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Welcome to the first of two screencast segments documenting the Excel autofill feature for
sequences, such as dates, days of the week, months of the year, and other numerical or
word patterns. I will be presenting this Excel tutorial using the Windows operating system.
To see the same techniques demonstrated in Excel for Mac, watch Lucie’s screencast.
This screencast will demonstrate how the computer user may automatically fill selected Excel
spreadsheet cells with data that is in a series or pattern. Autofill allows the user to increase
efficiency when creating and using Excel spreadsheets. Before I present the autofill feature, it
is helpful to establish a few terms for basic understanding.
The Excel spreadsheet is comprised of cells. A cell is the rectangular-shaped field into
which data is input. This cell, for example, is highlighted.
The autofill handle can be found at the bottom right corner of the highlighted cell. The
autofill handle looks like a small black square. Notice that the cursor changes from a large
cross to a small cross to indicate that the autofill handle is engaged and ready for use.
With the cursor, the user drags the autofill handle in order to select the cells into which
the sequence or pattern will be applied. The selected cells will automatically fill with
content. After filling the new cells with content,
the autofill options button appears at the lower right. The autofill options button allows
the user to manipulate or change the way in which the pattern is applied to the sequence
of cells. Appearing on the screen is the outline of
a spreadsheet in which autofill will be used to input dates, days of the week, and the
“specials” class cycle. The column headings will serve as the starting point for demonstrating
a few applications of autofill. The first column is to be filled with dates.
I typed the first date in the series. Next, I will move the cursor over the autofill handle,
click and hold the mouse on the autofill handle, and drag the autofill handle downward to highlight
the desired number of cells in the series. Notice that autofill added dates including
weekends. For the purposes of this spreadsheet, I would like autofill to add only weekdays
to the series. Therefore, I will left click on the autofill
options button on the bottom right of the highlighted cells and select “Fill Weekdays”
from the options. The cells are automatically filled with Monday through Friday dates only,
beginning with August 30, 2010. Moving one column to the right, I will demonstrate
the autofill feature for weekdays in a series. I typed the first day in the series in the
selected cell. Just as before, I move the cursor over the autofill handle, click and
hold the mouse on the autofill handle, and drag the autofill handle downward to highlight
the desired number of cells in the series. Notice that autofill assumed the series was
Monday through Sunday. However, I would like the autofill series to repeat Monday through
Friday only. As in the previous column, I will click on
the autofill options button on the bottom right of the highlighted cells and select
“Fill Weekdays.” The cells are automatically filled with days of the week from Monday through
Friday. In the far right column, I will demonstrate
the autofill feature that allows the user to repeat a pattern. I typed the specials
rotation: PE, Art, Music, Media, and Spanish. Each week, this schedule is repeated. In this
case, I highlight all five cells, not just the first cell, so that the autofill feature
repeats the entire series. Then, I click the autofill handle and drag it downward to highlight
the remaining cells in the column. This pattern is repeated.
Now, please take a look at the second segment of the autofill tutorial to see a few more
features.