How to fill a series of dates or numbers quickly
Drag the fill handle in Grid by Zaweba to fill numbers, dates, weekdays and months, or use Fill Series for linear, growth and date steps.
Drag the fill handle. In Grid by Zaweba, type the first value, such as a date, a number, Monday or January, then drag the small square at the corner of the selection and Grid continues the series. Double-click the handle to fill down as far as the data beside it goes. Fill Series offers more control, with linear, growth and date series.
How the fill handle decides what to do
Grid looks at what you started with. A single date fills one day at a time. A weekday name fills the following days, and a month name fills the following months. Text ending in a number, such as Item 1 or Week 1, counts up: Item 2, Item 3 and so on.
Give it two values and it follows the step between them. Type 5 and 10, select both and drag, and you get 15, 20, 25. Type the first of January and the first of February, select both and drag, and you get the first of each month. That's the quickest way to set any step you like.
Double-click to fill down
When there's data in the next column, double-clicking the fill handle fills down to the last row of that data. It's ideal for numbering a long list or copying a formula all the way down a table. No dragging past the bottom of the screen, no overshooting.
Fill Series for precise control
Fill Series lets you say exactly what you want: the direction, the type of series, the step and a stop value. A linear series adds the step each time. A growth series multiplies by it, so a step of 2 from 1 gives 1, 2, 4, 8. A date series can step by day, by weekday, by month or by year.
The weekday option is the one people miss most. It fills working days only, skipping Saturdays and Sundays, which suits a diary of school days or working days for a timesheet.
Using a stop value means you don't have to select the right number of cells first. Ask for dates from today, stepping by month, stopping at the end of next year, and Grid fills exactly as many as it needs.
Keyboard shortcuts for filling
Ctrl+D fills down: select a range with a value or formula at the top, press Ctrl+D, and the top cell is copied into the rest. Ctrl+R fills right in the same way. Ctrl+Enter, typed after entering a value or formula, puts it into every selected cell at once.
Formulas instead of a series
Sometimes a formula is better than a fixed list. SEQUENCE returns a series of numbers that spills into place, and changes if you change its arguments. A first date in one cell and a formula adding 7 below it gives a weekly series that moves when you change the start date. For a list of working days that skips holidays too, WORKDAY.INTL with a holiday list does it.
Small things that help
Format dates before you fill, or after, using a date format that shows what you need. A custom format such as ddd dd mmm shows the weekday alongside the date, which makes a filled diary easier to read.
If a series fills with copies instead of counting, the start value probably wasn't recognised, for example a date typed as text. Re-enter it as a proper date and fill again. Undo puts things back if a fill goes wrong.
Filling series is one of the small jobs that adds up over a year of spreadsheets. In Grid by Zaweba it works the way you'd expect from other spreadsheets, with the same handle, the same shortcuts and the same Fill Series options.
