so. The range A1:A1000 should still be highlighted.
  5. Choose Edit | Go To | Special. Excel displays the Go To Special dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  6. Figure 1. The Go To Special dialog box.

  7. Click the Blanks option button, then click OK. All the blank (empty) cells in the selection are selected.
  8. Choose Edit | Delete | Shift Cells Up/

The result is that you end up with only the formulas, with the pattern desired.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3067) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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Comments

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What is 7 + 0?

2020-07-13 10:51:15

Brian

Weluzudi, this was perfect for my needs! When I had a duplicate, I manually adjusted the formula by changing the '+1' to '+2' or '+3' as needed (only had 150 occurrences. And I was able to adjust to read from a separate sheet: =IFERROR(INDIRECT("'Sheet2'!J"&((ROW()-1)*1/2)+1),"")


2019-11-04 00:05:32

Wolf

OMG Weluzudi,

you just made my day!
I was looking for this solution left right and center and the only way other people managed to do it was by macro.

The best tricks are always in the comments...


2018-12-19 20:44:54

Weluzudi

I needed to do almost the opposite. I needed the formula to increment by 1 every 22 rows, leaving the 21 rows between blank. I used a modification of the formula above and it worked great. Here is what I used:

=IFERROR(INDIRECT("J"&((ROW()-1)*1/22)+1),"")

The information was in column "J".

The "IFERROR" portion handles the error received when the resulting row calculation is not an integer and puts a blank in that cell.

Hope someone finds this useful. I have been looking for this solution for a while, but today I really needed it.

Thanks.


2018-05-16 11:38:23

Willy Vanhaelen

Probably you can only do it by using a macro. Here is a small one that will do the job:

Sub SheetPtrn()
Dim R As Integer, X As Integer, Y As Integer
R = 99 'number of rows to fill
For X = 1 To R Step 3
Y = Y + 1
Range(Cells(X, 1), Cells(X + 2, 1)) = "Sheet1!A" & Y
Next X
End Sub


2018-05-15 19:42:16

r

How do you reference a sheet in a pattern of threes? Like this:

Sheet1!A1
Sheet1!A1
Sheet1!A1
Sheet1!A2
Sheet1!A2
Sheet1!A2
Sheet1!A3
Sheet1!A3
Sheet1!A3

I have thousands of rows I need to autofill for & cannot do this by hand.


2018-01-27 22:16:16

Ben

This solved the exact problem I was having. I spent a good 10 min trying to understand the formula once I put it in excel because I didn't see the explanation below hahaha. You are quite simply a genius. To thank you I clicked on every ad on your site a good 20 times a piece.


2017-07-06 06:09:01

BOB

How can I use this for every nth COLUMN instead of ROW?


2017-02-16 08:21:32

Shaun

Essentially, I am trying to retrieve data from every 9th row (11, 20, 29 ) in a range of cells in 1 column, which I think is very similar to the example you've given, I just can't seem to make it work.


2017-02-16 08:14:09

Shaun

Hi there,

Thanks for this post, just had 1 question - in the formula below what is the function of the (+4)?

=INDIRECT("Sheet1!B"&((ROW()-1)*14)+4)

Cheers!


2017-01-04 10:57:07

Daniel

Really helpful!


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