excel for mac not showing auto fill options

Excel Not Showing Auto Fill Options Series Of Data

Simply select the cell containing the formula you want to fill into adjacent cells and drag the fill handle down the cells in the column or across the cells in the row that you want to fill.

This can save you a lot of time when entering sequential data in large worksheets and make you more productive.

Excel Not Showing Auto Fill Options Series Of Data

Well show you how to fill various types of series of data using the AutoFill features.

A linear series consists of numbers where the next number is obtained by adding a step value to the number before it.

However, a linear series can also be a series of decimal numbers (1.5, 2.5, 3.5), decreasing numbers by two (100, 98, 96), or even negative numbers (-1, -2, -3).

In each linear series, you add (or subtract) the same step value.

You can type the first number, press Enter to get to the next row in that column, and enter the next number, and so on.

Very tedious and time consuming, especially for large amounts of data.

Well save ourselves some time (and boredom) by using the fill handle to populate the column with the linear series of numbers.

Notice the green square in the lower-right corner of the selected cell Thats the fill handle.

Be warned that copying data from an adjacent cell replaces any data that is currently in the selected cell.

Thats why we ended up with five 1s and not the linear series of 15.

To fill the linear series, we select Fill Series from the popup menu.

Instead of entering just one number, enter the first two numbers in the first two cells.

Then, select those two cells and drag the fill handle until youve selected all the cells you want to fill.

You still have to select Fill Series from a popup menu, but that menu automatically displays when you stop dragging and release the right mouse button, so this can be a handy shortcut.

The Fill command is also useful if youre filling a large number of cells, as youll see in a bit.

Then, click the Fill button in the Editing section of the Home tab.

We will discuss the Growth and Date options later, and the AutoFill option simply copies the value to the other selected cells.

Enter the Step value, or the increment for the linear series.

For our example, were incrementing the numbers in our series by 1.

To do this, enter the first value in the first cell you want to use for the series in the row or column, and click Fill on the Home tab again.

In addition to the options we discussed above, enter the value into the Stop value box that you want as the last value in the series.

Even though there are blank rows, you can still use the fill handle to fill a linear series with blank rows.

Excel For Mac Not Showing Auto Fill Options