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Excel Course: AutoFill series

Autofill often saves you a considerable amount of time because it prevents you from having to repeat the same operation over and over.

Start by entering the number 1, and the number 2 immediately below it, as shown here:

selection excel autofill series

We're going to increment up to 20.

To do this, place the mouse pointer on the lower right hand corner of the selection, then click and drag downards until you see the number 20.

fill cells excel autofill series

Release the mouse button for the following result:

filled cells excel autofill series

Another way to achieve the same AutoFill: Enter the number 1 in A1:

cell excel autofill series

If you do the same as in the previous example, you will see this result:

fill cell excel autofill series

Then choose "Fill Series":

fill series excel autofill

AutoFill Series can also be applied to days, months, dates, times, etc.

Here is an example of this:

cells selection excel autofill series

The result:

autofill view excel series

If you would like a different interval, do as shown immediately below:

change interval excel autofill series

In this case, the result will be as in the image below:

results autofill excel series

Example Using a Function

The selected cell contains the sum of the values shown in the frame.

sum function excel autofill series

Now let's go ahead and do the AutoFill:

autofill function excel series

The result is 2 new values, each of which is the sum of the values in its column:

results autofill function excel series

AutoFill Formatting

Example of how to use Autofill for formatting, given the following 2 rows.

rows excel autofill series

Just select and AutoFill the rows.

selection 2 rows excel autofill series

This will be the result:

autofill formatting excel series

Exercise

Here is an exercise that will help you put everything you've learned in the first 5 lessons into practice: exercise5.xlsx