One use for the fill handle is to copy data and formulas to adjacent cells in a worksheet.
The instructions below show you how to use the fill handle to copy data and formulas to other cells in an Excel 2007 worksheet.
Copy Data with the Fill Handle
- Type the number $45,234.98 in cell E1 of the worksheet.
- Press the ENTER key on the keyboard.
- Click on cell E1 again to make it the active cell.
- Press and hold down the CTRL key on the keyboard.
- Press and release the B key on the keyboard to add bold formatting to the data in cell A1.
- Place the mouse pointer over the small black dot in the bottom right corner of cell E1.
- The mouse pointer will change to a small black plus sign ( + ) when you have it over the fill handle.
- When the mouse pointer changes to the plus sign, click and hold down the mouse button.
- Drag the fill handle to cell A4 to copy the number $45,234.98 and the bold formatting to cells E2, E3, and E4.
- Cells E1 to E4 should now all contain the bolded number $45,234.98.
Copy Formulas with the Fill Handle
Note: Copying formulas to other cells only works if the formula is created using cell references.
- Add the data seen in the image above to cells F1 to G3 in a worksheet.
- Click on cell H1.
- Type the formula: = F1 + G1 in cell G1 and press the ENTER key on the keyboard.
- Click on cell H1 again to make it the active cell.
- Place the mouse pointer over the small black dot in the bottom right corner of cell H1.
- The mouse pointer will change to a small black plus sign ( + ) when you have it over the fill handle.
- When the mouse pointer changes to the plus sign, click and hold down the mouse button.
- Drag the fill handle to cell H3 to copy the formula to cells H2 and H3.
- Cells H2 and H3 should contain the numbers 121 and 99 respectively - the results of the formulas copied to those cells.
- If you click on cell H2 the formula = F2 + G2 can be seen in the formula bar above the worksheet.
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