# Basic Excel Autofill Formula Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-excel-autofill-formula-question/500411 "2009-06-20T19:24:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-excel-autofill-formula-question/500411/1 "2009-06-20T19:24:19Z")
I’m trying to do a simple auto fill, but I guess it’s not so simple, to me anyway. I want to auto fill a formula. I want the contents of cell A1 to be multiplied by 2 then 3 then 4, etc. So, I start with A1\*2 and try to autofill downward. I get A2_2 A3_2 A4\*2 when what I want is A1 to stay fixed while the multiplier is what changes, like this: A1_1 A1_2 A1\*3 How do I do this? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-excel-autofill-formula-question/500411/2 "2009-06-20T19:34:10Z")
OK, I found a website that talks about absolute reference, so I now have $A$1_2 $A$1_3 $A$1\*4 but when I autofill from there, it gives me repeats like this $A$1_2 $A$1_3 $A$1_4 $A$1_2 $A$1_3 $A$1_4 $A$1_2 $A$1_3 $A$1\*4 instead of increasing the multiplier from 2, 3, and 4, up to 5, 6, 7, etc. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-excel-autofill-formula-question/500411/3 "2009-06-20T19:34:13Z")
First, to keep the cell reference fixed, use $A$1. As to getting autofill to increment the second half of the formula, I can’t get Excel to do that. Unless someone else can, what you’ll need to do is use autofill to create the column of numbers you want to multiply $A$1 by, then in the top cell of the column next to that column, write a formula that multiplies $A$1 by the contents of the cell to the left of that column. Then you can copy that formula down. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-excel-autofill-formula-question/500411/4 "2009-06-20T19:41:08Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > First, to keep the cell reference fixed, use $A$1. As to getting autofill to increment the second half of the formula, I can’t get Excel to do that. > > Unless someone else can, what you’ll need to do is use autofill to create the column of numbers you want to multiply $A$1 by, then in the top cell of the column next to that column, write a formula that multiplies $A$1 by the contents of the cell to the left of that column. Then you can copy that formula down. ok, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-excel-autofill-formula-question/500411/5 "2009-06-20T20:01:57Z")
Try this: Column C: Fill it with your number increment (say, 1 to 100). You can do this by entering 1 in cell C1, and then highlighting the cells you wish to fill with numbers from 1 to 100 and then going to Edit \> Fill \> Series. Include C1 in your highlight because the fill needs to know what number you want to start off with. Column D: =CONCATENATE("$A$1\*",C1) in cell D1. Copy this down to the bottom in parallel with column C. The result should look like this: ```auto A B C D [blank] [blank] 1 $A$1*1 [blank] [blank] 2 $A$1*2 [blank] [blank] 3 $A$1*3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [blank] [blank] 100 $A$1*100 ``` Now, copy the contents of column D over to column B by using Copy and then Paste Special \> Values. Highlight column B and bring up the Find/Replace dialog box. Enter “$A” in “Find” and “=$A” in replace. Hope this works! ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-excel-autofill-formula-question/500411/6 "2009-06-20T20:11:23Z")
I have used the function ROW() for this kind of thing.