Programmatically automatically fill ranges with incrementally changing data

The AutoFill method of the Range object enables you to fill a range in a worksheet with values automatically. Most often, the AutoFill method is used to store incrementally increasing or decreasing values in a range. You can specify the behavior by supplying an optional constant from the XlAutoFillType enumeration.

Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and VSTO Add-in projects for Excel. For more information, see Features available by Office application and project type.

You must specify two ranges when using AutoFill:

• The range that calls the AutoFill method, which specifies the starting point of the fill and contains an initial value.

• The range that you want to fill, passed as a parameter to the AutoFill method. This destination range must include the range that contains the initial value.

  Note

  You cannot pass a NamedRange control in place of the Range. For more information, see Programmatic limitations of host items and host controls.

Example

C#

private void AutoFill()
{
    Excel.Range rng = this.Application.get_Range("B1");
    rng.AutoFill(this.Application.get_Range("B1","B5"), 
        Excel.XlAutoFillType.xlFillWeekdays); 

    rng = this.Application.get_Range("C1"); 
    rng.AutoFill(this.Application.get_Range("C1","C5"),
        Excel.XlAutoFillType.xlFillMonths);

    rng = this.Application.get_Range("D1","D2");
    rng.AutoFill(this.Application.get_Range("D1","D5"),
        Excel.XlAutoFillType.xlFillSeries); 
}

VB

Private Sub AutoFill()
    Dim rng As Excel.Range = Me.Application.Range("B1")
    rng.AutoFill(Me.Application.Range("B1:B5"), Excel.XlAutoFillType.xlFillWeekdays)

    rng = Me.Application.Range("C1")
    rng.AutoFill(Me.Application.Range("C1:C5"), Excel.XlAutoFillType.xlFillMonths)

    rng = Me.Application.Range("D1:D2")
    rng.AutoFill(Me.Application.Range("D1:D5"), Excel.XlAutoFillType.xlFillSeries)
End Sub

Compile the code

The first cell of the range that you want to fill must contain an initial value.

The example requires that you fill three regions:

• Column B is to include five weekdays. For the initial value, type Monday in cell B1.

• Column C is to include five months. For the initial value, type January in cell C1.

• Column D is to include a series of numbers, incrementing by two for each row. For the initial values, type 4 in cell D1 and 6 in cell D2.

Related content

• Work with ranges
• How to: Programmatically refer to worksheet ranges in code
• How to: Programmatically apply styles to ranges in workbooks
• How to: Programmatically run Excel calculations
• Host items and host controls overview
• Optional parameters in Office solutions