Microsoft Excel 2016 – Fill data automatically in worksheet cells

Instead of entering data manually on a worksheet, you can use the Auto Fill feature to fill cells with data that follows a pattern, or that is based on data in other cells.

Filling data into adjacent cells by using the fill handle

To quickly fill in several types of data series, you can select cells and drag the fill handle Fill handle.

To use the fill handle, you select the cells that you want to use as a basis for filling additional cells

Then drag the fill handle across or down the cells that you want to fill.

Note: By default, the fill handle is displayed, but you can hide it, or show it if it's hidden.

After you drag the fill handle the Auto Fill Options button is displayed.

To change how you want to fill the selection, click Auto Fill Options Button image, and then click the option that you want.

Note: If you don't want to display the Auto Fill Options button every time that you drag the fill handle, you can turn it off. Likewise, if the Auto Fill Options button does not appear when you drag the fill handle, you might want to turn it on.

For example, you can choose to fill just cell formats by clicking Fill Formatting Only, or you can choose to fill just the contents of a cell by clicking Fill Without Formatting.

Note: If you drag the fill handle up or to the left of a selection and stop in the selected cells without going past the first column or the top row in the selection, Excel deletes the data within the selection. You must drag the fill handle out