Excel

Filling Cells Automatically

You can use Microsoft Excel to fill cells automatically with a series. For example, you can have Excel automatically fill in times, the days of the week or months of the year, years, and other types of series. Days of the week and months of the year fill in a similar fashion. The following demonstrates filling the days of the week:

1. Move to Sheet2.

2. Move to cell A1.

3. Type Sun.

4. Move to cell B1.

5. Type Sunday.

6. Highlight cells A1 to B1.

7. Bold cells A1 to B1.

8. Find the small black square in the lower right corner of the highlighted area. This is called the Fill Handle.

9. Grab the Fill Handle and drag with your mouse to fill cell A1 to B24. Note how the days of the week fill the cells in a series. Also, note that the Auto Fill Options icon appears.

10. Click the Auto Fill Options icon.

11. Choose the Copy Cells radio button. The entry in cells A1 and B1 are copied to all the cells highlighted.

12. Click the Auto Fill Options icon again.

14. Click the Auto Fill Options icon again.

15. Choose the Fill Without Formatting radio button. The cells fill as a series from Sunday to Saturday, but the entries are not bolded.

16. Click the Auto Fill Options icon again.

17. Choose the Fill Weekdays radio button. The cells fill as a series from Monday to Friday.

Some of the entries in column B are too long to fit in the column. You can quickly adjust the column width to fit the longest entry.

1. Move your cursor over the line that separates column B and C. The Width Indicator appears.

2. Double-click. The Column adjusts to fit the longest entry.

The following demonstrates filling time:

1. Type 1:00 into cell C1.

2. Grab the Fill Handle and drag with your mouse to highlight cells A1 to A24. Note that each cell fills using military time.

3. Press Esc and then click anywhere on the worksheet to remove the highlighting.

To change the format of the time:

1. Select cells C1 to C24.

2. Choose Format > Cells from the menu.

3. Choose the Number tab.

4. In the Category box, choose Time.

5. In the Type box, choose 1:30 PM.

6. Click OK. The time is no longer in military time.

You can also fill numbers.

Type a 1 in cell D1.

1. Grab the Fill Handle and drag with your mouse to highlight cells D1 to D24. The number 1 fills each cell.

2. Click the Auto Fill Options icon.

3. Choose the Fill Series radio button. The cells fill as a series starting with 1, 2, 3.

Here is another interesting fill feature.

1. Go to cell E1.

2. Type Lesson 1.

3. Grab the Fill Handle and drag with your mouse to highlight cells E1 to E24.