How to Fill Series Automatically with Excel

How to Fill Series Automatically with Excel
Last Updated on 20/11/2023
Reading time: 3 minutes

There are 3 ways to fill series of numbers, or dates, with Excel

  1. The fill-handle

    By writing the first two values, the fill-handle will generate the fill-handle

  2. The fill menu

    From the ribbon, you can fill series with this tool

  3. The SEQUENCE function

    For those who work with Excel 365, this function will generate a series of numbers.

Fill series of numbers

If you want to create a series of numbers quickly, the trick is simple

  1. Write the first value
  2. Write the second value
  3. Select the 2 cells
  4. Use the fill handle to extend the selection
Increase series of number automatically

Excel will extend the selection according to the step between the 2 numbers.

Look at this video to see how it works with positives, negatives, and decimal numbers.

Fill series for thousands of data

But if you have to create an extensive list of numbers, using the fill handle is useless because it takes too much time 😤

It's better to use the tool Home > Fill > Series

Menu Fill Series in the ribbon

In the dialog box, you fill these parameters

  1. Select the cell containing the starting value
  2. Select the orientation (here columns because you want the result in the same column)
  3. Indicate the step (by default it's 1)
  4. Indicate the last value to reach
Parameters to fill a large series of data

And the result is a list of values starting from 1 to 5000 with a step of 2 😀👍

Series of number with the tool fill series

Fill a series with SEQUENCE

If you work with Excel 365, Excel Online, or Excel 2021, you can use the SEQUENCE function to create your series of number

=SEQUENCE(number of rows, number of columns, starting value, step)

For instance, to create a series from 0 to 50 with a step of 5, you write the following formula

=SEQUENCE(11, ,0,5)

SEQUENCE function to create a series

Then, to convert the result of your formula to value, you must perform a copy-paste value

Create a series of dates

If you want to create a series of dates, the 3 same techniques (fill handle, tool Fill series and SEQUENCE) can be used. But also Excel respects the number of days in a month. For example, you can easily create a series of weeks with a step of 7 days

Fill the weeks

And the same technique can be used with the months.

  1. You write the 2 first months
  2. You select the 2 cells
  3. Expand the selection
Series of months

Other Excel tricks

Here is a list of articles that could be also useful:

1 Comment

  1. Julie Williams
    11/10/2022 @ 14:18

    Thank you so much for providing such an intresting information.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

How to Fill Series Automatically with Excel

Reading time: 3 minutes
Last Updated on 20/11/2023

There are 3 ways to fill series of numbers, or dates, with Excel

  1. The fill-handle

    By writing the first two values, the fill-handle will generate the fill-handle

  2. The fill menu

    From the ribbon, you can fill series with this tool

  3. The SEQUENCE function

    For those who work with Excel 365, this function will generate a series of numbers.

Fill series of numbers

If you want to create a series of numbers quickly, the trick is simple

  1. Write the first value
  2. Write the second value
  3. Select the 2 cells
  4. Use the fill handle to extend the selection
Increase series of number automatically

Excel will extend the selection according to the step between the 2 numbers.

Look at this video to see how it works with positives, negatives, and decimal numbers.

Fill series for thousands of data

But if you have to create an extensive list of numbers, using the fill handle is useless because it takes too much time 😤

It's better to use the tool Home > Fill > Series

Menu Fill Series in the ribbon

In the dialog box, you fill these parameters

  1. Select the cell containing the starting value
  2. Select the orientation (here columns because you want the result in the same column)
  3. Indicate the step (by default it's 1)
  4. Indicate the last value to reach
Parameters to fill a large series of data

And the result is a list of values starting from 1 to 5000 with a step of 2 😀👍

Series of number with the tool fill series

Fill a series with SEQUENCE

If you work with Excel 365, Excel Online, or Excel 2021, you can use the SEQUENCE function to create your series of number

=SEQUENCE(number of rows, number of columns, starting value, step)

For instance, to create a series from 0 to 50 with a step of 5, you write the following formula

=SEQUENCE(11, ,0,5)

SEQUENCE function to create a series

Then, to convert the result of your formula to value, you must perform a copy-paste value

Create a series of dates

If you want to create a series of dates, the 3 same techniques (fill handle, tool Fill series and SEQUENCE) can be used. But also Excel respects the number of days in a month. For example, you can easily create a series of weeks with a step of 7 days

Fill the weeks

And the same technique can be used with the months.

  1. You write the 2 first months
  2. You select the 2 cells
  3. Expand the selection
Series of months

Other Excel tricks

Here is a list of articles that could be also useful:

1 Comment

  1. Julie Williams
    11/10/2022 @ 14:18

    Thank you so much for providing such an intresting information.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *