Dragging & Increasing Numbers in a Column

[Hayden Fox]

Usually when I use Excel if I type a number into a cell then select the cell and drag it down to copy, it will drag and copy the numbers, increasing each cell by 1. However today when I am using Excel it won't increase. It just drags and copies the same number. So for example I type the number 1, and when I select the cell and drag down, it just copies 1 all the way down the column. I also tried going into Edit>Fill>Series and selecting *Columns & *Growth and it still doesn't work. What could be going wrong ?

[Wigi]

Hi

It should work with Edit > Fill > Series > Growth. But you need to select multiple cells as well as type in not only a 1. Because the growth is calculated (correctly) whereby you specify to Excel only a 1, so you say the growth is 1 to 1. Not surprisingly, Excel fills down the cells only with ones, each time 1 * 1. Try it with 1 and right below 3.

Same applies to just the normal filling down. Specify the change to Excel. That is, put 1 and below -2 for example to have the series 1, -2, -5, -8, ...

Wigi

[StephenR]

Try pressing Ctrl while you drag down.

[Wigi]

Nice point Stephen.

EDIT: ... in case to increment with 1. My method handles cases where it is not 1. But I didn't know the Ctrl trick.

Wigi

[hadi66]

click on a cell and enter 1 then move your pointer to a point under the cell then your pointer will become like this + then hold Ctrl key down and drag it to a cell that you want

[RSI Sarah]

Try pressing Ctrl while you drag down.

Hey there Stephen. I know you replied to this thread years ago but I wanted to sign in (register, actually) to thank you. I've been SO annoyed with this issue for a long time and because I don't use Excel much, I never took time to figure it out.

Your suggestion was SIMPLE and CORRECT. Hours and hours over the past years trying to figure this silly thing out and all I had to do was press "CTRL". Thank you so much!

-Sarah

[Smallman]

You are not alone Sarah. If Wigi didn't know about it back then it must be pretty obscure. I only found it because you posted. I have always wondered about this. Stephen's post was a very good one and I learned something today too. GOLD!!!

[cherubi]

Try pressing Ctrl while you drag down.

Thank you Stephen. I just registered to say Thank you (same as Sarah). Cheers!!