The little, green ‘Fill Handle’ in the lower right hand corner of a selected cell in an Excel spreadsheet is a very versatile asset. It provides an easy way of copying the contents of cells, especially formulas, into adjacent cells. It can also automate the creation of common labels such as the names of months and weekdays. One need only enter the initial label (e.g January, Monday), position the mouse over the fill handle in the lower right, and then drag over the required range in the adjacent row or column, and…Voila!
With a simple but clever variation on this technique, you can also easily produce a ‘growth’ series, Just enter the first two values of your intended series, in order to define the increment that you want between the values:
i.e. 20,24…28,32,36,40
Then select both the first two cells, and use the fill handle to create your series with the required growth factor between the successive values.
This method is also ideal for a series of dates. Again, simply enter the first two dates in your intended series, to define the pattern you seek:
i.e. 16/11/18, 23/11/18…30/11/18,7/12/18, 14/12/18
This can be a great way to eliminate much of the tedium of creating rosters, time sheets and the like in your Excel spreadsheets.