In Excel, you can highlight the first few cells of a series, then click on the tiny little “+” in the bottom corner and drag it downward, to auto-fill with data that follows the series. Mighty damn convenient if you’re making long numbered lists.
(There are other ways to accomplish it, but this is mighty easy.)
Can it be done with keyboard stuff without the mouse? (Or trackball?) Press some key and hold it while using cursor-control keys to extend the range?
Or is it a mouse-only function? I’ve Googled and not found this.
Magically, every cell, a1 through a10 has a 1 in it! Not 1 through 10, but all 1s!
Whadidowrong?
More experimenting seems to show that Ctrl-D is “multiple copy” but not “auto-fill.” Auto-fill, where you click and drag on the tiny little “+” handle on the active cell, intelligently extrapolates patterns. From 1 and 2, it fills in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc.
I don’t think there’s a direct shortcut, but you can push Alt H F I and then the type of fill. Sounds like you want S for series. Note the lack of + signs: you are pushing them in succession. This is 2007 or later, but the shortcut should be similar in earlier versions except the H, I think.
Then either push **TAB **then type in a number **ENTER **to stop, or base it on the selection range.
Doesn’t seem to work. Alt-H puts me into a “Find and Replace” window. “F” and “I” don’t do anything from that point.
I wish I were a little better at macros… Since the highlighted area in question would be different every time, of different sizes, I’d have to do some real VBA programming.
I know it won’t kill me to keep using the mouse, but it strikes me as strange, because most Office operations have a keyboard-only option. (I like to minimize mouse reaches, 'cause I got a backache…)
Oops. My stupid. I was doing Ctrl, and you said Alt. Sorry.
(I used to work deskside customer support. I’m being just as stupid as the users I used to sneer at. Karma!)
But…no… Alt H F I fills in the highlighted area…but only with the value of the first (top) cell. Instead of 1, 2, 3, 4… I get 1, 1, 1, 1… It acts as a “Copy and Fill” rather than “Auto-Fill in the extrapolated sequence.”
I’m using Office 2010. I’ve searched their help files and I’ve Googled, but it seems that this simply may not be supported.
But…hey, I’ve learned how to copy and fill into a highlighted area, and that’s something I need to do a lot! So it’s been worth it, and thank you, seriously, for this!
Did you try pushing S at the end? Say you want the series: 2 4 6… 222 Alt H F I S. Then type 2 in the first box (Step Value) TAB, 222Enter. I think the only other requirement is that you first put the start value, so 2 in the first row, then select the entire column OR make sure that “column” and not “row” is checked in the series menu.
Trying to remember the menu sequence- Edit Fill Down. Type alt-E then F then D, then down arrow (or is it shift down arrow) to complete the fill. I’m not at my computer now, and I think there’s a slight difference, but you can try it.