Excel - fill an incomplete series of data using autofill

Excel - fill an incomplete series of data using autofill

Information

A common task in Excel is to use autofill to fill an incomplete series of data. For example you may have a row or collumn consiting of two adjacent data points but th4e rest of the series if not complete. For example you may have Monday and Tuesday filled but wish to complete all the way to Sunday. Excel can do this for you using series autofill.

Steps

Below are the sequence of keys required to fill different types of series. In each case one or two data points should be provided and highlighted with any number of blank cells also highlighted to complete the intended series.

Method 1 – navigating the ribbon using navigation keys.

  1. Press Alt then use arrow to find Home tab and press ENTER or DOWN ARROW.
  2. Press CONTROL+RIGHT arrow until you reach AutoSum button and press down arrow.
  3. Press space to open the button menu then down arrow to Series and press ENTER.
  4. In the dialogue box press SHIFT+TAB to reach the Linear radio button.
  5. Then use the arrows appropriate to what kind of series is desired eg. Autofill for ascending months or days of the week.
  6. Then press ENTRER to fill the series.
Tip!

Some users may find that at step 5 above can use the following hotkeys to directly select the desired radio button position:

Linear series – ALT+L (useful for numeric series)
Growth series – ALT+G
Date series – ALT+D
Autofill – ALT+F (useful for days of the week/months of the year)

The above hotkeys only work this way whilst in the Series dialogue window and combined with the accelerator keys methods below to speed things up further.

Method 2 – Using ribbon menu accelerator keys

This approach does not always work the same for every user. If putting in the keystrokes one by one does not work. Please try pressing ALT+H first then enter the remaining keys one by one to complete the action.

Filling series with numbers**

Highlight your column or row with one or two numbers filled in for series.
Press ALT, f, I, S to reach Series dialogue.
Then press SHIFT+TAB and use arrows to select the option for the series type required.

Filling days of week as words series

Highlight your day with two days already filled and the rest of the range to be filled.
For column series filling down press ALT, F, I, S to enter the series dialogue.
Then press SHIFT+TAB and select the type of series to fill.

Filling months of the year series

Highlight your row/column with two months and then the remain portion you need filled.
Press ALT, F, I, S.
Then press SHIFT+TAB and select the series type to fill.

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