Microsoft Excel 2016 is a powerful tool that can simplify many tasks, including copying the contents of a cell to a range of cells using the fill handle. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to use the fill handle in Excel 2016 to copy formulas, patterns, and other data across multiple cells.
First, let’s start with a simple example. Assume we have a revenue chart that includes 2018 revenue data. We want to calculate the total revenue for 2018, so we use the autosum button in the Home tab editing group Auto sum. Once we have the total revenue, we can use the autofill handle to copy the formula over to any adjacent cell either to the right or below.
To use the autofill handle, select the cell with the correct formula and hover around the border until you see the four directional arrows. Then, look for the green square in the bottom right of the border. If you hover over it, it will change from the four directional arrows to a black plus sign, which is your autofill handle. Now, drag the autofill handle to the right or below to copy the formula to the adjacent cell.
Excel will automatically adjust the formula to copy relative to the reference cell. For example, if you copy a formula from column B to column C, the references will adjust accordingly. This makes it easy to copy formulas across multiple columns or rows.
You can also copy more than one cell at a time using the autofill handle. Simply select the cells you want to copy, move the autofill handle to the adjacent cell, and release the mouse. Excel will automatically copy the formula to all the selected cells.
Another useful feature of the autofill handle is its ability to find patterns within your document. For example, if you highlight January and February, Excel will recognize the pattern and automatically fill in the remaining months of the year when you drag the autofill handle down. This saves you time and effort by allowing you to quickly fill in large amounts of data.
Overall, the autofill handle in Excel 2016 is a powerful tool that can simplify many tasks. Whether you need to copy formulas, patterns, or other data across multiple cells, the autofill handle makes it easy to do so quickly and accurately.
So, next time you work with Excel, give the autofill handle a try and see how much time you can save.