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How to Use Excel's Fill Handle Options

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  1. Enter a starting value in a cell

    Type the starting value you want to extend in sequence - a date, a number, or something like January - into a cell.

  2. Drag the fill handle at the bottom-right of the cell

    Click the cell, then drag the small square (the fill handle) that appears at its bottom-right corner as far as you need.

  3. Click the Auto Fill Options icon that appears

    After you finish dragging, a small options icon appears near the bottom-right corner - click it to choose how the fill should behave.

  4. Choose Fill Series or Fill Without Formatting

    Instead of a simple copy, pick an option to extend the values in sequence, or to fill in only the values while leaving formatting untouched.

  5. Why it is useful

    Instead of typing dates or sequence numbers one by one, the fill handle and its options let you fill a whole range according to a pattern in just a couple of drags.

Still typing dates or numbers one at a time?

When you need to number rows from 1 to 100 or extend a date by one day at a time, the fill handle and its options let you fill a large range quickly according to whatever pattern you need, in just a few drags.

Custom sort lists pair well with this trick

Once you are comfortable filling data with a pattern, learning how to sort by a custom list - for example, weekday names or department names in a specific order - extends the same idea to sorting, not just filling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does double-clicking the fill handle also auto-fill?

Yes. If there is data in the adjacent column, double-clicking the fill handle automatically fills all the way down to match the end of that data range.

What if I want to extend the numbers but keep the original formatting untouched?

Choosing Fill Formatting Only or Fill Without Formatting in the Auto Fill Options lets you control formatting and values independently.