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So when I want to extend a series or something along those lines, I can highlight a group of cells, then click on the bottom right corner of the highlighting box and drag down. Excel will then attempt to automatically extend the contents as well as it can. Is there a keyboard function that will allow me to do this? I like to use the keyboard to avoid repetitive mouse motions.

I can use the shift key and arrow keys to make a selection, but I don't know what (if any) key can trigger this function.

I also don't really know what this function is actually called.

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You can use keyboard short cuts to get to anything that's on the Ribbon. Press Alt and then you can see the keystrokes next to each section. To bring up the Fill Series dialog box press Alt and then H F I S.

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Nice, this works well. The AutoFill option (Alt-F) seems to work well for most of my past use cases. Using Trend and Growth also allows me to do multiplicative series. Very cool! Sort of a lot of keys to press, but I guess that's what I asked for. – Josh Apr 13 '11 at 15:18
Mnemonics help ... Home FIll Series (Enter). Thanks for this! – Scott Rippey Dec 19 '11 at 17:44
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You're looking for "Fill-Down" or "Fill-Right"

select the range by moving to the cell to start with... then shift-down arrow or shift-right arrow to where you want to fill the contents to... and then press control-D (to fill-down) or control-R (to fill-right)

Unfortunately, there is no short-cut key for fill-left or fill-up.

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This is pretty helpful. The only thing is that it automatically bases its fill on the first cell only. This will duplicate a cell, but will not extend a series. Still, this is very helpful, thanks! – Josh Apr 12 '11 at 20:20
Actually, it does extend a series. It will copy any formulas, and modify columns/rows as excel regularly does. If you wanted to copy/paste values... then just use the copy/paste option (select values -> control+c -> go to destination -> control+v) – TheCompWiz Apr 13 '11 at 14:25
I mean that it won't automatically deduce a series. For example, type 1 in A1, 2 in A2, and then highlight both. If you do the Fill-Down with the mouse, it will start counting up automatically. Since the Ctrl+D method has no way to select more than one source cell, it will only copy more ones. AFAIK, only additive series will work. – Josh Apr 13 '11 at 15:05
Interesting... I've never tried that before. I suppose you could take another route, and put 1 in A1 and =A1+1 in A2 and then fill down & get nearly the same results... but you're right... there should be a way. You could also assign your own custom short-cut key to the "fill series" option... and then it would give you a menu on how you want to fill the remaining cells... – TheCompWiz Apr 13 '11 at 15:36
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  1. Ctrl-C to copy the starting cell
  2. Select the target range (using Shift, Ctrl, arrows, etc)
  3. Ctrl-V to paste

The target range will be filled appropriately.

As answered by TheCompWiz, using Ctrl-D & Ctrl-R would be another method. Ctrl-C/V would let you to fill to any direction and anywhere; while Ctrl-D/R requires you less keystrokes.

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You can also accomplish this with a macro.

  1. Go to View tab -> Macro -> "Record Macro"
  2. Choose an optional name, for example Myautofill (no space in name!)
  3. Choose an optional shortcut, for example Ctrl+H
  4. Click OK to start recording the macro
  5. Go to Home tab -> Editing -> Fill -> Series
  6. For "Series in" choose "Columns", check the "Trend" option, then click OK
  7. Go to View tab -> Macro -> "Stop Recording"
  8. Your macro is ready! Select a range of cells and hit the shortcut you chose in step 3.
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I forgot some thing, you should also choose trend in step 7. – Mojtaba May 17 at 8:03
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