Microsoft - Excel fill an incomplete series of data using autofill

Microsoft - Excel fill an incomplete series of data using autofill

Problem

An Excel usser may have an incomplete series of data and wish Excel to fill in that series.  A simple example of these are months of the year or days in the week.


Applies to

  1. Microsoft Excel

Resolution

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.

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.


Idea
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.

Filling series with numbers

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

Filling days of week as words series

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

Filling months of the year series

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

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