How to Quickly Fill Numbers in Cells without Dragging » Trump Excel (2024)

• Sumit Bansal

What do you do when you have to enter a sequence of serial numbers in a column in Excel? For example, entering numbers 1 to 1000 in cell A1:A1000.

The regular way of doing this is:

• Enter 1 in cell A1.
• Enter 2 in cell A2.
• Select both the cells and drag it down using the fill handle.

Sometimes it may get a bit irritating to drag the fill handle to the last cell which can be many folds below the current cell.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you a faster way to fill numbers in cells without any dragging.

Quickly Fill Numbers in Cells without Dragging

Here are the steps:

• Enter 1 in cell A1.
• Go to Home –> Editing –> Fill –> Series.
• In the Series dialogue box, make the following selections:
  • Series in: Columns
  • Type: Linear
  • Step Value: 1
  • Stop Value: 1000
• Click OK.

This will fill the cell A1:A1000 with the numbers 1 to 1000.

Notes:

• If you want to fill the numbers in the row instead of the column, select ‘Rows’ in the ‘Series in’ options.
• If you want to start from a number other than 1, fill that number in cell A1. Also, you can choose a different step. For example, select 2 for getting all numbers with a difference of 2.

You May Also Like the Following Excel Tutorials:

• How to Quickly Select Blank Cells in Excel.
• How to Use Format Painter in Excel.
• 7 Quick & Easy Ways to Number Rows in Excel.
• How to Apply Formula to the Entire Column in Excel
• Fill Down Blank Cells Until the Next Value in Excel (Formula, VBA, Power Query)