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Excel won't autofill incrementally

Anonymous
2018-08-07T02:27:39+00:00

For many years, I've been able to create the beginnings of a series in Excel (for example, consecutive cells labeled "1, 2, 3..."), select the cells, and when I drag down, Excel would automatically fill the blank cells below with consecutive numbers.  For some reason this function has stopped in the most recent update.  How to I fix this?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-08-07T20:25:22+00:00

    I figured it out.  For some reason, having the sheet in Filter mode compromises the incremental series ability.  It never did before.

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  2. Vijay A. Verma 104.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-08-07T03:43:26+00:00

    Yes, this functionality has been removed. There are few ways to do this -

    1. Drag the cell by holding right mouse button and after dragging till required cell, relese the mouse button > Fill Series
    2. Put 1 in first cell and 2 in second cell. Now select both cell and drag this as usual which you did in the past.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-08-07T04:05:07+00:00

    When I attempt your first solution, all the options in the menu that appears are grayed out except "Copy Cells."

    The second option is what I've always done, which no longer works, it only copies the first cell into all the cells, not continuing the series.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-08-07T20:03:52+00:00

    I did the repair.  No change.

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  5. Vijay A. Verma 104.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-08-07T04:35:51+00:00
    1. You should report this to Microsoft Excel Dev team > Open Excel > File > Feedback > Send a Frown (I don't like somthing)
    2. Meanwhile use the Fill feature. This is an inferior way as it involves many steps unlike a plain drag.

    Put 1 in starting cell > Select the range in which you want to fill in, the range should include the cell where you put 1 > Home tab > Fill > Series > select Columns > OK

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