Google Sheets - Using "Fills" for Quick Data Entry

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(Part of my administrative assistant series on Google Sheets.)

Probably one of the biggest time-savers is using a fill to quickly enter a large amount of data.  Entering the same item(s) over and over again can get tedious quickly, even if using copy and paste.  Here's how and when you will want to know and use the fill option when working in Google Sheets.

First, when can you use this?  Fill will work for the following situations:

  • you are entering the same data for all cells 
  • an easily recognized pattern of entries is used
  • the entries are a numerical series
Entering the same entry:
Type the entry into the first 1 or 2 cells that should contain it; then select those cells so they are highlighted - 
Grab the little blue square (as I am above) in the bottom-right of the highlighted area, and drag down/across as far as you want the entry continued -

Entering data from a pattern: 
Enter the first couple entries for the pattern; then select those cells so they are highlighted -
Grab the little blue square in the bottom-right of the highlighted area, and drag down/across as far as you want the entry continued -

Entering data from a numerical series:
For this example I am showing you with the easiest of series - adding 1 to the previous entry to obtain the next.  Enter the first couple entries for the series; then select those cells so they are highlighted -
Grab the little blue square (as I am above) in the bottom-right of the highlighted area, and drag down/across as far as you want the entry continued -
 That's all there is to it!  Now go try it on your own spreadsheet to see what other patterns or series you can fill with.

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